Historically interesting in the sense of how Symphony made it more approachable while kind of fumbling/copying design decisions blindly, and how the rhythm to it feels really like Souls's fighting styles and focus on arcade-esque perfection. Of course, Souls added a lot to the mix with exporation/customization but it definitely wouldn't be what it is without borrowing from the way precise enemy placements slowly gate your way through dense levels.

I like Castlevania's creative level variety and enemy varieties! It's neat to see Wall Chicken, hearts and subweapons in a context they really make sense. But, even though this is so well designed for what it is, it just lacks that special something that makes it really shine as exciting to me - it's just thematically dry to me like a lot of games (even today). The design is really straightforward - layers of mastery culminating to a performance of clearing the game without dying.

On a nitpick level there's a level of trying to guess the enemy AI that's required to succeed (e.g. sticking close to phase 2 Dracula to prevent fireballs) and that kind of AI design just isn't my preference... it's also hard to learn later sections without save states. But I think those design decisions made a lot of sense for a time where people would discuss and share strategies, so you don't want the game to be totally self-contained. And to some extent memorizing those little AI quirks is part of the charm of these games.

All of the let's play narration for these random-build-focused slot-machine-action-games is like 'ohh after your 50th run you'll have enough gopher coins to now unlock the Zuckerberg's Icon so now when you play Billy Boy and choose the Steven Stone for your 14th Arcana Tier you'll be able to Yummymax your way past the 4th Tier of Encroachening when you face the waves of 23 Yeti-men. Make sure to spend you 1.0% APR Slammy Shards only on Subtle-enchanted Attack Boosts to make sure the chance of reaching Heaven is fulfilled on a blue day! Like comment and subscribe

Megaman the Wily Wars is quite an interesting title. To put it simply, it's essentially a remaster of the original trilogy of the classic megaman games on the nes. Individually as games these all have their own quirks and such inherently built into their original design so they naturally vary in quality, but this is down to how they were originally created.

I don't think it would be worth discussing the problems of the games themselves, because those flaws are tied to the game's original design that's been maintained here, so I don't feel the need to outline the good and the bad of those games but rather the changes that the Wily Wars provides.

In terms of how the remaster itself is handled for these games, I don't think it's solid, but it's passable. For reference, I personally played this through the Sega Mega Drive online that is packaged with the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pass. I know that if you play the version on original hardware (I believe the PAL one, but this could be wrong), it suffered a lot of performance issues and slowed down a lot, but I personally didn't go through any of that. I'm going to assume that the version provided to me was the version of the game that was apart of the Sega Channel service that was provided to North American users.

To further go into detail about the remasters themselves, I don't believe these are the optimal ways to play the game. Whilst there weren't many I encountered some technical errors that weren't present in the original version of the game (at least to my recollection) one of the big ones I dealt with was the speed of wood man was way faster than it originally was when I played it on the original and felt almost impossible without using rewind for me. Another thing is the removal of preset pickups which seems like a deliberate design choice, which would in theory be fine if it didn't potentially soft lock your game until you die. Whilst this didn't affect me personally, there is a section in the original megaman where it is required to make use of the optional, but not so optional item the magnet beam to create platforms to reach the ladder before the yellow devil. Fortunately, if your weapon energy is low there are two pickups on the screen below and you can constantly switch between screens in the original to reobtain the energy if necessary. This isn't possible in Wily Wars so you can only make a finite amount of mistakes here. Additionally, I found the physics to not be accurate to the NES originals and they felt a lot heavier compared to the relatively floatier jump that the classics typically had. It wasn't too difficult to adjust to but it can throw you off sometimes.

Visually, I don't think the game really makes use of the 16 bit upgrade that it was given to enhance the visuals. It feels like they just took the original sprites and added more colour to them, rather than just make more detailed looking sprites and I think that this could've definitely better made use of the upgraded hardware of the mega drive but unfortunately I generally prefer the way it looked originally.

Even with the music, none of it is necessarily bad but the remixes I don't think are always as good as they used to be except most of Megaman 3, I think that one had the most effort put into it overall.

In terms of additions that the game has that I think are pretty neat, the game comes with a save feature with multiple save slots for all 3 games, but other than that there aren't really many other quality of life upgrades, as most the games are left untouched. Although one thing to note is that Megaman 2 in this is based off of the Famicom version and therefore there is no difficulty option and by default you're playing the North American equivalent of "Difficult" mode, as an easier difficulty was only later added in the western release.

After going through all 3 games, you unlock "Wily Tower". Essentially a bonus chapter to cap of the collection and tie it to the loose story the collection had of Dr Wily creating a time machine to make you go through the 3 adventures again.

Wily Tower is one of the most fun additions to the classic series and honestly I wish it was longer because of just how fun it is. The gimmick is that you have 8 weapon slots and 3 item slots. You have access to the entire arsenal of tools from all 3 games to pick from to decide on using with your given slots. I love this idea so much and I love that it allows you to experiment with whichever weapons you like having. You want metal blades, elec beam, magnet missile, rush jet and all the best weapons in the series then just use them. I love that if you pick certain items they can also be used for alternate paths and the music and visuals work so much better here. The level design also makes use of any sort of level obstacle or enemies in the three games. Along with completely original stage designs and bosses. Personally I would love if there was more of this and I would be happy to play a longer wily tower because I think this is a great concept and I would really like this game if it was more like Wily Tower.

Overall, the reason I rated this relatively highly is because I really love the Wily Tower segment. Otherwise the game is relatively okay, and definitely an interesting play experience, but in no way make the originals obsolete. I think this is something definitely worth trying but because it requires beating 3 games to get to the best part I wouldn't recommend regularly replaying the game. I would definitely have been interested to see an idea like Wily Wars extend to the other megaman games, but unfortunately we can't all have nice things. Definitely play this if you're a big classic series fan, but otherwise it's not mandatory even if Wily Tower is very fun.

I wrote about this game a few years ago, idk if I agree with everything but it might be interesting: https://meloshantani.wordpress.com/2017/10/27/banjo2/

Last I played this (2017) I liked it! Good balance of levels that manage to stay navigable, reasonable # of goals and things to find, some fun revisiting with abilities, and the hub world's secrets are still neat. Some recent indie collectathons (like hat in time) feel like their movesets are too acrobatic, causing their levels to balloon confusingly in size by mashing together Super Mario 64 acrobatics-ism and Banjo-Kazooie-collecting-ism. The relative slowness of banjo works to the game's advantage, keeping them manageable. I think Banjo-Tooie had some problems with levels getting too big or having too many screen transitions.

The later levels in Banjo do get a bit unmanageable if you're trying to 100% notes, but outside of that goal it feels fun to learn about the levels and get around.

zero mission feels neither here nor there to me, trapped in the dead center of two schools of design that are constantly capitulating to the other. it structurally reminds of fusion in its suggestive design but lacks the exploratory atmosphere of super. everything in zero mission feels sterile; it is not a culmination of but rather a reminder of what came before it. the spritework of fusion, perfectly attuned to that titles cold and impersonal circuitry running rampant alongside a biomechanical nightmare, cannot hope to replicate the uncanny loneliness of the original metroids subterranean freedive. and the decision to backpedal on the comic book art style, remnants of which still remain in the game, does away with the opportunity to mythologize samus' original fearless adventure, which could have lended a differing yet nonetheless genuine weight to the proceedings. instead it's a story retold, a greatest hits remix of a game with awkward and needless additions to the affair. neither a game about regaining control nor a dread inducing descent, all that's left is for zero mission to succeed on the merits of its systems. it can, but that's largely besides the point

It was nice to learn about Hiroji Kiyotake, one of the directors of Metroid II, and probably a leading force in the sheer personality and fun that a run of good GB platformers have - Metroid II, Super Mario Land 2, the Wario Lands...

Despite having played most Metroid games I'd never played Metroid 2. I bounced off of it a few times, but after roughing it through Metroid 1 (another brilliant game), I went ahead and played through 2.

At first I was hesitant about the structure of the game - seeming to move away from the chaotic maze of Metroid 1 for a more linear experience. But I think the structure of Metroid 2 - that of burrowing into an ant farm, exploring smaller labyrinths budding from a main path - works well. It enforces the narrative of Samus as this bounty hunter, cold bringer of death, her triumphant "overworld medley" song being replaced by the quiet nature and sounds of Metroids merely living at home.

The black and white graphics look amazing at times - especially level 3 with its mechanical sand maze and the vertical, overgrown shafts. At its best there's a real sense of encroaching into disturbing territory, the way it feels to peer from a safe path into a deep patch of forest. The variety of 'nests' the game manages to convey is inspiring! The game fully understands its visual format and how to exploit it. Metroid fights remain tricky to cheese, with the metroid becoming invincible offscreen, always feeling claustrophobic and chaotic, thrilling.

There are a handful of rough edges (the lack of save points, occasional missile/energy grinding) but I think the rest of the game makes up for it. I love the setpieces with the Metroid counter resetting in the lair, or the omega metroid attacking you after killing the alpha, or the lair of the omegas. I do think that the art could have been a bit more interesting at parts, especially with all of the vine background layers in level 3 - some later levels feel a bit empty .

That being said, the atmosphere never feels overexplained. It was fun to stumble upon the massive Chozo compounds, with dangerous robots, butted right up against Metroid caves and lush caverns.

Shoutout to the ambient music, which works really well! Unsettling, dark stuff, really understanding the 'texture' of the game boy sound palette.

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Overall, it's a very strong game, but I can't give it the "5 stars'... I think it might be related to the economy of ammo and energy and how they inevitably shift way in your favor as you progress through the game - enemy encounters always feel a little less exciting once you have the screw attack, plasma beam, etc. It feels a bit counter to the narrative they're setting up with you diving into more dangerous lairs. The Omega metroid may look spooky, but it's not much of a threat with my 150 missiles, varia suit, and 500 energy.

Pleasantly surprised at parts with Metroid! Dark Souls bonfire runs have nothing towards the run through Tourian, or making your way through ridiculously precise rooms of Kraid or Ridley's Lair before having to win at equally ridiculous fights.

The silence of Metroid's world works great - the art feels creepier and more organic as you go deeper into the planet, only to at times be replaced by the metallic architecture of Ridley or Kraid. It really conveys the sense of being in an alien planet, one that we'll never see all of, and one that wants Samus dead.

I found the moveset to be really well designed - not being able to shoot down and Samus being two tiles high means you have to really be aware of what's at your feet as well as how that distance affects where you shoot and jump. The screw attack adds an interesting (if chaotic) extra layer of strategy to later levels - although it feels powerful at first, it has an element of the unreliable against the flying beetles, and can feel slightly stiff to pull off in certain situations.

Enemy patterns can be very difficult but I feel like every room had some kind of 'solution', even if it was very hard to pull off. I found some of the timing windows too intense - the very long, narrow corridor in Ridley's lair with endless flying beetle pipes come to mind. Likewise, it can be hard to get your bearings as your health meter quickly depletes, with the game severely lagging when multiple enemies are on screen, and Samus's slightly limited movement conflicting with enemies that are somewhat too quick.

Health is hard to come by: this feels balanced throughout brinstar and Norfair, but takes a turn for the worse in Ridley and Kraid's areas. Part of this was that I never found the Varia suit (50% damage reduction!), but I do think that some of the long runs from the elevator to the bosses were just Too long, especially when you have to grind your health back after dying.

I thought the long beam, bombs, ice beam, missiles were all great additions to the arsenal, having their place within combat. Having the ice beam the whole game led to a really weird dynamic of having to be more precise with shots so as to not unfreeze enemies.

Room designs were generally pretty varied, and I liked that! It really felt like I was just stumbling across loot that the pirates left around - not as much like it was just a big world full of upgrades to find, designed just for me. That worked thematically with the setting. I liked that some rooms had an element of humor - the hidden hole near an energy tank, the secret morph ball passage beneath an otherwise very hard gauntlet, etc.

The copy pasted rooms felt a bit cheap, but it did add to the sense of being in a maze. I had a lot of fun drawing out my own maps for this game.

Overall I was pleasantly surprised! There's a lot to this game that could be improved, but I don't think improvement looks like Super Metroid. Key to this game are the arcade-y, yet nonlinear, stretches of making it to the next elevator or boss, and the way the game demands you to intimately know how to handle enemies and be on your guard. Things can go south really fast relative to other metroid games.