Hello! I’m Bahamutgreen (She/Her) and this is my little sideblog specifically just for posting about video game stuff. Video game news, video game screenshots, video game thoughts. Basically this is where I share stuff about video games that I don’t want massively clogging up my other accounts so I can just link it lol. Feel free to follow! Here’s some of my favorites to get to know me better!
Favorite game genres
RPGs (Turnbased RPGs especially)
Platformers (3D Platformers especially)
Fighting Games (2D Fighters especially)
Some Favorite RPGs
Mario RPGs (Favorite - Super Mario RPG)
Final Fantasy (Favorite - Final Fantasy 9)
Tales of (Favorite - Tales of Vesperia)
Some Favorite Platformers
Super Mario (Favorite - Super Mario Sunshine)
Sonic (Favorite - Sonic Adventure 2)
Ty the Tasmanian Tiger (Favorite - Ty the Tasmanian Tiger)
Any handheld pretty much (especially 3DS, PSP, and GBA)
I’ve been playing video games for most of my life, I got started with Super Mario World on the SNES and have been playing all kinds of games ever since. I love playing games, I love thinking about games, and lately I’ve also loved making games! Hope you enjoy your stay and feel free to ask me any random video game related questions you like!
PERSONAL TUMBLR /// ART TUMBLR
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Recently I was invited to stay in Japan for the summer! This was absolutely a once in a life time opportunity for me so of course I immediately snatched it up!
Now, I've only left Georgia maybe 3 times. I've been to Florida twice as a kid, and one time I accidentally drove to Tennessee and immediately turned back around. So of course, I've never flown before! So the trip here was my first ever time even getting near an airplane!
It was a fine ride. My seat neighbors were all nice and helped me out with stuff, I watched some movies, and I actually really liked the food! But it was pretty late into the flight when I discovered they actually had games built into the seat TVs! All with their own original studio making specialty airplane games!
So, of course, I just HAD to play them all and write up my thoughts on them!! These are all short and mostly just for fun. I didn't sleep on the entire 14 hour flight so I wasn't exactly super alert and awake while playing and writing these thoughts. But I hope you enjoy and find this funny!
Bird vs Bird
Simple but interesting enough. Control an orange bird and get it to the edge of the map 1 tile at a time while black birds spawn to stop you. It's kinda boring but inoffensive. I finished Orange Bird Story but there's a level in Black Bird Story that I legit think is impossible without being able to place 2 birds at once.
Casino
Basic as fuck casino minigames. Only things of note are that is has horseracing, I never got ANY matches other than cherries on the slots after doing nonstop pulls, and interestingly enough the game seems to have a money counter that presumably makes your little protagonist avatar become wealthier? I didn't have the patience to try for it though cause early in your max bet is so low and idk when it raises.
Chess
It's chess. I don't know how to play chess. I meant to play with my mom before leaving but never got around to it. Sorry mom. When I get back home let's play Chess right away, okay?
Hue Drops
Interesting puzzle game where you have a board of blobs of different colors, change colors to link blobs together, and the board must end on a specific color. It took a bit to understand but once you get it its okay. The randomness makes some levels seemingly straight up impossible however. But I think there's some potential here.
Juan's Magic Lab
Basically a non game, I have no idea how this isn't listed in the kids section when its obviously made for really little children. Make a weird chimera, Juan is happy, Juan gets a fly as a reward for your chimera? And you get nothing. There's a mode where you have to match another chimera, and a mode where you have to memorize a chimera and recreate it. This would be tough if the chimeras didn't react when you were right so its impossible to lose this one YOUR GAME SUCKS, JUAN!!
Luggage Lane
WAIT this is the best game in the lot, genuinely. It's a simple premise. You play as baggage check, and you have to tag bags appropriately. Some levels are by contents (represented by a little image) and some levels are by weight (these beat my ass). If you mess up, you have to grab it from the back row before your boss sees it. If your boss catches an error 3 times you lose. It's simple but fun and the later levels get gross with conveyors having mismatched timing and TONS of bags. What sets this over the top is the features though. 10 levels with ranking systems, achievements, a leaderboard, and a cute lady as the protagonist! This is a game game!
Shanghai
It's mahjong. I don't know how to play mahjong.
Solitaire Classic
It's solitaire. I don't know how to play solitaire.
Tick Rack Toe
Now THIS is a fascinating concept!! It's connect 4 (not tick tack toe...) but it's more in depth and interesting. You must get 3 rows in order to win, and there are power ups you can get to interfere with the board! This is the second most interesting game here and certainly one I'd like to see expanded on! The only issue is that the CPU absolutely never makes a bad play, even on the easiest difficulty. So you have to genuinely outplay it which is not easy. And this is the only game in the kid's section!! It DOES have multiplayer though! Local and seemingly with others on the flight so that's neat!
Walk the Vine
Potentially the worst game here. But maybe I'm just harsh on it because it was the last one I played and I was tired by then. This is similar to bird vs bird, but less fun and less thematically cohesive. Play as a Chameleon trying to eat a bird. Each turn you can go across a rope, and each turn the bird can cut a rope. Simple enough but its not fun. I don't think level 1 is actually beatable as the chameleon, genuinely, and the vines have such a small button to cut them as the bird. And whats the correlation between chameleons and birds anyway? Shouldn't you have gone with a bug that could reasonably cut the vines like a stag or a mantis. This is the game I played and enjoyed the least.
I do think it's very interesting that there's no game ports here, and it's all original stuff instead. Could you imagine if they only made original movies instead of just licensing movies? That'd be insane. And while I can tell these are all meant to be slightly easier mobile games, so you can't port Elden Ring to Delta Airlines... No Angry Birds? No Fruit Ninja? No Among Us with flight exclusive lobbies?? It seems like a missed opportunity.
EDIT: HEY WHY DID TUMBLR DELETE MY WHOLE SECTION FOR ORIGINAL GAME IDEA!?!?! I DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE UNTIL NOW!!
Basically my concept is that it's a shorter kind of JRPG with traditional turnbased combat. Nothing too intense like action commands or anything cause the screens kinda suck ass and you need to be able to pause it at a moment's notice. Just regular turnbased combat with special abilities and items and the like. And then between battles you can land in cities and towns to buy gear for your aeromorph and talk to NPCs and learn a little about the world around you. Which, aesthetically speaking, would be full of old ruins and really prioritizing the different islands you land and fly over having different cultures and such!
You play as a cute Aeromorph fighting sky pirates as she soars around the world. Either to stop the sky pirates from attacking her friends, or because you're collecting stuff around the globe and the sky pirates are attacking you to steal it from you. However big you want to make the mystery. I would love an RPG that's like, 10-13 hours, perfect for my flight length, but I think something much much shorter is probably better.
An idea I had when I first wrote this was what if the game actually used the real time flight tracker? The aeromorph flies in real time with your plane and as you fly you get random encounters and power ups. I hate to say it but some roguelike elements of some kind would probably work pretty well since it's meant to be a little short and sweet. Only issue is like, what if you die? You can't just start the flight over again. Maybe it impacts your score? But who gives a shit.
Just some basic concepts. Again I'm so sorry tumblr just axed this whole section from the post and only kept my initial shitty idea of making chimeras with fucking Juan to fight in Pokemon battles. I don't LIKE that idea cause I don't LIKE Juan FUCK YOU JAUN YOUR GAME SUCKS!!
Thank you so much for reading! There's a lot of interesting stuff that's certainly gaming related happening in Japan. From used game stores, to arcades! And I'll absolutely be sure to share it all here in time! I hope you look forward to it!!
Another month, another round of gaming. I feel like I've made this joke already this year so I'm gonna stop myself there. I've got a LOT of things I wanna play soon but I also have big plans coming up right at the start of next month so I wouldn't mind trying to wrap up my afterthoughts that aren't finished so I can approach new gaming opportunities with a fresh mind. And what better place to start than with everything I managed to cram into April!
As always, these aren't reviews. Just me spitting my thoughts, please play anything I talk about that interests you!!
Mario Kart Arcade GP (October 10, 2005) - Arcade
A little while ago Dolphin upgraded to be able to emulate Triforce Arcade hardware! This is pretty exciting to me as I haven't had a ton of time with these kind of games. And as I've been giving Mario Kart World another shot recently, Mario Kart was on the brain. So... Why not give these a whirl from the comfort of my own home?
Stuff I like
+ I think it's a GREAT looking game. It's got this Double Dash/MKWii aesthetic I really enjoy. And it actually has some WONDERFUL track aesthetics. This is easily my favorite looking Mario Circuit in the series. And Rainbow Road going through floating islands and under water makes it one of the most whimsical Rainbow Roads in my opinion!
+ Pac-Man is here, along with Ms. Pac-Man, and Blinky. And you absolutely cannot hate Pac-Man. In fact, Pac Mountain is the best designed track in the game in my opinion. I'd LOVE to see this stuff come to a console Mario Kart eventually.
+ This game actually has some VERY interesting gameplay concepts. I was a pretty big fan of drifting giving you a temporary shield, it's a very neat idea and makes me want to try and drift anywhere I can!
+ But the most interesting mechanic to me is the fact that you actually unlock items and build your own custom item set ups. 3 items per race of your choosing. And some characters even come with exclusive items! Princess Peach has a Princess Drink that makes her invincible, which was a personal favorite of mine.
+ Robo Mario is such a cool design! It's a shame he's never been playable.
+ There's also minigames after each cup and they're pitifully easy and not very fun. But I do appreciate them having mission mode styled stuff. Sure.
Stuff I didn't like
- In spite of everything. The item selection kinda sucks. It's a lot of the same things. A lot of "throw this and it acts like a green shell" "throw this and it acts like a red shell" and then you get like, 10 items that do that same thing. Your best bet is focusing on defensive items like shields and what not. But in the end it's random what items you unlock I think. Across both games, I NEVER unlocked a basic mushroom. Which is insane to me.
- The tracks are not that great in my opinion. They're not bad, but they're not really that amazing to me. I think the Mario and Rainbow Road ones are pretty good mainly visually, and the Pac-Man one is the most solid. But the others are kinda just whatever? Wario's is neat because it's implied to be Diamond City from WarioWare which is cool but it's a meh track.
- And I know for a FACT the reason I feel like that is because the format of the single player experience in this game sucks. Each cup is the same track over and over, with 1 variant on the track sprinkled in. The differences come from the items they let you use during it. And it makes the game SUCH a chore to go through. More tracks, or even just having 2 cups only. Day Cup, with the first versions of each track. And Night Cup, with the second versions. I think something like that would've been MUCH better.
Overall I think the game is OK. I think if you like Mario Kart, it's absolutely worth your time. It's a really fun and interesting entry in the series history!
AND OH MY GOD IT'S SO MUCH BETTER THAN MARIO KART ARCADE GP 2!!
Mario Kart Arcade GP 2 (March 14, 2007) - Arcade
What an absolutely pointless video game. This sequel is basically the exact same thing as the last game with only a handful of new additions. 2 characters, 2 tracks, new unlockables, and maybe new items? I don't recall. If Arcade 1 kinda dragged on towards the end, I was basically clocked out for a lot of Arcade 2.
Stuff I like
+ The new characters are great! Waluigi is always a welcome addition and Mametchi is a very fun inclusion!
+ The new tracks are alright too! Yoshi's is just okay (though I do love the haunted house part using the Luigi's Mansion ghosts.) However, Waluigi's steals the show. Being an alright track with a KILLER aesthetic. Basically being Waluigi Stadium again but this time with robot dinosaurs for no reason. I love it.
+ Being able to unlock an alternate car for each character is fun!
Stuff I didn't like
- But like, it's the exact same fucking game. All the other tracks are IDENTICAL. And you go through them IDENTICALLY. It's the same game!! Yes, there's changes to the menus and there's red coins and other changes. But at it's core it's the same thing!! It's so boring!!!
- One of the new changes is the ability to select your Course Class. Which of course, I already beat Arcade 1, so I went with 150cc. The tracks are NOT designed to work with 150cc and it shows. The final turn in the Wario track made me lose every single time.
- Weird to me there's no Tamagotchi track?? Anything to avoid making more new stuff.
- The mini games are also identical, except the Bowser fight is now made impossible for some reason?? Okay?????
- There's only 1 unlockable car for everyone anyway so what's the point??? DAMN!!!
I'dunno. While I enjoyed Arcade 1, I just don't see any purpose to this game. An absolute bore because, again, it's the exact same thing again. I guess you are better off just skipping to this one? As it is probably better since it's the same game with more content. But of course since I played this one second it kinda rubbed me the wrong way. Oh well.
One day I'd like to try Arcade 3 as well, but that doesn't seem to be on Triforce hardware so I'll have to find another way to play it.
Mega Man Battle Network (March 21, 2001) - Gameboy Advance
Now here's a game I've been LONG overdue to play! Since I first got back into Megaman when a good friend got me the X collection years ago, I knew I REALLY wanted to check this series out. It's a Megaman RPG on GBA... That's painfully up my alley! But for whatever reason, I just never got around to it until now! And I'm VERY glad I finally took the plunge!
Stuff I like
+ Absolutely DELIGHTFUL game visually. The sprites in of themselves are fantastic. But I'm really taken by the character designs and aesthetics. I'm a huge sucker for this era of media about the internet and how it understood technology. It's a lovely look and just fills me with this nice feeling I can't exactly describe.
+ I particularly wanna highlight those character designs because I think the Net Navis have such lovely designs and are really interesting spins on classic Mega Man characters. I think the way Mega himself looks like a scuba diver is very interesting. And even the humans themselves are cute and the viruses look GREAT!!
+ Great music, the main theme has been stuck in my head NONSTOP since I beat it.
+ The story and world are also nice. There's a real excitement for technology here, similar to Pokemon, while warning about dangers that come with better technology, while not shaming technology. It's clear they love tech, and can see dangers present with it, but it shows the technology is worth protecting in a way I quite like. Also, always online technology getting hacked is like, my nightmare for real. I've been horrified of the bus hacking chapter for years now. This is a horror game.
+ The gameplay isn't what I was expecting, but I like it!! I knew it was deck based and also had a little grid you moved around kinda in an action/strategy hybrid. But the way deck building and hands mid-combat worked was not at all what I was expecting. But it was cool and I think there's SO much potential for the sequels. This is REALLY solid ground work!!
+ Enemy patterns can be genuinely fun to dodge and solve, it evokes something similar to undertale in the way two different enemies can become total menaces when their bullets are fired together.
+ Similarly customizing Mega Man to your liking is a TON of fun! I mainly focused on filling him up with shotgun and cannon blasts so I could get full hands of them. But it was also padded with some health and other weapons for fun.
Stuff I didn't like
- I feel like this game does kind of fall into a trap that a lot of games with this "real world vs fantasy world" set up fall into. Where the noncombat sections (the parts with Lan) can kind of be a drag. They're not overly long but they're certainly less exciting that the Mega Man sections and sometimes navigating them can be a pain in the ass. There's a LOT of parts where it's like:
>Let's go to location A
>Huh, no one's here, let's return to location B
>Oh! Now that we're in B, we got an email telling us there's something in A now
>Return to location A
A lot of meandering and running about as Lan. To put it concisely.
- Similarly, while the Mega Man parts are a lot of fun. Holy shit navigating the internet is a mess. It's cute at first but by the time you're reaching deeper levels, even using access points feels like a real chore.
- While they keep new enemies coming through the game a pretty good amount, I feel like the enemy pool is pretty shallow. And you find a lot of the same enemies reappearing a lot over and over.
- I think this games' biggest strength is also it's biggest weakness. I LOVE customizing Mega Man, but it's also a pretty disappointing part of the game. Mega Man himself gets a lot of the same weapons over the course of the game, I only started finding new stuff REALLY late and it was like, a hammer. And he doesn't actually USE enemy moves, he summons enemies to do moves for him... This might be a nitpick but it REALLY took me out of it. I feel like this is just a really weird flavor choice, you know?
- Similarly, shields don't even change Mega Man's color!! This is all so bizarre! I feel like the customization isn't as robust as I'd like it to be.
- Menus are a little messy to navigate. An option to multi select chips or even just premade organization methods would go SUCH a long way!!
- The ElecMan dungeon sucked ass
And that's that! I had a lot of nitpicks with this game but overall I REALLY enjoyed it. I'm very hopeful for what improvements we can see in the sequel. And it makes me a little happy imagining how fun this probably was to actually play on GBA back in the day. I know there was some crazy stuff with like, actual battle chips you could use in these games. I'm eager to look into stuff like that, at least to watch if I can't demo it myself. Regardless, very cool game!!
Hello, Mario! (August 26, 2025) - Mobile
Okay but enough of this BABY shit! It's time for a REAL game!! You know I'm pretty serious about Mario so I gotta play anything I can get my hands on with the dude in it. So when I saw they released PEAK for free on phones? I had to give it a go!!
Stuff I like
+ Very cute game, it's actually kinda funny to just have a whole app dedicated to the Mario 64 face thing. I honestly wouldn't mind if they did this more in depth with a 3D model more so based on Mario 64, if that makes any sense. It'd just be funny to play with.
+ Pretty nice and relaxing honestly. It's cute and the music is nice and chill. I quite like it.
+ Okay so dropping the jokes. I do think this is probably a really good game for babies. I've only ever seen a baby phone game being played by a baby one time in my life. At a Pizza Parlor a baby came up to me to show me what she was playing on her tablet and I thought the game looked pretty dumb. I'll say it. She could've been playing the Crazy Taxi phone port. Is she stupid?? But I feel like from what I saw there, I could see this REALLY entertaining a baby and just being fun and silly to give them a good time.
Stuff I didn't like
- It's made for 3 year olds what do you want me to say??? It doesn't do anything bad or wrong. I think it's a good time. There's not much to do in it? I guess? But I feel like the less you cram into it the less confusing it's be for a baby. Right?
Well at least it doesn't have a sequel that's an exact copy. Unlock Mario Kart Fruadcade GP am I right?
Hello, Yoshi! (April 9, 2026) - Mobile
NINTENDO CAN'T KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH THIS!!!!
I'm just being a little silly. Yeah it is the exact same game once again. But like, what is a baby gonna complain about the fucking Mario Mandates or something? It has Yoshi so I still wanted to check it out. And it's also fun.
Stuff I like
+ While I probably prefer the Mario one just cause it reminds me of Mario 64. This one is probably objectively better because... It's got Yoshi in it. And there's actually 1 more thing to do in it!!
+ You can actually get different Yoshi colors by exploring the menus which is fun! And it even features the White Yoshi! Which is awesome! No Black Yoshi though, which is fine. I don't care that my favorite Yoshi just... Never appeared during the entire Switch era. But still, having White Yoshi GENUINELY gives this game a point over Smash Ultimate in terms of character cosmetics. I'm serious.
Stuff I didn't like
- Uh... It's like..... fucked up that parents rely on phones to raise their kids? Right??? Like why are we raising our kids on products and IP, you know??
I genuinely hope that the fact there's 2 versions of this game means we'll get more versions with other characters. I WILL be playing Hello, Peach! an it WILL be Game Of The Year!!
Cosmo Gang The Puzzle (February 26, 1993) - SNES
So there I was, minding my own business. Looking through what was available on Nintendo Switch Online. Then, I saw her there!! Cosmo Gang, a Cosmo Gang game on NSO!! Go figure!
Some of you may recall I became pretty obsessed with Cosmo Gang when I first played it last year at a local arcade. So of course when I saw this I just HAD to jump on it!
Stuff I like
+ It's COMPLETELY different from Cosmo Gang proper, as the name suggests. It's a puzzle game. Combos of blocks and Gang members and occasionally an energy ball. Blocks can be disappeared when you make a full line of them. But Gang members can only be removed by hitting them with the energy ball. Which will turn around when it hits blocks. It's interesting. Your goal in single player being to eliminate all the gang members as quick as possible. It's a really unique falling block puzzle game.
+ Music is pretty bumping, my partner kept noting the funky music when I was playing it on call with them.
+ Very nice music and sprites, I adore the Cosmo Gang's design. I really do.
+ The backgrounds are also very pretty :)
Stuff I didn't like
- This might just be the worst single player puzzle experience I've ever seen in my life. So, there's 100 levels. Cool! And each level is a uniquely made puzzle that can only be beaten in a pretty rigid manner. A little brutal but with trial and error you'll eventually beat a stage. Right? NO. What you'd expect is the game to give you predetermined blocks and let you figure out how to solve the level. Instead blocks are still randomized. Meaning that if you just DON'T get the right blocks. You just lose for no fault of your own. It's INSANE. It's NOT FUN. IT SUCKS!!
But even though Cosmo Gang has failed me here. It was still a neat experience. And I can't stay mad at Cosmo Gang. Glad to have tried it!!
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (November 15, 2004) - Gamecube
Last year I played Metroid Prime and was able to beat it after years of trying with no success. And I was quite impressed with it! It was a fun and cool time! So I was VERY excited to play the sequel because it's like the first but DARK and FUCKED UP and samus is EVIL and that's HOT... So how did it live up?
Stuff I like
+ Similar to the first it's a remarkably good looking game! I know we praise this era for its cartoony stuff aging well but I feel like this generation doesn't get enough credit for its realistic stuff also aging surprisingly well in my opinion!
+ Holy FUCK the music is so good. I'm obsessed with the creepy alien synths they use in the sound tracks for these games
+ I like the Luminoth a lot, they're fun. They're tall. They're cute. I wish they weren't all so sad or worse :(
+ Samus' suits are NICE in this game. No way around it. The Dark Suit is sick and the Light Suit is WONDERFUL!!
+ I'm a big fan of the fact that upgrades are like, clunky things grafted to the armor. Like the booster is a big jetpack, or the grappling hook is a big chunk of metal attached to the gun arm.
+ Dark Samus fucking rules! No ifs, ands, or buts!! Cool design, cool concept, really intimidating. All her fights are easily the best in the game.
Stuff I didn't like
- But i'dunno this game just kinda sucked in my opinion. It never really clicked honestly. For a number of reasons.
- I think the story is fine enough, with the Luminoth chilling until the Ing came and fucked them up. But there's a lot of weirdness here that just doesn't make a lot of sense to me. The game starts up SO STRONG with the animated corpses of the Federation. But they're a non issue. The Space Pirates are all over this game but like... Why? The Ing are the main villains, I don't really get with the space pirates are here... Why is Dark Samus here? Phazon was a CRUCIAL part of the first game but here it's SUCH an afterthought. I thought Phazon was gonna be our source of darkness. But no... It's unrelated to the dark energy the game is all about. Super weird.
- The Dark and Light world contrast didn't do anything for me. Dark World is like, kinda stressful the first time. But you lose HP so slowly it's basically a non issue, and eventually it's LITERALLY a non issue. And overall it just feels, idk... Weird to me? It's fantastic in a way that took me out, as opposed to the fantasy elements in Zero Mission and Prime 1.
- Holy shit combat is such a fucking drag in this game. Every enemy takes 500 hours to kill for NO reason. "Oh use the dark or light beams" okay good I'll use my limited ammo to kill them in 400 hours instead. Really helpful. Particularly the dark pirates where you sit there with the dark visor like a jack ass watching them jump around, hit them once, then watch them jump around more. Or the stupid tentacle monsters that just, can decide you didn't hit them for ages at a time until they arbitrarily decide to take damage. Some enemies are creative, the weird spider top robots are neat. The robots that shut down Samus' OS is very creative. But even these enemies take AGES to kill and are NOT FUN to fight EVER at ANY POINT of the game.
- Oh my god what if there was like... a BIG enemy. That took 1000 hours instead? Yes this game has boss battles! And in my opinion pretty much all of them are a total chore!! Dark Samus is fun, and maybe the one where you have to dash across the spider tracks with proper timing are cool. And kind of the big bug in the lake was neat. BUT ALL THE OTHER ONES ARE SO BORING!! I think it's neat that they all are monsters using your stolen powers. Having to fight an evil version of your moveset is usually my favorite trope in video games! But here you're not truly fighting evil versions of your moves cause they don't even work like your moves and in my opinion they're just NOT fun to fight. I felt like they were all a drag.
- The morph ball. Why is there SO MANY morph ball fights in this game? The morph ball isn't really fun to use in my opinion. but holy shit the dev team is OBSESSED WITH IT. There's like, 3 fights dedicated to it and I didn't enjoy any of them. I actively groaned every single time they made me use it in this game.
- The Ing are lame. Straight up. Their designs aren't cool. They look boring and their fights are annoying and boring. I think Prime 1 having you on a planet totally controlled by pirates made the game really tense. But here the Ing aren't even on half the planet. And every time the pirates appear it was like "why are they here?"
I feel bad. But this game just felt like a chore. Prime 1 felt like a chore but that felt like me getting used to the genre. This felt like a chore just because it was a chore. I hate to say it but I just didn't get into this one the way I did with the other games from this series I've played so far. But again, that could just be how I feel because I don't play Metroid much. Still glad to have gotten the experience.
I want to shout out Primehack once again for making the game control like a traditional FPS because I truly think this game would've been insufferable otherwise. Though keyboard controls can't do much for all those Morphball fights. Oh well!
Cosmo Gang: The Video (March 18, 1992) - Arcade
So there I was, minding my own business. Looking through what was available on Fightcade. Then, I saw her there!! Cosmo Gang, a Cosmo Gang game on Fightcade!! Go figure!
Now THIS is a little more of what I'm looking for in a Cosmo Gang video game!! A falling block puzzle game is a neat idea but a Galaga styled shmup? That's WAY more appropriate, I think!
Stuff I like
+ EXACTLY what I would want from this kind of game. A shmup with LOTS of wacky enemy variety and lots of fun power ups too. A goofy shooter just suits Cosmo Gang so well!
+ Once again, delightful sprites, visuals, and music. Cosmo Gang kind of can't miss in this department.
+ Gang members talk more which is lovely! In The Puzzle they kind of just scream. But here you hear them actually talk which is one of my favorite parts of the original Cosmo Gang! My favorite are the enemies in power suits, that when you destroy the suit they go "I'm so sorry!!" and try to run away.
+ Having bonus stages that play like the original Cosmo Gang was such a nice treat! And the fact they all have different styles was a ton of fun!
+ THE FINAL BOSS WAS THE DON!? NEW COSMO GANG LORE???? THIS IS CRAZY!!!!
Stuff I didn't like
- This game is fucking brutal. Absolute bullet hell levels. But I actually really felt like, just due to the randomness of bullets, some patterns were undodgeable. Which I might say is a skill issue due to the nature of bullet hell, but it is an arcade game trying to get your money... So...
- While the enemy variety is great, I did think the weapon variety left a bit to be desired. There's a speed upgrade, and a black hole which was my favorite one... And I don't remember any of the others so that should tell you lol. More wacky powerups please!!
Sadly, this might be it for my Cosmo Gang journey for the time being. There are 2 more games in the series: Cosmo Police and Dodongadon. However, both of them are physical redemption games like the first Cosmo Gang. And while that first game is what made me fall in love with the series, it was SUCH a rare opportunity to live near an arcade with a working cabinet. And I don't take that for granted, but I just don't know what the odds are of finding both of these in the wild. However, they are certainly new Arcade Cabinet holy grails I'd like to play on. Up there with Killer Instinct, which I did actually get to play on the original cabinet, even if it was the Xbox version internally. And a friend showed me her local arcade seems to have a KI cabinet with the original game inside, so I at least know where to look for that. There's always stuff to find out there in the world of Arcade Games!
Fantasy Zone (March 28, 1986) - PC
After Cosmo Gang, I was curious what other shooters are on Fightcade, as they actually have a whole section for it! And to my delight, the entire Fantasy Zone franchise is there! I've only played the first and the last one before, so I took this chance to experience them all back to back like this.
If you don't know, I'm pretty big into Shmups, and I like Opa-Opa a lot, so I was excited to learn more context for his horrible war trauma.
Stuff I like
+ For starters, Fantasy Zone looks great. You'll find this whole franchise is delightful to look at with colorful graphics, whimsical character designs, and of course, Opa-Opa rules.
+ Music is really nice, the song "Don't Stop" is a song I really like and it's a song you hear a few times in the series.
+ I always say this, but shmups are such a versatile genre that you can do SO much in. And I think Fantasy Zone is a great early example of this. It's a horizontal scroller, but you can move freely across the entire map. Instead of reaching the end, it's about destroying specific objects in the world. It's a really unique spin on the concept.
+ The sudden plot they throw at you RIGHT at the end with Opa-Opa's dad and "was my victory worth the price I had to pay?" is SO jarring it's genuinely wonderful. I'm also a big fan of games that don't need deep plots having them for some reason.
Stuff I didn't like
- It can be a bit physically painful, as mashing to shoot rapidly is the way to win. And you don't really get auto fire mode until later into the series.
- In my opinion the series never got particularly good with equipment. I think having a store to buy gear is one of this series' strongest points. But most equipment is underwhelming or lasts for such a short time it's kinda worthless. I think having weaker weapon types that you can keep permanently would be HUGE for this series.
- This game is fucking BRUTAL. I'll be 100% I cheated through the whole series. It's a tough franchise!!
Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa (October 17, 1987) - Arcade
Stuff I like
+ Hugely improved graphics and music, as you'd expect
+ While it's not life changing, the different worlds are a fun new dynamic
+ Having a good and bad ending kinda rules actually, I wasn't expecting that. I got the bad ending. Final phase of the final boss is neat too.
Stuff I didn't like
- This game does some odd stuff, like, how would I ever know to cry on the final boss? Or save the dark worlds and not the light worlds?
- I actually think the dark/light world is pretty underwhelming in general here. I think having to travel between the 2 worlds to find enemy spawners makes so much sense, I'm kinda sad they didn't go with that. Oh well.
- Shop is basically the exact same thing, they even reuse the weird bug final boss thing for the first phase.
Fantasy Zone: The Maze (July, 1987) - Console
Stuff I like
+ Well, it's certainly a unique take on the Maze Game formula. Imagine Pac-Man but you can shoot the ghosts sometimes. The pellets are actually coins here that you spend to buy super pellets, basically. It's a cool twist on the formula even if the game is kinda boring.
Stuff I didn't like
- I'dunno I just couldn't really get into this one. It's a neat concept, but idk it just didn't click.
- Maze designs are kinda boring, and the enemy patterns can be pretty unfair. Sometimes full blown covering up their energy zone, which you need to touch to stop them from spawning enemies. When enemies spawn proper, that's a death sentence.
- Opa-Opa's hitbox is larger than it looks. Like the opposite of a shmup.
- Didn't even really have that fucked up of a story. What gives??
Fantasy Zone Gear (July 19, 1999) - Game Gear
Stuff I like
+ Hear me out... Hear me out!!! This is the first one to kinda do upgrades really well? Like being able to swap them out just from pressing pause makes a lot of sense to me. Idk.
+ Also for being a tiny version of Fantasy Zone, it's pretty good, and totally unique bosses and stuff. This is a full fledged entry!!
Stuff I didn't like
- I'd say this game's biggest flaw is being on a tiny screen, it can make it hard to see where enemies are and stuff. But overall this entry is pretty good, not much to comment on.
Super Fantasy Zone (January 14, 1992) - Genesis
Stuff I like
+ As you'd expect, graphics and music are big step ups here. We've got it really nice in the audio and visuals department!
+ TONS of upgrades available here! Not just boosters and temporary weapons. But even permanent ship upgrades like rubber boots (which is useless basically but it's the thought that counts) and even a genuinely useful new bomb type! Not perfect but really appreciated!!
+ Some unique concepts for levels too! Like one where everything is pitch black, or one where the ground can't be landed on if you don't buy the rubber boots (so the gimmick is gone if you buy them but it's the thought that counts)
+ Feels the most reasonable to actually beat. Difficulty isn't nearly as harsh as before.
+ Being able to to buy turbo as a ship upgrade is a fun way of handling this, I like it more than having it be an option in the menu
Stuff I didn't like
- Story leaves a bit to be desired. It's not THAT fucked up and technically is a cliff hanger and... this is the final entry in the series. Whoops
- It's disappointing that the upgrade system by this point. Though again I do appreciate all the stuff in the shop.
- It's hard to kinda criticize it cause it's so similar to the previous entries?
But yeah, that was Fantasy Zone. I wouldn't mind a new entry in this series eventually. I think I'd wanna see a major overhaul of upgrades, where you can actually buy permanent main weapon upgrades. And more variety in the way levels are set up. It's NUTS to me that across all these games we never saw a SINGLE vertical stage?? Fuck I wouldn't even mind seeing a 3D Fantasy Zone with more aerial maneuvers for Opa-Opa to preform. And of course, a deep, long story about war trauma.
Windosill (May 26, 2009) - PC
During a call with my partners, we mentioned games that we've replayed over and over. And one of them brought up Windosill, which is a game I'd never heard of! And so, of course, I had to sit down and give it a quick look see myself!
Stuff I like
+ Really short but sweet. Each room is it's own contained puzzle that can be solved pretty quick, letting you get through the game pretty fast!
+ The puzzles are VERY creative, the final puzzle and the puzzle with the 3 friends were a personal favorite. And some of them can be surprisingly tough to figure out your first go through. Or at least they were for my baby brain.
+ It's very charming, nice animations and funny looking creatures, plus the limited use of color, all make it a real treat to look at!
Stuff I didn't like
- There's not much here to not enjoy really. The closest I can give to a critique is there's no music? But I think that suits the game perfectly fine, you'll find :)
A really nice little experience! I had a great time with this game and it was fun just going through it for my partners. If ever you feel like you don't have time for games nowadays, I highly suggest trying stuff like this to ease yourself in with something slow and simple. Less is more sometimes!!
Another month of hard gaming, am I right, gamers? Got a few games for you all this month! Very gamerific if I do say so myself.
I'm also gonna try a new format for this one, just to see if it makes it a little cleaner and pleasant to look at visually. If you care, let me know what you think!
As always, these aren't reviews, just my thoughts. Please play anything I talk about that interests you!!
.hack//INFECTION (June 20, 2002) - PS2
This year I've been slowly getting into the dothack franchise! I've been finding it kind of fun to play a game and then enjoy it's corresponding anime. Similar to what I did for Gungrave and its anime or Spongebob and its anime. And part of me just felt like dothack would be like, the ultimate game to do that with as it's a MASSIVE multimedia project. I've been following .hack//LIST as a guide on what to do and while I have no intention of rushing it, it has been an interesting experience so far. I'm only on Legend of the Twilight volume 1 and that one is... kinda boring but I have a lot of nostalgia for it cause it's the first manga I ever read when I was a kid! But anyway yeah INFECTION:
Stuff I like
+ I'm not an MMO player but it was really interesting to get a single player MMO experience that tries really hard to convince you it is actually an MMO. Such as NPCs acting as if they're real players, or you not being able to get in touch with teammates when they're offline, and the most charming aspect:
+ Using your computer and actually logging into The World! I'm such a sucker for fake OS stuff I think. I loved checking my emails and forum posts and reading all the news articles outside of The World. And I think having this fake OS allows them to avoid particularly long and boring real world sections like Digimon Cyber Sleuth had at times.
+ I think the gameplay is also pretty good, maybe a little basic, but I think the set dressing makes it feel compelling. I think managing your party with commands feels nice to do once you really get a hang of it and is particularly what helps the game feel more frantic and fun to play. As you really won't get far if you manage them poorly.
+ Where this game really shines is in its designs for everything. The World is very nice looking, and it was fun to run around locations we say in .hack//SIGN. Even the fake OS has a delightful early 2000's look to it. But where this game and franchise really shine are in the character designs. They're not all life changing bangers. But Kite and Blackrose surely are some of the cleanest character designs of all time (Piros was my go-to 3rd member and while his design kinda sucks Piros is my guy for all time)! Plus, Skeith looks really cool and was such a stressful final boss in a good way!
Stuff I didn't like
- This is one of those games where you get BILLIONS of equipment pieces which is always such a chore to deal with in games imo. However, I do think .hack does this better than any game that's had this type of endless loot gain system, as selling loot is the only way to gain money here. But still, it's a chore to manage.
- And you NEED to keep gear on you, because you NEED a spell of every element, and you only get spells based on your equipment. Now this might not sound horrible, but some enemies are straight up IMPOSSIBLE unless you have their weakness. And I'm not really exaggerating. I spent like, 1-2 hours on one infected boss battle hitting it with melee then running away because I didn't have the right spell. It was not great.
- Even fairly weak enemies can just utterly crush you in seconds while you miss every single attack you throw at them endlessly.
- And of course, your teammates can be pretty stupid so you have to be really particular about your commands. I know it might be a little broken but I think a "run away from enemies!" command would be CRUCIAL for the sequel.
- Grinding for Virus Cores... This shit sucks. They're not required for like, 80-90% of the game so I just didn't bother going for them instead of getting EXP from fights. Only to at the end be completely roadblocked by having to find all the ones I needed. The fact there's 26 total makes me REALLY nervous for the sequels, also.
Overall, it's a very fun game, and I'm REALLY eager to continue with the series because it's SO awesome to me you can transfer save data between them all! I'll give my thoughts on the other .hack things as I get to them. But for now, I'm pleased with this game and I'm looking forward to getting to Mutation next whenever I get around to it.
Mario vs Donkey Kong (May 24, 2004) - Gameboy Advance
You may remember a little while ago I played Donkey Kong on Gameboy and REALLY enjoyed it. That was actually my first time touching this series, cause even though this game was the new thing when I was a kid, I just never had any interest in it. However, I was chatting with my girlfriend and it came up and so... here we are
Stuff I liked
+ Similar to the prior game, the short puzzley levels with lots of crazy jumping and movement Mario can do makes it pretty fun. The Minis aren't necessarily the most exciting thing ever but I do think they're fun enough to make their levels a fun different challenge.
+ Surprising amount of stuff to do in it. 2 sets of worlds each with their own mini, 3 present boxes, and a high score to achieve. Maybe there's even more stuff I don't recall.
+ The presentation is easily the best part. It's SUCH a weird game in a good way. There's cutscenes (slide shows but still, they use the 3D models of the era which is nice) and the sheer amount of shit Mario says in this game is SO good. "Here we go again!... again!!" Genuinely got a chuckle out of me. In addition to the goofy stuff the Minis say and DK's various grunts and what have you. The whole game just doesn't feel real to me. But not in a bad way.
Stuff I didn't like
- It's still kinda ugly though lol. I'm not really a huge fan of GBA 3D just because I think GBA sprites are SOOOO good they absolutely clear anything the 3D on the console could do. So while the game is nice looking, the actual in game graphics are a little muddy and ugly at times
- It is kind of a downgrade from the first. Maybe it's just because the first one was so surprising to me, but I felt like this one just couldn't live up in the same way. Like, the final boss theme here is GOOD, but not nearly as good as the first game's final boss theme. And I think it's because I had some expectations this time.
- GOD DAMN the minis are stupid. They just love to kill themselves, and some of the levels I seriously could not wrap my head around how to solve them at all. It was pretty brutal for my tiny brain
- Why does DK do a loud, long, genuinely pained and horrifying scream every time he takes damage in this game??? Why are we actually killing him???
But yeah it's a neat game. I think it's really interesting cause I just feel like, even though it's a remarkably tame game all things considering, the amount of voice lines is just NOT something we'd see nowadays if this had been made today. From what I'm seeing the remake seems to HEAVILY gut a lot of the unique voice clips which like??? For what reason? Stupid. Will I continue with this series?? Maybe... If my girlfriend talks me into it.
Super MarioMon (December 15, 2025) - PC
A bit of a detour from my Pokemon playthroughs! At the request of my partner, who is a BIG fan of Pokemon roms, I gave Super MarioMon a shot! As you probably know by now, I am a bit of a Mario RPG head. And for a while there considered them to be my favorite kinds of games ever (SMRPG is still my #1.) But the realm of fan made Mario RPGs is one I've only lightly dipped my toes into. So I was very curious to see if a Pokemon Mod could scratch that itch for me. I'll go ahead and say it now, it absolutely does!
Stuff I liked
+ Gosh the sprites in this are SO well done!! Genuinely, the sprites of the enemies look official! Such beautiful artwork for all of these creatures was such a treat to see. I loved the Mario themed battle backgrounds, and seeing all this fun Mario stuff in the lovely art style of the GBA Pokemon games. A personal favorite of mine from the Pokemon franchise!
+ Similarly, the music is really well done. I've always been a sucker for soundfont swaps, and this game does is WONDERFULLY. It also has some really good choices for songs. I was particularly impressed with them picking Brawl Stickerbrush Symphony over the original, Destroy the Dark Star is a neat choice, and the Partner's In Time Bowser theme over any of his other themes. It was neat!
+ The story and writing are really good. I feel like everyone's in character for the most part, and the story is simple and cute. The game never tries to be anything more than what it is. I feel like a lot of stuff like this can fall into the trap of trying to raise the stakes, bringing back old villains, ect. But no, it's a simple premise, it stays simple, it's fun and good the whole way through. And again, the writing feels like an official Mario RPG. It's great and got a lot of laughs out of me even with jokes that are really topical and relevant right now. Also, the ending genuinely got me, these people understand Mario and Luigi's dynamic very well it seems.
+ And of course, the biggest part for anything Pokemon related to me is the Pokedex itself! This game has some DELIGHTFUL enemy choices! Popular things you'd expect like goombas and dry bones. But also some lesser appreciated things I wasn't expecting like Eerie, or the T. Rex from Odyssey. It's neat! A particularly big surprise was Boss Broudler who became a staple of my team REALLY early. Plus, the game has a GREAT distribution. You'll be seeing new faces left and right throughout the journey!
+ This game has some CRAZY level gimmicks that I didn't even think were possible in a Pokemon GBA game. Solving puzzles by firing bullet bills, working together with Captain Toad, it was all REALLY impressive and served to keep each chapter fresh! Plus the game also has small stuff to keep you on your toes like the random double battle chapter or making you do a rental fight at one point. I liked it!
+ There's a LOT of shit in this game. Tons of side quests I didn't even touch, and dozens of quality of life improvements that made the game feel so nice. I particularly liked just being able to redo my team's moveset whenever I wanted. That was lovely. But also getting EXP share and a way to turn off random encounters as late game rewards was nice. I feel like it's gonna be hard to go back to main series Pokemon without all this stuff now!
Stuff I didn't like
- Even though the enemy choices are GREAT. I do have some issues with them. Namely, too many of them are one off characters. Like King Bob-Omb or King Boo. Why are these catchable creatures? Surely these should've been boss battles? Maybe Bowser's admins? As far as I'm concerned all the enemies should be enemies that there are multiples of, for obvious reasons. Maybe the legendaries can be different, but I think you'd still want to save legendary slots for bosses who couldn't be trainers like The Lord of Lightning or Gobblegut or something?
- On a similar note, I feel like some of the enemy choices are just plain strange. I'm a bit of a baby when it comes to cross contamination of my Mario spinoffs, yes. But I feel like if you're gonna be mushing all these Mario series together... WHY IS THERE NOTHING FROM SUPER MARIO RPG!? Except the Shamans, but not a single enemy!! But we have Handfake and Bubble Blooper? Very strange.
- I actually did think the sprites for the non-enemy characters looked a little weird. Particularly in combat. They all look in the Pokemon style but I just felt like they looked weird. Idk how to describe it I can't put my finger directly on it.
- I didn't care much for the Wario chapter, Diamond City is too big and while I thought fighting Red was cute I feel like he should've been a more serious secret boss. That's a huge nitpick though for sure!
- I can't believe I'm gonna say this... I think... EXP share makes the game too easy. THIS FEELS INSANE OF ME TO SAY! I think Pokemon can be a little too grindy, but now that I have this power. I feel like it's too much power! You don't appreciate just how well the formula works with just having 1 Pokemon at a time gain EXP until you see the EXP share's massive power in action. Again, this isn't really a problem with the game, as I chose to have it on. But I wanted to note it.
Yeah, Mariomon is delightful! If you're like me, and you've played all the Mario RPGs and want to try something new that the official games haven't dabbled in yet, I think you'll have a great time with this!! Thank you to my partner for suggesting it! And if you wanna see my team you can see them right here!! Also, I enjoyed this so much it really has gotten me thinking of other fan game Mario RPGs... I never did beat Mario & Luigi: The Starlite Worlds... hmmmm... Much to think about!
Klonoa: Door to Phantomile (December 11, 1997) - PS1
Hey it's Klonoa!! This actually isn't my introduction to the series, when I was a kid I played Empire of Dreams on my GBA and REALLY enjoyed it! I got a big kick out of it! But then I proceeded to never touch the series again. Until now! I actually do own the remaster as well, but I did not like it at all. So I went back to try the original and it's actually laughable how much more charming it is. I think this may have convinced me to stop touching remakes lol
Stuff I liked
+ LOVELY visuals. I like the sprites on 3D backdrops, it's something I've always been a fan of. All the levels are cute and nice to look at. And even the menus, with their desk storybook aesthetic are really cute.
+ I LOVE the character designs in this game. Klonoa is SO cute and the enemies are all ADORABLE!! I really loved the one that randomly pulls out 2 pistols and starts blasting at you. Bosses and NPCs were fun too, but Klonoa and the Enemies clear
+ Really REALLY lovely OST. I remember liking Empire of Dream's music but I feel like this one is even better. The level themes in particular are so nice to listen to, I love the Windmill Song.
+ Cool story! It starts out really cute and simple, then halfway through we straight up see a man die and then the plot becomes BIG and way more exciting than I was expecting! I love when cute and unassuming games become really exciting and crazy out of nowhere! That final boss totally kicked ass! And the ending was way more bitter sweet than I was expecting!
+ Gameplay is also fun, it's simple platforming, but the ability to catch enemies really elevates it and makes it unique. I feel like the only way it could be improved is if you could catch more things for temporary powerups or puzzle solving. I also really enjoyed every boss fight!
Stuff I didn't like
- Fortunately there's not really much to say I didn't like about this game. My biggest gripe is that 5-1 is a total fucking slog of a level and I really didn't like it. It was clearly the most unfun level in the game but... that's kinda the only level I didn't like!!
- I don't like Huepow's human design. I don't think this came up in Empire of Dreams (it's been years though lol) so I never knew he had one. It's fucking ugly. I don't like it. I think Huepow's whole twist is very good. But we didn't need that gross human form.
- Genuinely I can't recall a single other thing I didn't like about the game lol. I will say, the remake is totally swagless. That's not a fault of the original but I wanted to point it out.
And that's that! Yeah this game was a blast!! I had a great time with it!! It was a lot more than I was expecting in the best way possible, and now I'm VERY interested to continue onto Klonoa 2 eventually. Neat stuff!
Saw a great post from pokmonheritageposts about picking your favorite and least favorite pokemon from each region! I love doing stuff like this and I was gonna reblog the original but I wanted to share my thoughts as well so instead I'll do my own post for it :)
So there's that, but if you wanna see my reasoning for why I like and loathe these funny creatures, you can see that under the read-more :)
So in general, my thoughts on Pokemon are that I prefer my pokemon to be monstrous and animalistic rather than humanoid. Now, don't get me wrong. Furry pokemon RULE. And I do love some humanoids like Darkrai and Ceruledge. But in general I think the worst monsterous Pokemon has higher of chances of looking better than the best humanoid, you know what I mean?
Also it won't really come up much but I love object pokemon. They're like Yokai and RPG monsters. Electrode and Voltorb are brilliant because they function the same as mimics. Come on now, y'all. Get it together.
Charizard - My favorite pokemon of all time! Is this the most basic choice possible next to Pikachu? Yes. Do I care? No. It's a big salamander dragon, it's got the perfect shape and color scheme and has a bunch of design elements I love and use in my work to this day. Particularly with the 2 horns that come out from the top of the head. And of course, I have nostalgia for it as it was my starter in my first Pokemon game FireRed. And it's also my Smash Bros. main in any game its in. Love the shiny, love the megas, the gigantimax isn't my favorite but it's neat. My only real critique is that I wish the tummy went all the way up to the bottom jaw.
Mr. Mime - So, frankly, I am a big fan of Kanto. So even Pokemon that I would probably hate more if they appeared in Galar or Paldea can get away with just a bit of nostalgia. So I hate to say I hate Mr. Mime. But like... Yeaaaah it's surely my least favorite. It's kinda gross, too humanoid, has clothes, and a job. A lot of Pokemon no-nos for me personally. Jynx is also really close but I think she can get by because she's in a little trio and could be interpreted as a yokai. Not the most offensive Pokemon here but I'm not exactly a fan of it.
Feraligatr - Jhoto has the best starter trio in my opinion, so having one of them be a clear winner is a BIG compliment from me. Feraligatr is actually my 2nd favorite Pokemon behind charizard. Come on. It's a HUGE crazy alligator monster. And I think you can tell it influences a LOT of my character designs. Cool fangs, the crooked posture, the huge back spikes. I LOVE Feraligatr and it's truly one of my favorite Pokemon. Even down to the color scheme. my only critique is once again the tummy. More clear tummy/body separation would look great :)
Hitmontop - So, Jhoto has, in my opinion, the strongest Pokedex with basically no duds. Basically. Cause Hitmontop is a dud. It doesn't really fit in with the rest of the line in my opinion, clashing completely. And it's also just not a very cool Pokemon to represent Capoeira. I think something that's more serious and falls in line with Chan and Lee would be really nice. But personally, this design just isn't it. Again, Jhoto so good so Hitmontop is not the worst but like... It just kinda really sucks in my opinion.
Swampert - Sorry I really like starters. I'm also a little biased to Hoenee cause it's my childhood region and a lot of the designs in it just make me feel good and at home. Anyway Swampert is wife. Swampert is my wife. I want her. Her designs is SO cute and I love all the little fins and bumps. It's just a design that makes me happy to look at! And look, we finally have a belly that goes from the bottom jaw all the way down!
Shiftry - Hoenn also has very few duds, in my opinion most of the duds are just boring rather than bad. So in the end it comes down to Shiftry or Hariyama. But, in my opinion, I'm not a huge fan of Makahita anyway. I think Seedot is PEAK. And its evolutions both just suck completely to me. Why does this cute seed become this gross Tech Deck Dude with leaf hands??? And not even a good Tech Deck Dude with magnet feet, one of the older series with peg feet. It's too grossly humanoid and has clothes that are also grossly molded to its skin. Not a fan.
Darkrai - Come on. It's Darkrai. YES. It's humanoid. Yes... But it's edgy and it's peak as fuck. LOOK AT IT!! It's so edgy and cool and is the master of nightmares. Plus, the Darkrai movie is one of my favorites! Oracion always get a tear out of me. Not really a complicated reason. Darkrai isn't my favorite legendary/mythical. And frankly I could one day see it overtaken by other Sinnoh goats like Mismagius or Ramparidos. But for now? Nah I love Darkrai!
Rhyperior - Fuck this ugly thing. There might be other Pokemon that are arguable worse in this region. I won't deny that Sinnoh has a few duds frankly. But Rhyperior goes out of its way to ruin what was SUCH a good design with Rhydon. I think this thing is SOOO ugly and it actually pisses me off whenever I remember it exists and has killed any chance of Rhydon getting a new, better evolution. I think Sinnoh did too many evolutions of old Pokemon. Some of them are real winners like Mammoswine, and some are just kinda mid like Magnezone... But Rhyperior here is just straight up bad and fucks up its earlier forms by existing.
Scraggy - There are absolutely cooler Pokemon in Unova. It's one of my favorite regions in terms of Pokemon designs! And I do thing amazing designs like Druddigon and Kyreum give Scraggy a run for its money. And I don't like Scrafty as much... But idk! Look at the cute little thing!! It's pants made of shedded skin, its all angry and cute! It's probably one of my favorite stage 1 Pokemon. I even have the sitting cuties of it sitting in my car! I still remember the first time I really appreciated it, I was watching the episode Ash gets one on my phone while eating chinese food. And I just instantly fell in love!
Timburr - Where Unova stumbles for me is its humanoid designs. As I think they're pretty much all major duds. Sawk and Landorus and their contemporaries are all ugly and I don't like them. But they're not straight up gross. What happened here? Why does it have gross giant veins bulging all over it? Why does it have a gross pompadour and fins made of solid flesh? Why does it have a big cartoony nose? I hate looking at it cause it's so gross. Girdurr and Conkeldurr are also pretty gross but Timburr's flesh pompadour just pisses me off.
Goodra - It's SO good. How can anyone look at this and not enjoy it? It's a big chubby slime dragon. It's LITERALLY perfect!! It's so cute and I love that it has big slug feelers on the top of its head. This thing just fills me with absolute joy to look at. Pseudo Legendaries are some of my favorite Pokemon and Goodra is fighting for first with Tyranitar in that category. My only real critique is that I wish the face was similar to Sliggoo's. I think Goodra's body type is perfect, but it loses some of the gooey charm the previous forms had.
Hoopa - Fuck this ugly thing. Idk I just really don't like Hoopa's design. It's gross, overly marketable, and its movie is one of the most boring by far. Like, no questions asked. Unchained is okay, certainly better than this fucking thing. But like, that doesn't make up for it. And there are Pokemon with worse movies. Marshadow's movie is genuinely offensive and one of my least favorite movies ever. But at least Marshadow is cute. This guy just sucks ass all around.
Turtonator - God what a cool design!! I could maybe one day see it being over taken by Vikavolt, another Pokemon I think is absolutely peak. But idk, a big fire dragon turtle with the gross softshell nose that it shoots beams from? I like it a lot!I like how jagged and dangerous it looks too. It's just a design that really resonates with me personally.
Tapu-Koko - And then there's this guy. So, I actually was gonna put Bewear here, as I think it's a piss ugly Pokemon and is way too OP in Smash Bros. But I actually think Tapu-Koko just barely beats it out. It's humanoid, it's easily the ugliest Tapu, and in Smash Bros it's SO annoying. It comes out, is relatively useless, and just screams at top volume for like 5 minutes and won't stop and NEVER leaves. I just kinda hate this thing, the more I look at its design, the more I dislike it.
Dragapult - Another pseudo! I really didn't like Galar when its Pokedex was first revealed way back when. But as time moves on, I can appreciate a lot more of its designs like Toxtricity and Eldegoss and Alcremie. And for me, Dragapult is just a personal favorite. Cool design, cool color scheme, funny concept. I love the big wide head shape and the long flowing tail. My only issue with it is the ghost typing. You can't just have the tail be transparent and be like "yeah it's extinct or whatever" and call it a ghost. I certainly think steel or flying or something would fit more, and I fear we've missed out on a pseudo that makes way better use of the Ghost typing than Dragapult does.
Intelleon - Galar has, hands down, the ugliest trio of starters. None of them are good by the end of it. Just a trio of total duds. And without a doubt, the worst of the bunch is this ugly fucker. Super gross and scrawny, it has a job, it's too humanoid, and it doesn't even work with its own motif!! What's the correlation between crying and emo chameleons that turn into super spy snipers??? Who came up with this??? How did this get approved? We haven't seen a Pokemon with this disjointed of an evolution since like, Kanto. And certainly I truly believe this gross, gangle, twig limbed weirdo is in my top 5 least favorite Pokemon of all time. Looking at it actually pisses me off so badly I'm reconsidering what's my #1 least favorite Pokemon.
Farigiraf - Sadly, Paldea is a region I am currently a little harsh on. I don't think a lot of the designs are that strong, I think it's full of stupid and gross looking creatures. But hey, it has some absolute winners. Like this thing! I actually like it more than Girafarig! I think it's so so SO cute!! I like how big it is and how it looks like it's wearing a Halloween costume. Hopefully as time progresses, I'll enjoy more of the original Pokemon and Farigiraf will be dethroned, but for now. This cutie pie is a clear winner!
Quaquaval - Haha... What if this was my least favorite Pokemon of all time? The absolute 0 design for me? Too humanoid, has a job, has clothes, clothes are grossly morphed into the body, really gross bumps along the body, really gross proportions. The ONLY thing I can say about it is that its limbs are disgustingly scrawny like Intelleon or fucking Calyrex. But this thing just fills me with an upset feeling like no other Pokemon possibly can. I genuinely GENUINELY hate looking at it. Please, no more gross gangly scrawny limbs or starter Pokemon with jobs. PLEASE just let some starters be monsters again. They can be bipedal, but they don't need to look like this anymore!
Creature Creation Station is now available on Steam!
Please consider leaving a Steam review - it helps immensely in getting the game shown to more people!
The more people that know about it and support the full release, the more I can continue to update the game on a consistent basis. Bug fixes and new features will continued to be worked on for a while. :>
New Features Summary:
🐈 Layered patterns for head, torso, arms, legs, and tail!
🐈 Movable and scalable patterns for the head
🐈 Hair!!! 10 types to start~
🐈 16 new body parts
View the full patch notes on itch: Steam Release! & Version 1.0.1 Patch Notes
Thank you so much for your support! I'd love to see your creations made with the new update, so don't forget to share those creature codes!!!
Bugaboo Pocket is a delightful digital pet game where you raise bugs and impact the world's ecology. Launching on Steam April 2nd!
Bugaboo Pocket released today on Steam! (Will be out on switch later 2025).
I’ve been excited about this game now for over a year! If you loved tamagatchi’s as a kid, you’ll love this game! You get to raise your very own digital pet insects, dress them up, and decorate their homes! 🐛
Keeping the year rolling along with February's games!! There's only 4 from this month, as I kinda just randomly lost the will to play anything that wasn't GUNGRAVE. Like, genuinely, I'm kind of obsessed. BUT I did manage to play some non GUNGRAVE stuff this month so let's hurry up and get into it!
Typical stuff: These are NOT reviews, just my random thoughts! Please play anything I talk about that interests you, and get your own opinions on it!!
GUNGRAVE G.O.R.E. (November 22, 2022) - PC
Ah, but don't let yourself be fooled. There is SOME GUNGRAVE here! And it's the finale to the series!! With disturbingly perfect timing, this game was on sale for $3 the same week I got hooked on this series. So I had no choice BUT to play it!! Now, at first glance. This shiny new GUNGRAVE reboot has some major red flags. Modern day game about guns? Abandoning the anime art style for something more realistic? Tons of DLC? It's giving insane DMC energy. But how does it hold up?
Really, REALLY well, actually. While it's not the best in the series by any means, GORE is a WONDERFUL addition to the series and a lovely return for Grave! The gameplay is in tact as a mindless gun-based beat 'em up, and is actually MASSIVELY improved here. Between customizable demolition shot loadouts, upgradable stats, expanded Melee, glory kills, a grapple hook ability, and the GENIUS inclusion of higher beat counts = higher gun fire rates, I genuinely think on a core gameplay level, this could be the most fun GUNGRAVE yet! I actually had such a blast with it I played it on every difficulty to get every unlockable! Which is nuts, and I haven't even done this with the first game (my favorite one) yet!
But outside of gameplay, I think the story is nice. It takes everything into consideration, so nothing is left behind and it's a sensible follow up, in my opinion. I like that Mika is now the leader of a big group, really letting her have a larger role in the action (even if we don't exactly get to see it). And I think a lot of the new characters, particularly the villains and the whole concept of Scumland, feel VERY GUNGRAVE. The music is excellent (TIME TO DIE, King of Scumland, and the LAB themes are some of my favorites), being able to play as Bunji is a nice touch, I am OBSESSED with Who-Knows-Who's design, I really really REALLY liked the sheer amount of monsters you fight in this game. Lizards and giant worms are welcome new additions. There's a surprising amount of enemy variety, even recycled bosses have new attack patterns and such. And even with the objectively downgraded graphics compared to the first two games, I think its actually still remarkably good looking especially for a game with some obvious polish issues. The Vietnam levels, for instance, are so bright and green and gorgeous. And even if some of the in-engine cutscenes are janky, the game does have all fully animated cutscenes, which is a big step up on OVERDOSE! And the prerendered cutscenes (though there's only like, 2) are REALLY nicely made!
But it's really not a perfect game. It's REALLY lacking in polish, is the first thing you'll notice about it. Particularly in cutscenes and animations is where it really shows. And it can make the game look unpleasant or goofy, or even leave a bad impression. I think this game in general doesn't make a particularly good first impression. The opening cutscene is an AWFUL slideshow with kinda gross looking art, but no other cutscene in the game does this. So why have it? The first Demolition Shot is a missile that spawns in in such a gross and unfitting way. And no other Demolition shot has this issue, so why do that? There's ONE quick time event in the whole game early in, and then NEVER AGAIN. It's odd, and I feel like it probably turned off people who gave this game a shot, when the game really only gets better and better from there on out. I think you gain DNA a little too quickly, maxing everything out is done WAY before you're done playing the game on all difficulties and then you have nothing to spend it on (maybe I can upgrade DLC characters if I bought them?) The game makes some aspects of the anime canon, which I really could've personally done without. I also think, while the story is cool, it's a very odd story. I like the weird SEED explosion, I like Mika becoming this weird SEED goddess. But it really feels like this is all done to write her out of the story in favor of Quartz, the new OC. Who just... really doesn't feel like a GUNGRAVE character to me, she has a similar thing to RocketBilly. I like them! I think they're fun characters! But idk why they get so much attention when I kinda... just wanna see Grave and Mika? I think the biggest offender of this game's story telling issues is the final boss. It seems like they REALLY wanted to make it Harry, but chickened out. Which is a shame, because I really felt like the game was fun enough to earn that kind of crazy reveal. But they just chose not to? And also the fact Bob Poundmax wasn't in the boss rematch? Or the way the final boss is the ONLY BOSS to not have 2 phases, making them feel underwhelming. I think a lot of these issues come from the fact the game is a little too ambitious and grand, maybe. The original GUNGRAVE does so much with so little because it leaves so much a mystery without a bunch of big budget cutscenes and graphics. I truly, truly think that if this game (and kinda by extension, OVERDOSE) had their levels condensed way down and had less cutscenes, they could've been considerably more polished and just as good as the first game.
In spite of that lengthy complaining section, I truly think this game is a lot better than it seems. If you're a fan of GUNGRAVE, I suggest you look past the flaws and give it a shot! If you're not a fan of GUNGRAVE... What the FUCK are you doing??? GO PLAY GUNGRAVE!! I personally feel like the dev team didn't have enough confidence and that's why they chickened out of the Harry reveal, and also why they're remaking it already. This is really confusing to me, cause, frankly, I think they've earned my respect enough that I want to see them try GUNGRAVE 4, rather than redo GORE. Though, double frankly, I will absolutely be curious to see what kind of changes they make to it. Remove some of the weird stuff, polish it up more, maybe add some more things to do once you unlock Brandon Heat and all the upgrades.
Before I wrap up my time with GUNGRAVE (until I get to play GGVR), I just wanted to express how much I absolutely enjoyed going through this series. The first game is straight up one of my new favorite video games ever, I think. I loved GORE and while I had a lot of issues with OD, I really wanna give it another playthrough as Bunji and RB sooner rather than later. And... yeah I didn't really care for the anime, but it had its high points! Episode 14 is such a brilliantly done episode and is, if nothing else, an absolute MUST WATCH for GUNGRAVE fans. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with this series and cannot wait to see what comes of it next, even if it is just a remake. Also, Beyond the Grave would be fucking PERFECT for a fighting game. Please.
OFF (May 18, 2008) - PC
Last year, when I played a bunch of indie games I was massively overdue to play, there was actually one more game I wanted to play but didn't manage to squeeze into the year. And that's OFF! I actually remember when this game was new and everyone was cosplaying it at conventions. Good times, and as an RPG, it REALLY felt like I had no reason to have not already played it. So I'm happy I finally got my shit together and did it!!
And yeah, it's okay. I really like the visuals a lot, I think it's cool how simple they are in the overworld. And the game really pulls out its best work visually in the combat. I love the brain backdrop, and the ghost designs are all easily the highlight of the game. Tons of interesting and creative enemies, and I like all the weird stuff they manage to do with their enemy sprites. I was particularly REALLY fascinated by the bird coming out of the cat's mouth, or the ghosts that would say stuff which turned into new enemies as word bubbles, or the enemies whose heads went off the screen. The music is also pretty good, Pepper Steak is an all time banger and really made the fights fun to do. I like the idea of the add-ons as teammates, I liked the Judge and Zachary a lot, and when the game really gets weird with how it does video game stuff towards the end, it's very very cool! And while I didn't explore it much, the concept of being allowed to reenter purified zones and see them desolate and demolished is a VERY cool touch.
However, and I hate to say this, but this game just didn't really click with me all that much. I fully understand why this game was SUCH a hit back when it came out. And I'm sure if I had played it back then I would've been really impressed with it. But playing it for the first time nowadays, it feels... Kinda outdone? It's a really basic JRPG with some incredibly basic fights. Just a lot of mashing A during encounters and slowly, painstakingly taking down bosses with TONS of HP. The puzzles for the most part felt a little tedious when you had to retread entire dungeons to get hints (take notes when you play games, y'all!!). And honestly, a lot of the 4th wall breaking this game does is... just done better in games inspired by it. Undertale, Doki Doki Literature Club, and especially One Shot all come to mind as games that take this concept and just run with it so much farther. Which, to be fair, might be unfair to OFF. Because it started it, it's just that I played it after all of those. I will say though, it's nice that it doesn't hide the fact it's self aware. Right away they tell you the game is alive. And the final reveal of why it's called 'OFF' is very well done.
Yeah, it's a cool game. And again, I can completely understand why it took off like it did back in the day. But it just didn't click with me as much as the games that it inspired did. Which, again, isn't really OFF's fault. And I do absolutely respect the hell out of it for sure. Regardless, I'm glad I FINALLY got around to playing this one!!
Dadish 4 (December 17, 2025) - Mobile
Another day, another Dadish!! If you know me, then at this point you simply MUST know I am a fiend for Thomas K. Young's stuff. And I kind of make it a point to play everything they put out. So a new main series Dadish? Yeah, of course I was gonna be there.
Dadish 4 is the return of the series to 2D after Dadish 3D a year or two ago. But this one has a fun twist as you no longer play as Dadish, but rather, his oldest son, Dadish Junior! Or DJ, for shot. This is a very fun change of pace and a very funny idea. This time, Dadish has been kidnapped by the HOA and you have to travel across the world and find him to bring him back. It's a WONDERFUL idea. And the gameplay is just as good as you'd expect. It feels solid, it feels fun, it feels just plain good to run around, jump around, and collect all the starts. It even has some new features like exploding crates and swinging vines to shake things up. And also features what is easily one of the best bosses of the series (a bit of a weak point for Dadish, imo) with Bertha, who presents some cool challenge as you have to guide missiles into her. Even Curry, who was just an auto scroller, was a new boss concept that actually gave me a tough time. And I really liked the new lyrical song, that was a fun addition!
But... This game, feels kinda underwhelming. Yes! It's fun!! It's DAMN fun, I wouldn't have 100% completed it if it wasn't. But... of course it's fun, because it's just Dadish again. I've played this game before, I'm sad to say. Some new level gimmicks don't exactly make the game feel completely reinvented. Even the way DJ talks to his siblings and other characters just feels like how Dadish spoke to them. It feels like the same thing again. I don't wanna put the game down cause again I LOVE Thomas K. Young's games. But I do truly feel like we're due for a massive shake up to Dadish, which you'd expect from a game where you play as his kid. I think transitioning to 3D was the angle we needed, but we went right back to 2D afterwards. Maybe DJ himself should have new abilities that makes these tried and true elements like boxes and springs feel unique in how we interact with them? There's gotta be SOMETHING. We can do for Dadish 5 to really make it feel new and unique. Even if it stays 2D. Maybe an Air Dash? Homing attack? Powerups? Even just a new format rather than the same set up with 50 short levels? Idk, but regardless, I will be there for more Dadish when it comes around.
Dunkadillo (September 8, 2025) - Mobile
And once I was done with Dadish 4, I just had to jump into the other 2025 Thomas K. Young game I missed: Dunkadillo! Where you play as an armadillo who can roll into a basketball to bounce around! Which I personally, find to be an absolutely adorable idea!
Young's non-Dadish games, as you'd probably expect, explore some different concepts and do branch out more. Dunkadillo is a game where your character is constantly bouncing, so you have to time how you move about the levels a little more carefully. And, my favorite detail, is that you end levels by dunking yourself through hoops. Which is kind of awesome. Dunkadillo is exceptionally cute, and has some lovely costumes (I actually really loved the teal skin + pink shell of the Dadish costume), and has a really nice ost. As well as some good bosses, I particularly liked the final boss as it felt like a really good challenge. And the collectables with the cards are easily my favorite I've seen so far, they're genuinely SO cute and the art on them is LOVELY (why did they make Momato so cute???) I like the music a lot, I think it's a great OST, I particularly like the theme and Breezy Island. Dunkadillo is a very fun and solid game.
But... It's just Dadish again. I guess more accurately it's Be Brave, Barb again. But that was also similar to Dadish. 2D Platformers where you collect keys and avoid spikes/fireballs while collecting a small collectable in each level on your way to the goal. It's the same thing again. And this one upsets me a bit cause I feel like Dunkadillo could be SO much more! Some sort of ability to shoot yourself off to reach farther distances, ball physics so you can bounce around, abilities to dribble yourself to potentially build up speed or change your timing. There's SO much that could be done with that concept that I feel like is only scratched in the surface here. Truly, I REALLY want a Dunkadillo sequel that does more with this great character concept.
For my (admittedly not really important or smart) opinion. I think Thomas K. Young and Siactro are very similar. They're both indie devs who I try to play EVERYTHING they make. They both have an ongoing series that they're most known for (and are my personal favorite things from them both. Dadish and Toree respectfully.) They both make smaller side projects that break away from what their main series are doing. And similarly, I think they both hit a similar issue with their series.
Both Dadish and Toree had a lot of entries, and these entries were all kind of the same. And you can see with reviews of the Toree Panic Pack, a lot of people seemed to be pretty tired of the formula by that point. That's where Dadish is at right now, for more. But Toree had a BIG pivot with Toree Saturn, it's remarkably similar to previous games, but adds just a few new moves and techniques to Toree's kit that makes the game FEEL new and awesome. And that's what I think Dadish needs to copy. We need our Dadish Saturn with some new abilities and things to do and a Crush40 song.
On that note, Siactro's non Toree games are typically pretty damn different from Toree despite being similar concepts. Super Kiwi was also a 3D platformer, but it was a collectathon instead of get-to-the-goal. Whereas Dadish and Dunkadillo are both get-to-the-goal, for example. I promise I'm not try to put Thomas K. Young down or pit these 2 incredibly talented devs against each other. I just REALLY want to see Dadish and Young's other games reach the potential I KNOW they can reach! Let's see a Dadish Collectathon, a Dadish Adventure 2, a Sonic Rivals inspired game, a Dadish metroidvania, SOMETHING to really shake up the format. Again, I felt refreshed with Toree Saturn by just adding a homing attack. I don't think it'd take much!
Sorry for the long thing I love Dadish and Toree I'm very passionate about them okay bye...
Happy Pokemon Day!! Somehow, I completely forgot to share my team from Pokemon Black 2 when I played it last year!!
So, here they are :)
Since it's the same region as last time, I decided to keep going with the same naming theme of locations! Hugh was named Germany if you're curious!!
If you wanna see their stats and moves and what not you can find that here (x)
Also I just wanted to mention that Chixulub was obtained authentically by trading her back to Georgia in Black 1 and then back to me! It was really interesting to see how an emulator could handle such a process and have it work!! Neat!!
New year, new little ol' me :) January has come and gone so in order to not have a stupid massive post like I did at the end of 2025, I'm gonna go ahead and talk about some of the stuff I played this month! 2026 is already off to a good start with some heavy hitters! So let's not waste any more time!!
As always, these aren't reviews, just me throwing up my thoughts. Please play anything and everything I talk about it if interests you!!
A Plumber For All Seasons (November 22, 2021) - PC
The first new thing I played through this year was actually a Super Mario World hack! This is a cute little romhack that my partners were suggesting to me for a hot minute. And, hey, I love Super Mario World! So I was happy to check it out.
This is a very fun, short, and incredibly pretty hack. You play through a set of levels that follow the same theme (ghost house, underwater, castle, ect) and see them change drastically between each season. It's a very impressive hack, featuring new bosses and new gimmicks. One of my favorites was the really creative hay bale stage. The sprites are absolutely gorgeous, and the music is really really nice. I was particularly smitten with Meadow Walk. This is a very impressive mod and I recommend at least looking at it and listening to some of the music.
My only complaints, off the top of my head, is that the fall ghost house was weirdly difficult for me to navigate personally. And any other issues I had was just my controller acting weird (I couldn't run and jump for some reason) which isn't really the game's fault. Frankly, the biggest crime of the mod is that it's too short. BUT, I didn't even collect all the star coins and play the bonus levels. So, even that complaint doesn't hold water! What a pleasant time this was :)
CMC+ (January 20, 2020) - PC
MORE SMASH BROS. FAN GAMES FOR ME TO PLAY??? YES PLEASE!!! CMC+ is a mod of Super Smash Bros. Crusade I'd actually never heard of until my girlfriend put me onto it. I like Crusade but I wouldn't call myself a huge Crusade Head so it's not surprising I missed out on this. BUT, I'm happy I got the chance to play it cause it's pretty neat!
CMC+ is a mod that adds TONS of fan made characters and content to the already pretty nice Crusade lineup. According to TVTropes it has 375 characters which, even in a project made up of lots of individually made characters is pretty impressive. Who do you think my favorite newcomer was? We have some of my favorite characters like Rouge the Bat, E-123 Omega, Sol Badguy, Zero. We have fan favorites like Reimu, Master Chief, Susie. But... No none of them could do me justice. IT'S ALL ABOUT SIR KIBBLE, BABY!! SIR KIBBLE HYPE!!! THAT'S MY GOAT! Seriously idk who made this stupid Sir Kibble Moveset but they are one of the most enjoyable platform fighter characters I've seen in a hot minute and without question, my favorite newcomer to CMC+. In general though there are lots of fun characters like Rouge, Reimu, Dark Metaknight (who has some of the craziest animations I've ever seen in a fighting game). And with so many characters and unlockables you'll never run out of stuff to try. And then there's 2 different classic modes, one with random and one with preset matches. There's mission modes. Target tests, race to the finishes, board the platforms, multimans... Basically there's an endless stream of content here and it's actually staggering just how much is included.
However, I think that insane amount of content is CMC+'s downfall. Because... And I hate to be rude. A lot of it sucks. And that's not really anyone's fault. It's just the nature of the beast. Tons of characters, all made by different people. Each with different philosophies and interests. Inevitably there's gonna be tons of characters you're not interested in. For me I wasn't super attracted to any Sonic OCs or any basic ass short haired boys from anime no one cares about. And while Boss Missions or basic platformer missions are fine. So many missions are massive metroidvanias and they are just not fun. And pretty much every platforming mission feels so clunky with insane enemy spam and some of the most annoying enemy types ever conceived. So, while there is tons of content. It's not all that good. But again, I think you're playing CMC+ for quantity over quality. And when you find a real diamond here, like Sir Kibble, you are absolutely rewarded for your efforts. Just... don't expect me to put in work to unlock everyone, that's not happening. Shoutouts to my poor, poor girlfriend who actually DID unlock everyone even while me and our partner were begging her to love herself. But no. She just NEEDED Ronald McDonald... horrifying...
Prism Cross (July 6, 2025) - PC
So what if the team of CMC+ took what they had lovingly put together, and worked to refine it a little bit? Trim a lot of the fat of the roster, focus on expanding upon what worked and Crusade's solid core gameplay. Well, you'd get Prism Cross. A game I pretty inevitably would run into after playing CMC+
Right off the bat. I think Prism Cross is MUCH better than CMC+. Not to say CMC+ isn't incredibly impressive, charming, and fun in its own way. But I think this is just overall a much more exciting package, with its more polished roster, real alts for everyone, and surprisingly great stage selection. I think the best aspect of this game is the more traditional fighting mechanics it tries to put into the Smash Bros. gameplay. You have a meter, which can be spent to power up moves or use a final smash, or even burst out of combos! It's impressive and pairs so nicely with the Air Dash it takes from Crusade and CMC+. As you might expect, my favorite character is Sol Badguy. But I want to give this Sol some praise. Because between Prism Cross, CMC+, and even REX. Prism Cross is the best Smash Bros. Sol Badguy I've ever played. I genuinely think that. They manage to include EVERYTHING, even down to Dragon Install and having it play Ride the Fire when it goes off. It's really impressive and it makes him SO much fun to play. There are other fun characters though like Coin Coffer, Metaknight, and even old favorites like Crusade's Heracross and Agumon feel great with the system changes. In addition to that there's even still some good missions, stadium minigames, and even a full blown story mode. Which is INCREDIBLY impressive.
However, and I know I'm critiquing an unfinished game. But there's still some issues I have with this game. For one, while the roster is smaller and more polished... It's a weird ass roster. The same rando black haired anime nobody shows up. Yamcha but no Goku. Mickey AND Oswald the Lucky Rabbit? TEPIG???? MONEYBAG!?!?!? It's all very odd. Similarly, missions are still the same bad missions. Which sucks. And makes me a little nervous about tackling story mode, even if it's improved overall gameplay wise. I do massively respect the FUCK out of them for giving it its own lore and world and not just going with the world of trophies. In general though, once again, this isn't even a finished game so I will give it some grace. I'm excited to see Wario!
Pizzapocalypse (October 8, 2024) - PC
Here's a random little game I stumbled upon by accident. Got a trailer for the sequel coming out soon. And thought it looked very cute, so I decided to sit down and try the first one really quick!
And it's a quaint little platformer! You play as a Pizzaman using his pizza he's delivering to platform around a city. It's not very long, and it's only 1 level long. But it's pretty fun all the same! The level is big with lots of alternate paths so there's lots to see here as you try to get all the checkmarks. Frankly, it's so short that the only thing I really have to knock points off is that the game didn't really work with my graphics card. Which I feel like is odd considering... it shouldn't be! Come on!!
Looking at the sequel again, and thinking about how fun this is even just being a short little game. I think Pizzapocalypse 2 is gonna be a lot of fun. And this first game is free so... Give it a shot, why not? God I want some Pizza now...
Panzer Dragoon Orta (December 19, 2002) - Xbox
After my playthrough of the whole Panzer Dragoon series last year with Dragoon, Zwei, and Saga. There was only one stop left on my trip through the world of Panzer Dragoon. And so, I finally finished my time with the series right at the start of the year.
Orta is an interesting game. It returns to an on rails gameplay after Saga's JRPG gameplay. But it still manages to hold onto some key components from Saga. Such as changing your dragon's form mid gameplay. Now, this isn't nearly as impressive as how Saga handles it, but it's still cool that you can swap between them whenever you want and they each do have different strengths and weaknesses. Similarly, EXP from Saga returns, allowing you to upgrade the different dragon forms. And while I didn't notice drastic changes between level ups, they do give visual changes. Which is nice. I think the biggest praise I have to give Orta isn't really the gameplay though. It's the visuals. The Dragoon games have all been pretty, but this is BY FAR the best looking game in the series. I was genuinely floored by how good looking some of the levels were. Particularly the forest stage early into the game was gorgeous, like when you fly behind the waterfalls. Even Saga, which at times was one of my favorite looking RPGs I've played in a minute, truly does pale to the amazing graphics of the original Xbox. I love 5th gen graphics, but my heart always belongs to the 6th gen, I'm afraid. The music is also wonderful, and the story is similarly compelling and interesting while not telling you too much like the rest of the series.
But. And I'm sad to say this... This is a disappointing finale to the series. It still has similar hangups I had with the first 2, that being that it controls really rigidly. Dodging bullets feels tough and stiff, and it lacks so many techniques you'd see in Starfox games or even in Saga before it. Turning to look at different angles feels smoother, and there is a nice screen wipe attacks. But it still feels lacking to me no matter how hard I try to get into it. And while this game does introduce some new stuff, they just feel implemented in really confusing ways. Panzer Dragoon Saga's quadrants come back, but this system just doesn't feel as nice as it did there. And boosting/braking to get between them felt odd to me and often resulted in me moving to the wrong quadrant during a fight. In fact, boosting through attacks was the most fun use of the new boost/brake mechanics. And similarly, while leveling up your dragons sounds really awesome. It's implemented in such a weird way. Where only certain enemies carry the items you need to level up. Sure, just one of them is an automatic level up, but you can end up REALLY lopsided in your levels, and I bet some people full on had massively underleveled forms, because there's no way to know which enemies holds level ups without playing the game multiple times.
It's hard to not be a little disappointed in Orta. It's gorgeous, the best looking in the franchise. But it feels like a downgrade when compared to Saga. Its an improvement over Zwei, sure. But I can't help but mourn the alternate universe where this expanded upon Saga's RPG styled gameplay and became something TRULY amazing. Similarly, I think it kinda sucks that like... is this world never truly saved? I doubt we're getting a new game ever. Maybe all that's left is to read some lore explanations and piece it together myself. Rest in peace, Heretic Dragon....
Pac-Man Forever (October 2, 2025) - PC
You know what? I love Pac-Man. I do. I don't play it, or talk about it much, and I do still prefer Dig Dug. But the older I get, the more I realize I love Pac-Man. He's a fun guy. So when I saw a trailer for this insanely polished Pac-Man fan game... Well, how could I say no?
Pac-Man Forever is AWESOME. I sunk so much time into this game this month, desperate to topple the top 500,000 score. And wouldn't you know it, I did it twice! Where to start with this game? For one, the visuals are SO good. The sprite work is absolutely amazing, you'd swear this is an official product just from how clean it looks. Amazing sprites on the characters, ghosts, menus, level aesthetics, EVERYTHING!! And the game itself feels great to play. It's typical Pac-Man gameplay, but with some fun twists like booster tiles, snow, fire, and the cool upgrade system. Upon eating a certain amount of ghosts, you'll get a random upgrade placed in the center of the maze. This could be anything from making a specific item appear in future levels, to increasing your points, to increasing speed, and so on. There's tons of characters to play as, each with multiple color pallets to make them super customizable, and I think every ghost in the franchise has the chance of appearing in your mazes which is a TON of fun. Fuck, even other Namco enemies can appear as ghosts, and there's a fun Paclopedia where Pac-Man explains how they all work and what they taste like. I'm absolutely blown away by how fun this game is and how amazing it feels and looks. This isn't even mentioning the great OST choices and the fact it HAS A BATTLE MODE??? This game rules.
Genuinely, the only real drawbacks I can give it is that I wish there was a way to see which levels you've seen. As it stands there's no way to tell which stages you haven't seen yet, which seems like an easy choice for the Paclopedia. I also think the game could benefit from a super custom game mode where you can pick what ghosts, stages, and powerups appear. Next, I'd really love the ability to mod the game and add my own stuff! Like custom characters, I'd LOVE to put my shiny new Pac-Mansona into the game and- What? This paragraph is for criticisms? Not wishlists? FUCK YOU, IT'S MY POST-
Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines (November 16, 2004) - PC
Ah, now here's an interesting one! This is a game that's never really been on my radar. However, last year I had a bet with my girlfriend (sorry I'm gonna be bringing my partners up a lot it seems lol) and my punishment was that I had to play this! The only prior exposure I had to this game was LittleKuriboh playing it as Marik way back in the day, so I had absolutely NO idea what to expect.
But frankly, yeah this game is a TON of fun! I was worried it would be more open world, which I usually struggle to get through. But while it is open world styled, it's actually pretty small maps that are sectioned off so it's WAY easier to get through the main story without getting too sidetracked. Although there is still LOTS of side content to find, I barely even scratched the surface on my playthrough and I did a LOT of sidequests lol. The game sees you playing as a vampire, and has lots of interesting rules and interpretations for how being one works. It plays nice with lots of different ways to make it through the story. In terms of character builds, choices, and presumably backstory also playing a big role in it. I'm actually pretty impressed with the seeming tons of ways you can get through this game. I was a Brujah which meant I was more combat focused, but my girlfriend mentioned she was a more stealth based build in her playthrough. But even being combat focused I still put some abilities in stealth and lockpicking. I failed some quests that I imagine would have wildly different outcomes based on my choices. And it seems like there's probably lots of endings. I like the characters a lot, my favorite, hands down, was Smiling Jack. I love him SO much and I'm so glad he didn't die, I was really expecting him to die. But I like the Sheriff too and Damsel was hot. The music is REALLY good, I was not expecting the soundtrack to be so nice. My personal favorite song being 'Disturbed and Twisted - Combat'. The whole game has a great atmosphere taking place in LA but it's all dark and sexy and moody and grimy. I think the plot with the sarcophagus and everyone's race to get a hold of it was extremely compelling. And visually I think it's a very impressive game for how old it is. Faces move to match what they're saying and can express, the graphics are nice, it's a very pretty game. Genuinely I had a lot of praise to sing for it.
However yeah it's not perfect. It's a bit of a buggy game which doesn't bother me too much, in fact, some bugs were absolutely DELIGHTFUL and fun. But I did have to play the game patched to get it to run properly which is a little crazy. But huge shoutout to the people who made said patch. Most of my issues really don't come into play until later into the game. Particularly I think the game has a weird difficulty curve. Specifically, in Chinatown, there's a mission where you have to fight a bunch of guys in a warehouse. And if you actually want to beat them, it's a total headache. They are the first enemies to use lots of automatic guns, and they are SO strong. They drain your HP incredibly fast, and they have near endless supply of HP themselves. And this is the start of a trend in Vampire for the rest of the playthrough, as you're gonna see this a LOT going forward. Now if you're a combat focused character you can use your disciplines to mow down enemies but the sheer amount they start throwing your way still makes it REALLY hard. Some enemies never die, some enemies deal insane damage, some areas have near limitless supply of enemies. It gets pretty overkill. And I was also bothered that Ming is SUCH a burly boss battle, it lasts SO long I had to use all my ammo to kill her. And then the final boss is kinda nothing? Even though they were hyping up the Sheriff for way longer. I can't help but be a little disappointed in that, I feel like it should've been swapped. I shutter to imagine what these later fights would be like if I WASN'T a brawler class, where some of them took AGES to win with my intense strength lol.
But regardless of the weird difficulty scaling, I actually had a really good time with this game even when it was being really brutal. I'm pleasantly surprised and I plan on losing more bets in the future if this is what I have to look forward to.
GUNGRAVE (July 18, 2002) - PS2
OH BABY IT'S GUNGRAVE TIME!! I actually knew this series as an anime that I couldn't get into despite how much I love Trigun. I was expecting a bad ass edgelord anime but instead got a sad slow mob drama. However, my partner got into Trigun and I wanted to tell them about GUNGRAVE. And one thing let to another and I realized the anime is actually based on a PS2 game! So I thought "well fuck, let's give it another shot in the proper order."
AND OH MY GOD I'M SO GLAD I DID!! THIS IS WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT! THIS IS WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR!! The best way I can describe GUNGRAVE is short but sweet. 6 levels, 2 hours tops. It plays something like a Beat 'Em Up but with guns. Now, you might be thinking that this really doesn't sound like something I'd like. I like more meat on my games' bones and a deep story typically. But don't worry, it's all here. GUNGRAVE has a plot that it tells through cutscenes, talking to your teammates, and mysterious glimpses into what's going on. There's depth with how you tackle fights between shooting or melee, in your face or running away. And the look and feel of the game is basically second to none. It's styled to look like an anime, in a painfully PS2 way I adore. The style is all chains and skulls and edgy badassness. The main character is a cool zombie named 'Beyond the Grave' who wields the 'Cerberus' which are a set of dual pistols with infinite ammo, and he can swing the giant spiked coffin on his back for melee. You build a meter by getting combos through shooting enemies and environmental destruction, the meter can be spent on massive special moves or to quickly heal yourself, adding more layers to how you use the meter. All the villains are these crazy mobsters who take a drug called Seed to become giant monsters. And it's all relatively grounded stuff with you fighting through subways and sewers and city streets UNTIL SUDDENLY YOU'RE CLIMBING A WEIRD ALIEN TOWER IN THE HEAVENS??? It's so fucking cool. This game fucking rules. I like how it felt to play, I love the music (the main theme is SO good), I love the visuals, I'm obsessed with Beyond the Grave and the plot and the world. It's SO FUCKING GOOD!
My only real complaints I have about the first game are some oddities with how it's set up by default. By default, your guns are not automatic. Meaning you have to mash the fire button. Which hurts. A lot, pretty quickly. While it makes the game way easier, I'd suggest turning Auto ON, because it also makes the game way less painful. Secondly, blood was off by default? Maybe I'm wrong but there was no blood my first playthrough. Why. TURN THAT SHIT ON!! I also think the controls are a little odd but thankfully you can fully remap them. I also think the lock on system could use some work, it doesn't feel THAT effective sadly. I do also think the sewer level and the tower level can be a little annoying to traverse. THANKFULLY the team was smart enough to not have falling down give you any penalty. It's just annoying that you'll probably have to scale back up. But that's kinda it, the game is simple, maybe some would say too simple, but I adore it. I've already played it twice lol.
GUNGRAVE: OVERDOSE (March 4, 2004) - PS2
But GUNGRAVE was too good... I couldn't just leave it there!! Thankfully for me there was a sequel just 2 years later that I HAPPILY went right ahead and played! But sadly... I don't think Overdose is as good as the first. Let me explain my thought process.
What Overdose does right is the combat changes. It's maybe a little less mindless. You can't heal yourself anymore and there's only 5-6 bars of meter as opposed to the first game's 9. SO you have less meter in general to work with and have to use it wiser. But gunplay still does feel good, and they've even added to melee combat by giving it a big finishing blow at the end. And your special shots (called Demolition shots) can be upgraded this time, and you can pick which level you use. Stronger versions cost more bars of meter, of course. So overall the gameplay is still good. Aesthetics are still so deliciously edgy, music is still wonderful, and the story is a nice follow up even if I like it a little less. The reveal of the true nature of Seed was completely unexpected but I do like it. I like Mika playing a more active role and seeing her really struggle to help Grave was nice. And there's no denying that Junji and fucking ROCKETBILLY REDCADILLAC (THAT'S HIS REAL NAME) are very fun and funny additions, it's cool to have more playable characters and I like what they end up doing with Spike by the end of the game. And I do appreciate them trying to make the game longer with more cutscenes and a more involved story.
But can I be honest? I feel like a lot of this effort to make the game more jam packed doesn't do much for me. So many of the cutscenes are just pictures of the characters sliding around and talking. SOOOO MUCH TALKING! They talk SO DAMN MUCH!! There's a lot of talking in the first game too, but a lot of it you have to choose to talk to your teammates to see. Or its in fully animated cutscenes which inherently makes it more exciting. Usually I'm never one to turn down more story, but they really do drone on and on and most of the time I just wanna get to the shooting. They can talk to you IN THE LEVEL, why not give more exposition during the super long slogs of levels themselves so I can play while they yap? Also... personally, I don't care too much for the new characters. I think Junji is a banger design but realizing that Grave isn't the only deadman and Junji can talk kinda takes away a lot of the mysterious allure of Grave. Now he's not a mute because he's some weird zombie, he's just... weird? I don't like that. And Rocketbilly is funny, and very cool to play as. But he just doesn't fit the vibe at all. And I do like what they do with Spike at the end but I just don't really like him or care much for him. I do like he and Mika being found family siblings. But I think that should just be what Mika and Grave are, right? I like Mika and Grave and I kinda just wanna follow them, frankly. In fact, maybe Mika should've been the second playable character? Idunno. I also think the levels themselves are worse. Enemies are spammed like CRAZY!! You have to mow down tons of them, and a lot of them now can deflect attacks, and you can't jump through missiles to dodge them anymore, you gotta parry them. Why in the casino level, are you being shot by infinite enemies and infinite machine gun slot machines and rocket launcher tables that are hidden away and you can't progress until you find them? Why in the bulldozer fight can they lock you into a corner so you can never escape WHILE YOU STILL HAVE TO FIGHT INFINITE ENEMIES??? WHY IS THERE FUCKING PLATFORMING IN THIS GAME????? WHO THOUGHT THAT WAS A GOOD IDEA???? THE LAST ROOM OF THE GAME IS A PLATFORMING SECTION WHERE EVERY TIME YOU FALL MORE ENEMIES SPAWN ON THE PLATFORMS UNTIL THERE'S NO ROOM TO MOVE ON THEM? IT'S SO WEIRD!!
Ultimately, thinking back on it. I do think Overdose is a good game, and is a strong continuation. But it's just not as good as it could be, it's not as good as it should be, and it's not as good as the first. In my opinion, tone down that enemy spam and remove all the platforming. Let me still spend meter to heal myself (you can balance it out by not healing as much or maybe I have to spend way more meter to heal). Maybe make Rocketbilly more a grunge/metal band guy instead of a classic Rock and Roll guy. And keep Grave as the only zombie, make Junji more a Frankenstein or something. If RB is a ghost, we should make everyone a different monster. And if Spike has to be there, maybe instead of being some sort of tech genius, he should be another weird monster of some kind. Fuck, if we're doing this angle, make Mika the only human sister in a found family of giant burly freaky monster men.
Sorry I kinda went on and on. I think OD is good. The first is better. But OD is fine. I'm giving the anime another shot now, and I am very interested in trying G.O.R.E. later! I like GUNGRAVE, it's a cool series!
Panzer Dragoon Mini (November 22, 1996) - Game Gear
Alright, there was one final Panzer Dragoon game to play. And I would've felt unsatisfying not giving it a shot before I call it a wrap on the series, right?
Mini is exactly what it sounds like, a mini entry into the franchise. Pick a dragon and fight through 5 levels shooting down waves of enemies. It's a typical mini on-rails shooter. I don't have too much to say about it. It's very cute, I really like the visuals. There's 3 dragons to play as, you fight a few bosses from the other games which is cute. It's short and sweet, I don't think you'll get much from it if you're not a Panzer Dragoon fan, but I do think it's worth your time if you are! And hey, it's actually possible to dodge bullets in this one! Go figure!!
It's so short there's barely nothing to critique. I didn't notice any differences in the dragon's gameplay style... There's no ending it just says "CONGRATULATIONS" which is a little disappointing. The music isn't very good which is a crime for Panzer Dragoon. It's a fun novelty :)
It's that time once again!! Get ready for a shiny new Game of the Year list for 2025!!! I actually played a surprising amount of stuff in 2025, even with the crippling burnout. And I think I owe a lot of that to the fact much of what I played was on the shorter side. Lots of fighting games and bullet hells. BUT I still enjoyed them all quite a lot!
SO once again we have 2 lists:
Games played in 2025 but released BEFORE 2025
Games played in 2025 that released DURING 2025
Each list has 5 winners and 5 runner-ups! And they are listed in order, with #1 being the top pick!
So without further ado, here's what I had the most fun with in 2025!!
- 5 -
Panzer Dragoon Saga
There was absolutely NO WAY this game wouldn't be somewhere on my list! This is a game I've been trying to play for ages, and wasn't sure when, if ever, I'd get the chance to experience it. But thankfully advances in emulation have FINALLY led me here! This was an endlessly fascinating game with incredibly cool and unique combat that I'm sad has never been replicated, even in the series itself. The story is interesting, the music is cool, and it's visually one of my favorite JRPGs ever! I just can't put it higher because I felt as if it was kind of meandering for a lot of it, too short, and not necessarily the most exciting JRPG I played this year. But I'm still SO grateful I got to try it!!
- 4 -
Final Fantasy V
Another year, another Final Fantasy!! This year was between 5 and 6, but ultimately I think I just enjoyed 5 a lot more! The opening is a little long and kinda boring, preventing me from putting it higher. But once the ball gets rolling it's a WONDERFUL entry! My personal favorite of the SNES era, I think! It has my favorite take on the job system thusfar, nice visuals, nice music, some delightful characters, my favorite death scene so far, and you can really start to see things getting particularly insane here with Neo-Exdeath and such. And I mean, come on... It's got Gilgamesh in it!!
- 3 -
ASTRO BOT
LOOK they're not ALL JRPGs this year!! This is a game I've wanted to play for a HOT minute but I just had no illusions of every having a PS5... Until a sibling got one and let me play on it!! And so I IMMEDIATELY sat down to run through this game! And what an absolute treat it was! One of the most enjoyable platforming experiences I've had in a long time! Super fun, super joyful, super cute, an absolutely delightful soundtrack, is there anything this game can't do? Of course, being a love letter to Playstation doesn't hurt, as I got a little giddy seeing random stuff get new attention here like Mr. Mosquito. I think there's some small improvements to be made in another entry, but regardless I am a full fledged ASTRO BOT HEAD now so I will be eagerly awaiting any new game!
- 2 -
Pokemon Black Version
Okay, they're MOSTLY JRPGs. So sue me!! YOU CANNOT ESCAPE POKEMON BEING IN MY GAME OF THE YEAR LIST!! It's delightful to see as it's a series of JRPGs I've actually gone out of my way to avoid for a while. So I'm thrilled to be enjoying them so much. And BW really felt like a reward for playing through everything up to this point. Some of the best visuals, best music, best characters, one of my favorite Pokedex's in the series, fun twists on series staples, and easily the most engaging story so far! I don't know if any Pokemon game past this point will top this!
Undertale Yellow
Hey, remember when I said I want to play more fan games!! How about that? A fan game in my #1 spot!! I might be a little biased towards this game as it's the first thing I played alongside my partners, but it's also my personal list. I do think this game has a lot going for it though. It's SO incredibly well made that I'm a little shocked it's not official, and genuinely a little sad the characters from it probably won't be in Deltarune at any point. The visuals, the music, the combat are all, honestly, kind of step ups from Undertale proper. Which is one of my favorite games ever so that should tell you my thoughts on it pretty plainly. I think it's handled brilliantly in the way they avoid using so many characters from Undertale or attempt to rewrite the story of Undertale, a pitfall many fan projects and official prequels/sequels fall into. And unlike other games on this list, I don't think it ever had a "dull point". Even the hardest battles, while frustrating in some bird's cases, were exciting! And I think this level of quality is what makes me want to call it my Old Game of the Year!
- 5 - The Mighty Jill Off
Starting off strong, this is an indie game I somehow had never heard of before, but I had an absolute BLAST playing it! Obviously I like my games to be a bit more in depth and story rich, but you don't need all that to make something really impactful. It's simple, it's just the right level of challenging and forgiving to me, and it's funny. I love Jill she just like me fr....
- 4 - Halo 2
Another year, another Halo! I really enjoyed the story mode of Halo 1 when I played with my sibling however long ago. But now that we're done with Halo 2, I gotta say. I think this one is WAY better! Prettier levels, AMAZING music with tons of excellent licensed songs, dual wielding guns, AND the Arbiter is here!! The ONLY reason I don't think I can put it higher is just because it ends on a cliffhanger, and we haven't played 3 yet! So stay tuned for that!!
- 3 - Touhou Project
Allow me to cheat a little here. I finally started playing these games in order, and I LOVE them. But at the same time, they do blur together a little (particularly in the PC98 games, which is what I played this year) so I don't recall a specific favorite. But I had SUCH a blast playing the games in general, I think I'm okay with just giving a shoutout to the project as a whole. I like Touhou! I'm excited to play them more going forward! My current favorite characters are Reimu and Marisa!
- 2 - One Strike
I still remember grabbing this game off the Eshop expecting it to be not that great. But the moment I started really playing it, I knew I had a winner on my hands. A fighting game where 1 hit means you lose. It sounds frustrating and so simple. But it's actually surprisingly deep and INCREDIBLY fun! They manage to cram so many different gameplans and movesets into such a simple game, and Oni is my GOAT for all time! The only problem with the game is that I think it's really ugly. So I'm STOKED to try the sequel, Two Strikes! Which looks to be absolutely GORGEOUS in comparison! If you only try one game off the list, I think you should try One Strike!
- 1 - Red Earth
Now HERE'S a fighting game that really changed my life this year! I finally figured out how to work Fightcade so my cheap ass can play TONS of fighting games! And without question, Red Earth, a game I've wanted to play for YEARS, is my favorite fighting game I played all year. High fantasy, cool music, awesome characters (both playable and bosses), and WITHOUT QUESTION the best sprite art I've ever seen in my life? It's such an awesome game. I love the RPG mechanics and spells gameplay and world and EVERYTHING here! I'm so thrilled I finally got the chance to try this one too, and I will absolutely be returning to play it more and more!
- 5 -
MARIO KART WORLD
Here we go! Straight into the new games of 2025!! And, it probably should come as no surprise that a new Mario Kart would get on my list. Even with its shortcomings, they'd have to fuck it up PRETTY BAD to get me to not like it a little. The open world is genuinely very exciting to a Mario freak like me, I like the new art style, I think driving between tracks is fun, I LOVE all the new costumes (PEACH IS SO BEAUTIFUL IN THIS GAME) and I'm thrilled to see so many weird ass enemies playable here. But, sadly, I have it at #5 because it makes so many bizarre and tiny mistakes that I can't bring myself to put it higher. It might still have more going on than games I put above it, but this expensive game has no excuse making the mistakes it did, you know? I still think I've come around to it being fine, but it should've been GREAT.
- 4 -
SUPER SMASH REX
YEAH I'LL PUT A MOD OF A MOD OF A MOD ON MY GOTY LIST, FUCK YOU!! Look, if you don't realize I'm a Smash Bros. fanatic at this point, idk what to tell you. I love this series, so any new content of it is incredibly exciting to me. And REX just hits that nail SO well! Picking up where EX Remix left off, they add TONS of new characters, stages, and the nuttiest song list I've ever seen, featuring stuff I thought I was only person who cared about. The new characters like Sol Badguy and Master Chief are incredibly exciting, and the mod itself is INCREDIBLY impressive. Featuring really faithful backports of Ultimate characters into Brawl, and they finally figured out how to make new projectiles! This mod is kind of a HUGE deal if you're into Brawl mods and I cannot recommend trying it enough!
- 3 -
TOREE SATURN
IT'S TOREE TIME!! At this point if you don't understand that Siactro is my GOAT and I will play anything and EVERYTHING they put out... You're a fool. A damn fool, i'd say!! Toree Saturn is the latest and greatest entry in the series, and probably my personal favorite so far! Featuring some of the nicest gameplay (once you get the hang of it), the same delightful graphics and music you've come to expect from the series, and TONS of bonus content to find, Toree Saturn is such an absolute blast. Genuinely... Siactro.... when can we expect a JRPG? You would do SUCH a good job with it!!
- 2 -
DONKEY KONG BANANZA
SHOCK OF THE CENTURY!! The new Donkey Kong is NOT my GOTY!? I know, I know... It's a betrayal to my family. They'd never forgive me. Let's get one thing straight, this is a GOOD GAME. Hell, the gameplay is downright AMAZING. The platforming feels SO good and free, the combat isn't half bad, and the use of terrain genuinely might be one of my favorite mechanics in any platformer in AGES! And they use it in so many fun and creative ways. So why is it only #2? I think this game is a bit of a disappointment in a few ways. Story wise, I think it leaves a LOT to be desired, even with the incredibly hype finale, it left me feeling "why is this happening" more than "oh this is the natural conclusion to the story". The post game feels pretty pitiful when compared to Odyssey. And other complaints. It's not filled with "mistakes" the same way Mario Kart World was. But it is filled with a lot of disappointment for such an expensive game. I truly believe that price is a gatekeeper that makes these mistakes more noticeable and prevents it from hitting #1 for me.
But what is #1 then?? Before I reveal it, let's get a look at the runner-ups!
- 5 - UNFAIR FLIPS
This is a game I had my eye on for a minute when the trailer dropped, and I was very excited for it! Sadly, however, I think it's kind of only fun for one playthrough. It has 5 endings, but each run is 100% identical. You might just get lucky/unlucky and beat it faster or slower. It's a fun idea, but it certainly left a lot to be desired, even as a game that's intentionally boring.
- 4 - BE BRAVE, BARB
YOU MUST UNDERSTAND, Thomas K. Young can release anything and I will be there DAY ONE!! Another indie dev GOAT of mine. So of course I had to jump on Be Brave Barb as quick as I could! A very cute little game with a cute premise, graphics, and music. Not my favorite from Young but it's certainly an interesting one I had a lot of fun with!
- 3 - GURINA
I love April Fools games! Gurina is a short but sweet run and gun game where you just collect little objects and avoid obstacles. It's simple but there's SO many things to find and there's some pretty challenging obstacles in your way. I had a blast with this one!!
- 2 - ANNALYNN MD
I LOVE APRIL FOOLS GAMES!! And Annalynn MD is one of the best april fools games since Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog. This is just a legit full blown puzzle game. And it's REALLY interesting, as things fall all around a cylinder and you have to deal with placing them properly and spinning the cylinder. It's genuinely a lot of fun and a REALLY interesting puzzle game!
- 1 - HYPER DRAGON BALL Z: WICKED AMBITION
A good year for me and fighting games, it seems! You may have to excuse me for cheating a bit again, as this is kind of an older game, and I've just played the new 2025 update. But I'll still count it! A BEAUTIFUL MUGEN project with some AMAZING sprite art, fun gameplay, and cool music! My favorite character was Goku and Android 18, but the whole roster is fun and even has new voice actors just for this project which is nuts? It's clearly such a love letter to DBZ and I had a BLAST playing through it! Also.... FUCK THAT TRAILER THEME IS SO GOOD!?
KIRBY AIR RIDERS
Yes, if you can believe it, Kirby is my GOTY winner for 2025!! I think I should go ahead and give some context a little early. I rented this game from Gamefly with a free trial. SO I basically got it for free. And I truly do think this painted my perception a bit when pitted against Bananza. But also, I'm not as big of a Kirby fan as I am a DK fan, so I had less expectation for this going on. But even in spite of all that, I truly think this is an AMAZING game. It's absolutely gorgeous looking, it's TONS of fun in every game mode (except for top ride lol), great ost, lots of characters who are all unique and can further made wholly yours with different cars, outfits, customized cars, alt colors. And the story mode was fun to play and felt satisfying and exciting to me the whole way through, it never lost me. I haven't written my thoughts on it in full yet, but you can expect me to be gushing about it sometime soon. Metaknight can ride a motorcycle with teeth. What more do you want from me?
And there you have it! Another year in the books. In spite of having crazy burnout, I'm pleased with the amount of things I played and tried out this year. And of course, good games STILL got left off!! The Rumble Fish, The Last Of Us, The King Has No Name. I split hairs a lot on what to include and not include, and I think ultimately I am pleased with my choices. Off the top of my head, the only thing I really know is coming out in 2026 is Tomodachi Life, which I'm more excited for my friends to play so I can see their reactions. But I suppose that means it's a clean slate for me in terms of new releases, so I'll be keeping an eye out for neat new JRPGs!
As always, you can see a list of everything I played here! Be nice to me or else I will cry and die.
2025 was an interesting year. For a lot of it, it was pretty rough on me. Burnout, depression, health issues, a lot of pain. But a lot of good things happened towards the end of the year that was very exciting, I met my partners, had some heart to heart with my best bud, and I mean... I got a switch 2 as a gift from a family member so I can't complain TOO much, can I?
I'm trying to make things move a little smoother in 2026, so hopefully things aren't gonna be as rough this time around. I want to move forward in my life this year, in any small way. And just make some progress, you know? Both in my personal life, and in my gaming life. There's lots to do and lots of ways to try new things and be spontaneous and stuff.
I know we're already a month into 2026, but don't let how it went paint the whole year, okay? We've got 11 more months to make it a better year for ourselves and for each other. Let's help each other and let's play LOTS of video games, okay? Let's make 2026 our year BY FORCE!!
