Though not as fleshed out or nearly as amazing as the main console version Sonic Generations on 3DS is a very solid fun game worth a the couple hours it takes to run through the campaign. What I really appreciated was that the levels remade from old games were totally different than the main version, I was hyped to see Emerald Coast and Radical Highway especially. Classic and Modern Sonic are both 2D so the gameplay isn’t as different, but modern Sonic does get to boost like a Rush game so that was appreciated.

A creative game that is part linear 3D platformer, part super monkey ball. You roll through stages dodging enemies and avoiding different obstacles to get to the end without running out of time. What is neat is there is no health, you can take as many hits as you can as long as you don't fly off the stage (easier said than done) but that is wasting precious time that can only be brought back by picking up more coins. Unfortunately as you get further in the game you can feel a bit of a lack of polish as the levels get harder, the physics could have used a bit more work because you can do the same action in the same spot 3 times and have 3 different results leading to some frustrating sections. As long as you can get past these moments there is a lot to like here.

Having finished multiple runs, unlocked most of the runes, and explored many of the different areas I am content saying I have “finished” the game but I will be continuing on and off for a very long time I am sure because this game is just a blast to play.

The combat is incredibly up my alley, stabbing and rolling around feels super fluid and natural: i felt like it clicked with me almost instantly and I have still not gotten sick of it at all. Things are kept fresh with a variety of different weapons to try (dual blades are the best though) and tons of different enemies across the stages. Add in the different upgrades and rogue like systems and you have a game you could play for hundreds of hours.

I am very picky with rogue like games, sometimes they click with me and sometimes they don’t, it all depends on how satisfying each run feels regardless of success or failure. While I still think Rogue Legacy 1/2 are my favorite implementation this game made me feel like every run was worthwhile by implementing a level system where you could spend your souls between each stage. This allowed progression to continue on even if you weren’t having the best run.

I am also a big fan of the fact that you don’t need to have grinded forever to actually have a complete run, since it only took me 3 runs to finish for the first time. I always appreciate a more skill based approach to a “you should have had better stats” one. This is definitely a game I will be picking up and playing for the foreseeable future and it joins Rogue Legacy 1/2 and Slay the Spire as my favorite games in this genre.

Pros: Pac-Man controls really well and has a fun move set, the roll and bounce moves are very satisfying to use. There are also some really cool levels like sliding down a mountain or rollerblading on a haunted collapsing dock. The hidden pac-man arcade style levels are a nice touch.

Cons: Levels feel a bit barren and have some weird design choices. Why do you fight the same boss 3 out of the 6 times? Why do so many of the levels involve just doing the same section of the level multiple times forward, backwards, then forward again? Why did they make 4 straight levels of on rail underwater levels?

I think there is enough good here that I would play Pac Man World 2 Repac if that ever comes out cause I could see myself liking this a lot more with more modern polish and some changes.

A Donkey Kong Country style game that may not be the most original, but still has a lot of creativity and polish. The animation is beautiful and the character designs have a lot of personality, I love how Kaze the rabbit spins her ears to hover and uses them to climb or swing. One of the mechanics in the game is she finds four different masks depending on the level that transform her into a shark, tiger, dragon, or eagle each with their own gameplay style and wonderful animations. These shake up the gameplay enough where each level feels pretty fresh, ranging from flying stages, underwater, auto run, chase levels, climbing, and many more. The worlds are also varied and stray away from the usual platformer world palettes which was a nice touch.

The game also has a perfect balance of secrets in each level, getting 4 letters like DKC spelling KAZE gets you one gem, then getting 100 little diamonds (think coins) is another, then the third and final is finding 2 secret challenge stages (which are fun in their own right). It has just enough to keep you looking around the stages as you go but not so much that it is overwhelming, I naturally got about 70% of the gems so I will be going back eventually to get the rest. The game has a bit of a challenge to it, not so hard I was ever frustrated but hard enough that I had to try some things quite a few times to nail the timing. Luckily it always felt doable and never unfair. Last shout out is the bosses were very well done, they were each unique but didn't fall into the trap a lot of platformers do where they feel the need to introduce weird mechanics for fights. They were all pure platforming skill and I loved them for it (especially the final fight, really great stuff).

This is a hard game for me to review... For the first few hours of the game I genuinely hated it because it was full of long sections of dialogue and cutscenes chock full of the type of humor I find to be painfully unfunny. The gameplay itself I found decently enjoyable but I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to push through.

Then, starting with a famous boss fight, I felt like the game got a little more creative in locations, gameplay variety, and situational humor where I was actually starting to enjoy myself more and more as it went. This back 2/3rds of the game was filled with moments I found fun and I kept being surprised by it leading to a just insane ending I really enjoyed.

The game does show it's age a lot but I tried not to hold it against it, the camera and controls can be pretty problematic at times and sometimes the game has you doing repetitive actions for too long but again, this is an N64 game so I can let it slide a bit. Ultimately the game turned around for me and I was enjoying myself despite the issues.

I was highly anticipating this game for years but I never expected it to be so amazing. Just as a baseline it takes all the elements from Pikmin 1,2, and 3 and brings them back with tons of quality of life and usability updates to boot. Miss the caves from 2? They are back and better than ever, filled with tons of different enemies, bosses, and thoughtful situations to work through. Love the multitasking abilities from 3? Also back and improved by the inclusion of the dog Oatchi who is an unstoppable force. Like the time constraints of 1? Let's just say there is some stuff in here that will be right up your alley.

Alongside all of that are new additions as well, first off having some new pikmin types obviously keeps things fresh and the ice pikmin are a lot of fun to use in combat and problem solving. Glow pikmin aren't in the normal rotation of pikmin but that doesn't make them any less fun to use, their ghostly powers are only used in the new night time missions which are a pikmin spin on tower defense. There are a little over a dozen of these and they are pretty short so they function very nicely as a pallet cleanser to shake up the gameplay.

The new dandori challenge caves achieve this as well by taking what would be normal caves and turning them into fun challenge rooms. Sometimes you need to try to get all the treasures within a short amount of time, or maybe you have to battle an AI in a pikmin battle challenge. These different modes shake things up but aren't so prevalent or long that they ever got stale to me. Add in a a neat hub world and a couple good size bonus modes with great rewards and you are looking at 30 hours to get 100% which felt like the perfect runtime to me.