Incredibly complex, detailed and deep foray in tactical RPG, Reborn could be considered a 10 years old remake of Let Us Cling Together instead of the SNES original. In truth, all three versions play so radically different it's worth to check each iteration. Reborn adds consistency to the crafting, cleans its hands from the class levels but adds lots of variety with the blue cards in each battlefield. It may look silly at first, but the tactical edge they give is incomparable (and I personally prefer it compared to how it was), It adds depth and gives an incentive to clear up space and develop killzones in certain maps. Not only that, but skills were given a pruning and each character can equip 4 skills, 4 magic spells a piece and that's it, cutting away from the ridiculous builds you had to have in the PSP version. I don't miss putting Anatomy on each unit, thank you.

Still, the postgame (called CODA) is very unfriendly and requires a lot of time and effort. It is truly the game asking you if you really like playing Tactics Ogre: Reborn. The card system is a bit frustrating at times and some bosses really gave me an headache, but it never felt unfair. If you lose a battle it's because there was a tactical mistake here and there. I'll admit though that the game requires the player to actively strategize and spend hours customizing your killing team, which means min maxing. It never feels good to hit a great note in the story just for the next 30 minutes to be spent browsing the shop and buying everything you need (I like doing it but I wouldn't ever recommend it).

I think Reborn has become the definitive way to experience Denam's story and branching paths. The music, the gameplay, the experience has been fine tuned and I'm the happiest about it, I especially enjoyed the voice acting and the rearranged soundtrack. Crossing my fingers for a remake of Final Fantasy Tactics as good as this one, because Tactics Ogre truly was reborn.

The sheer amount of content inside this cartdrige is insane. Are you telling me Mario Kart DS has the best battle mode, missions, passable retro tracks and incredible replayability and driving? Waluigi Pinball? Shroom Ridge?

I admittedly grew up with Mario Kart DS, but it feels good to revisit old games and see that the fun you had as a child was justified, imagine playing and enjoying bad games, right? Jokes aside, stellar tracklist with some stinky ones in the SNES repertoire, Mario Kart DS is probably the first Mario Kart to feel modern in how it plays, in the amount of content (to this day rivaled) and especially in how driving feels: responsive, quick and with a broken but rewarding miniboost system. Hitting continuously left and right on the dpad destroyed my DS but it was worth it, especially playing online. Lots of good memories and to this day the most consistent Mario Kart.

One of the only saving graces and reasons to get a Wii U, Mario Kart 8 is a serviceable MK with a good roster and a competent tracklist, nothing culturally ground breaking like DS, Wii or Double Dash. I'll get back to MK 8 in the Deluxe review, since it blows it out of the water, rightfully so, when 8 became the quintessential MK experience (I don't agree with the statement, I just know they milked it three years after porting it to Switch to sell the mobile game but it backfired and now 8 has many more players, weird move but ok).

Let's just say that, for the time, it was an incredibly good looking and fun, yet niche game because of existing on the platform no one bought. Maps are serviceable and the new antigravity theme is an alright gimmick used sparingly in the base game compared to now.

The first booster tracks look very bad though and battle mode is unfinished. This review is also a joke, more of a canvas for the massive Deluxe deluge coming right after.

Skies of Deception hits hard and it's a cool little game. Despite being shackled to an handheld, X is able to give it all with a multi-branch approach to the missions and even if I was defaulting to the F-22 for most sorties (I won't be caught with my pants down during a dogfight), the game offers a lot of customization in terms of parts, camos and difficulties. It's no Ace Combat 7, but it strikes a good balance between being a serviceable passtime and hitting hard with it's voice acting, music and gameplay.

Can be corny, but isn't it charming.

Decent enough platformer with an open world idea that fairly quickly devolves in backtracking. Thankfully Tomba! (Tombi! for us PAL fans) isn't that massive to begin with, eliminating most issues; not only that, there are many passages between levels that really give the impression of a three dimensional world (is this an idea that will be used later? Tomba! 2 fans rejoice).

In short, Tomba! is a fun little game with a charismatic gremlin as a protagonist and many, many, many small quests to give us busy work. It was and still is very original and worth checking out, but some quests will give you an headache (I'm still laughing that in order to get the golden medal in the race, you literally have to do JUST PRESS RIGHT).

Jungle Fatigue but it's not qualifying for the next tracks (you will learn to brake and you will love it).

Let's start this year with a love letter to a future that never was. Wipeout is a wonderful experience, albeit painful to play: you are locked out of tracks unless you complete the previous ones and both track design and AI don't play around. It feels soapy to control and the vehicles are really hard to steer and control, but once it clicks it's fun. I think it would be perfect to classify this game as a tech demo that actually got love and attention poured into it, aesthetically and conceptually.

A bit on the bland side, Toy Story Racer plays it safe by offering different challenges with different characters all over again, time and time again.

Some levels are infamous (Buzz' Search & Destroy) but the game itself isn't hard as it is frustrating and RNG centric. Despite loving the backdrops, the soundtrack and the driving is quite fun, I don't think nostalgia can cloud how repetitive it is. It's a fine game, for a tie-in as well, but there's better alternatives for racing titles on the PS1. At least you can play as Slinky, love the dog like my own family.

Final Fantasy Tactics is dearly beloved for a lot of reasons by many, still subject to modding and new character builds every so often. It's simply good, from the flow of combat to the great storyline and character development. It ticks many boxes, from customizing your team to actually giving you the means to break the game - and be broken. The game is unfair at times, but I can't really hold it against it since it's very open about it. Not only that, but the game is beautiful, the sprites are colorful and detailed, stages and cutscenes look incredible and thanks to great sound, both soundtrack and design, immersion is guaranteed. What I can tell you that I don't like is the uneven difficulty curve, the way progression is handled (looking at you, Wiegraf) and random encounters not being fair, but it's small things I reckon.

Simply put, I love this game, it came to me as a revelation, it made me realize that videogames could tell stories, good ones at that. They could mean something more than simple entertainment. I don't recommend the PSP port for several nitpicky reasons, but if you can you should get The Lion War and other mods from the boys, gals and meteor chugging chocobos at ffhacktics dot com.

Time Busters is a weird game. Despite having a lot of charm and playing just fine, it feels empty and less polished than the predecessor. The last levels especially feel quite rushed and the gimmicks don't work quite as well as the start of the game; the hubs have these large, empty spaces used just to bring you from level to level.

The peak of this game is the Viking Age, hands down. By the time I hit the ending I was a bit glad it was over. A good way to play the game is with another player, especially considering friendly fire is enabled and Taz will idly bite Bugs if he's near (which is always funny), yet in the end I felt it didn't click as well as Lost in Time. Levels felt short, rushed and the puzzles were good half the time, it also lasts way less to 100%.

Possibly the most fun you can have playing a Star Wars game, it's a robust entry in the tactical shooters and has a lot of setpieces and cutscenes reminiscing the movies. It's no Rainbow Six Vegas, but Republic Commando has a lot of love poured into it.

Some sections are harder than others and it feels as polished as a mid 2000s game can feel, but after playing with mods and getting an HD texture pack the game shines in presentation: from deserts to tropical jungles, that one level in space and so on, Republic Commando takes you in the hottest and most extreme battlefields in the Clone Wars. If you're a fan of Star Wars, you definitely should play this game, just don't forget mods and that you couldn't save him.

It's incredible how as soon as the Super Nintendo was hitting the shelves, so many good games would come out. Actraiser is the most original experience of them all, mixing city management and platforming, as a God nonetheless. It's got soul and love poured into it like very few games and you can see it from its spritework, its music, its tight design and gameplay.

My only sour note is that the controls can feel stiff and it can get exhausting in the end when you've got to fight all bosses one after the other. Yet, Actraiser is able to sow a plotline like no other through gameplay alone, somber and inspiring; it always feels good to start the game, hear the first notes of Fillmore and getting back to business.