Nothing, and I mean nothing, tops the feeling of finally assembling the Hydra in a City Trial with a minute or so left on the clock and then relentlessly hunting down your friends on the map so that you can ram them and instantly decimate their star machine and stat progress right before the minigame starts in a sadistic power trip

this game + a gameboy micro + a snowy winter's day + hot chocolate = the ultimate self care day

This star ranking is not an objective review: my original save file for this game had a Challenge Mode ranking of over 20 playthroughs, and that's saying nothing about my other save files. This game was the jam of my adolescence.

Oh yeah, and the soundtrack rips
https://youtu.be/Ti-jrTI0tpM

And here, dear readers, we can see the beginnings of my fascination with the stealth genre

As a kid, after thoroughly mastering every other aspect of this game, I would spend hours goofing around in the levels and using the goop physics to try and spread the paint around to the most obscure possible points on each map

If this game had the free roaming world maps of the previous Adventure game it would be an unironic 10/10 for me

This game scared the piss out of me when I was younger. I'm still mad that they gutted this game's unique aesthetic when making the sequels (probably because it was too scary!!!)

damn near every sound effect in this game is like an instant dopamine hit

it's like dark souls

When people say "Sonic was never good!!" it makes me want to break out my LOCK ON TECHNOLOGY cartridges, snap em together, and beat some sense into those fools. S3&K is pure gaming bliss from start to finish, just absolutely pumped full of content and secrets to discover with soundtrack a comprised exclusively of bangers.

it's genuinely incredible how this game is pure unhinged lunacy in every conceivable direction

a game so beautiful that I forgive all of its other faults. also you play as a dog. a god dog. a very good god dog. c'mon.

the way this game literally turns you, the player, into an adrenaline chasing, blood-drunk hunter by the end of the game is nothing short of a masterstroke of narrative + gameplay synergy

anyone else regularly rewatch the Tetris Effect announcement trailer and get just a little too emotional about it? no? just me?
https://youtu.be/Mr8fVT_Ds4Q

Maybe this is a hot take but Crash 2 is legitimately one of the best 3D platformers ever made