Smash Journey

I've made it a goal of mine to play the games of every playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and here is where I write down my thoughts on each game after I finish them, as a public journal of sorts.

[smashjourney]

WarioWare: Smooth Moves!

After playing Mario Land 2, I needed to inject more Wario into my veins, so I did!

This was my first exposure to WarioWare, I think it was about 10 years ago now. I remember playing a lot of it but being godawful and had a really rough time even getting to the end of the game.

As of today, however, I can definitely say I’ve beaten it and liked it quite a bit. The motion controls (usually) worked really well and I absolutely loved the screens telling you about the forms, even if a lot of the form was mostly pointless. I mean, is there that much of a difference between “The Sketch Artist” and “The Remote Control”? I don’t think so, and sometimes I didn’t bother to change my pose.

Still, this game did lead me to calling the wii remote the Form Baton, and I will resume this tradition. Thank you very much for reading!

[smashjourney]

Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins

Since Gameboy was added to Nintendo Switch Online recently, I figured I would celebrate by playing something on there, which ended up being Super Mario Land 2!

This game is... Really damn weird, probably even weirder than the original. Definitely better than the first Mario Land, but even more bizarre which is certainly saying something. There’s bees, umbrellas, an entire world that is a giant clockwork Mario, and Mario himself has a castle?.. it is a strange little game, but I do like it.

My favorite thing about it is the variation in the enemies from level to level - it’s not just the same 3-6 enemies throughout the whole game, instead the enemies get themed to whatever world you’re in. Sure, a lot of them are just reskinned goombas, but I don’t think that’s so bad. I hope the next time they make a new 2D Mario they do something like this.

This game also was the introduction of Wario, objectively the greatest fictional character of all time. There can be no disagreements on this no matter your personal bias, this is just fact. Anyway, that’s all I’ve got for now. Thank you very much for reading!

[smashjourney]

Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Well, it took me ages, but I’ve finally finished all the routes of the game! It didn’t take so long because I dislike it or anything mind you, quite the opposite - the game wormed its way into my heart as one of my favorite video games.

I had never played a strategy game prior to Three Houses mostly because I knew I would be no good at them (which I was right about) but I heard all the buzz about the game in 2019 and put in on my Christmas wishlist and ended up getting it. I fell in love with the world and characters, and found myself having a ton of fun with the actual gameplay, to my surprise.

I started with Golden Deer, then went Blue Lions, then Black Eagles. I tend to favor them in pretty much that order, but I honestly don’t really dislike any of the playable characters in this game, especially after seeing almost all of the supports. The writing, voice acting, and character designs work together to create some really, really fantastic characters.

Not all that long of a post, but those are my thoughts for now. As I sign off, here is a funny little story: I actually got this game in the mail as a late Christmas present in January 2020. But I didn’t just get Three Houses, I also got the Smash Ultimate themed Pro Controller at the same time, just a week before Byleth was revealed for Smash. Sometimes I feel like I invoked it, which if I did, Sorry not sorry.

[smashjourney]

I’m Back!

So, I know this blog isn’t exactly popular, but I do feel like I should explain what went down and why I was gone for so long, even if it’s only for myself.

So, the last game I’ve been working on finishing is Fire Emblem: Three Houses, which is a pretty long game with four distinct endings. Over time, I finished two of said endings, and then a Nintendo Direct came up announcing a spinoff game, Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes.

I decided I really wanted to get the other two endings before Three Hopes releases, so I ended up playing through the remaining two routes... right up until the very last mission of my last route, where I had to go away for a week. When I got back, I felt a bit intimidated by going back to play that mission when I was so out of practice and also so burnt out from going through the last two routes back to back, so I kinda just didn’t play it, saying that maybe I’ll do it tomorrow for months.

As for why I didn’t just play some other game for the blog in the meantime to help with my burnout, I felt weird because in every one of my posts I would leave a little hint about what game I’d play next for the blog, and I of course hinted that I’d play Three Houses next, and I didn’t want to stray away from that even though nobody reads this blog except me so It doesn’t really matter. Still, I’m probably going to stop with the hints at the end of each post because it was basically me pressuring myself to play something, which took a lot of the fun out of it.

Anyway, I’m finally back now! I probably won’t be as consistent as before (not that I was ever really that consistent anyway), but I’m going to try to make a post on here more often. Now, onto writing the post for Three Houses, at long last.

[smashjourney]

Tekken 5

Yet again, Tekken!

This was kind of a strange one, but I overall enjoyed it but I’m not sure if it’s my favorite Tekken so far.

I really enjoy the dialogue in story mode during round 4, it really helped me stay invested outside of the final battle and is a nice reminder that the characters are connected.

The stages are actually really cool in this game - the pirate treasure stage, the one where the penguins just chill out near you.. they feel a lot more memorable the stages of any previous game in the series.

It was also neat to see a bunch of charactes return, like Anna and Wang. Anna is one of my personal favorites, so it’s really good to have her back. 

For the things I’m not so hot on, though.. It feels like the game is a little slower paced than Tekken 4. Not a ton, like I might just be imagining it, but I really felt like it was faster paced than this one. The other thing I’m not so hot on is the Devil Within mode.. It was just pretty boring without a whole lot of things to do, just kind of a lame beat-em-up in my opinion.

Still, the game is Tekken, and Tekken is always a good time... thus far, anyway. I’ll see what the future has in store when I eventually get around to 6 and 7.

Those are all my thoughts right now. Next up, I’ll finally finish something I promised to do long ago! Thank you very much for reading!

[smashjourney]

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D

It’s been a little while since I last posted, mostly because I got very distracted. Anyway, I finally beat what many consider one of the greatest games of all time, Ocarina of Time!

It’s almost kinda funny when I play a game like this, one where I know a lot about it but had never once touched myself before. I knew pretty much the whole plot, characters, music, everything. Just not quite in the proper order and context.

The game is definitely great, although I wouldn’t call it one of my favorites personally. There were just a few too many frustrating things, like some of the minigames (especially the goddamned fishing one), but I think if I got this game during my childhood I would’ve been absolutely enamored with it.

There is something really satisfying about the collection elements, It made me want to go out of my way to get them all even if they served very little purpose in the grand scheme of things. The story is simple, but it works well for what it is - I never found myself bored by it even though I knew pretty much everything that would happen from the start.

And then the music. What the hell can I even say about the music? It’s some of the most memorable music in all of gaming, it’s just fantastic.

Those are all the thoughts I could think of. Next up, I’m going to be, YET AGAIN tackling the King of Iron Fist Tournament! Thank you very much for reading!

[smashjourney]

Super Mario Land

Well, that was freakin’ weird.

I’ve never actually had a 2D Mario that was originally created to be on a handheld, so I didn’t have the best idea what the Super Mario Land series was actually like, except for my knowledge that Daisy originates from the first one and Wario from the second, and those are two creations I 100% approve of.

It was... just bizarre, but not necessarily in a bad way. I really like when Mario tries new things, and I’m shocked that it seems like almost nothing this game did really stuck around, because there were some neat things here, I like the design of the enemies and the “Globe Trotting” feel (which I guess would sort of be re-used in Mario Odyssey) and the music was pretty good considering it was a very early gameboy game and there are only like 4 songs in the whole game.

My biggest complaint is that sometimes it felt kind of unfair and a little glitchy, I mean there were times I would jump directly onto something and just fall through and either die or take damage. I guess glitches like that will just pop-up though when you’re an early gameboy game.

Those are all my thoughts right now. Next up, I’ll be checking out what many consider the crown-jewel of the N64! Thank you very much for reading!

[smashjourney]

1 Year of Smash Journeying!

On March 29th of 2021, I started this little blog of mine! It’s been a whole year since then, and I’m quite proud of what I’ve done so far with it!

I’ve finished 44 games since starting this blog, which is a lot and it really feels like it. But there are a total of 231 games on the list, meaning I’m only through about 19% of the journey, and I’ve still got a ways to go. It’ll still be quite a few more years until I’ve finished it all.

I’ve also finished two “Series”. Namely, Kid Icarus and Minecraft. Sure, there was only one Minecraft “series” game on the list, but it still counts!

Regardless, I’m determined to keep on pushing! It’s been really fun, and I can’t wait to see what lies ahead of me in the many games I’ve yet to play! Thank you very much for reading!

[smashjourney]

Welcome!

Hello, and welcome to my blog! I’m a massive Super Smash Bros. fan, but there are a ton of games represented in Smash that I’ve never played, but I really want to but have had a little bit of trouble finding the motivation to play them.

So, i figured the best way to go about this is to play them while documenting it here on this blog. I figured if it might also entertains other people then that’s great! I know i’m almost certainly not the first person to do this, but i wanted to share my experiences with these games on this blog.

I should also note i won’t be 100% completing these games. this is already going to be a pretty big undertaking, and there are some games I’d rather not complete just because they’re a pain in the ass, frankly. I will make it to the end of them (defeat the final boss and all that) but no promises about doing EVERYTHING in each of these games.

So, anyway, here is a rough list of the games I think i should be playing. there is a LOT already, and I’m 90% sure that I’m forgetting some.

Super Smash Bros. (Nintendo 64)

Super Smash Bros. Melee

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Super Smash Bros. for 3DS

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Super Mario Bros.

Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels

Super Mario Bros. 2 (USA)

Super Mario Bros. 3

Super Mario Land

Super Mario World

Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island

Super Mario 64

Super Mario Sunshine

New Super Mario Bros.

Super Mario Galaxy

New Super Mario Bros. Wii

Super Mario Galaxy 2

Super Mario 3D Land

New Super Mario Bros. 2

New Super Mario Bros U. DELUXE

Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury

Super Mario Maker

Super Mario Odyssey

Mario Kart

Mario Kart DS

Mario Kart 7

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

Mario Bros.

Paper Mario

Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door

Paper Mario: Sticker Star

Donkey Kong (Arcade Version)

Donkey Kong Country

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest

Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble

Donkey Kong 64

Donkey Kong Jungle Beat

Donkey Kong Country Returns

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

The Legend of Zelda

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Metroid: Zero Mission

Metroid Prime

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

Metroid: Samus Returns

Super Metroid

Metroid: Other M

Metroid: Fusion

Yoshi’s Story

Yoshi’s Woolly World

Yoshi’s Crafted World

Kirby’s Dream Land

Kirby’s Adventure

Kirby’s Dream Land 2

Kirby Super Star Ultra

Kirby’s Dream Land 3

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards

Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land

Kirby Air Ride

Kirby & The Amazing Mirror

Kirby: Squeak Squad

Kirby’s Epic Yarn

Kirby: Triple Deluxe

Kirby: Planet Robobot

Kirby: Star Allies

Star Fox

Star Fox 64

Star Fox Adventures

Star Fox Assault

Star Fox Command

Star Fox Zero

Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow

Pokemon Gold/Silver/Crystal

Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald

Pokemon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum

Pokemon Black/White

Pokemon Black 2/White 2

Pokemon X/Y

Pokemon Sun/Moon/Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon

Pokemon Sword/Shield

Luigi’s Mansion

Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon

Luigi’s Mansion 3

Earthbound

F-Zero

F-Zero X

F-Zero GX

Super Princess Peach

Ice Climber

Dr. Mario

Dr. Mario 64

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light

Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem

Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn

Fire Emblem: Awakening

Fire Emblem: Fates

Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Game & Watch Games

Kid Icarus

Kid Icarus: Uprising

Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3

Wario Land II

Wario Land 3

Wario Land 4

Wario Land: Shake It!

WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames$!

WarioWare: Touched!

WarioWare: Smooth Moves

WarioWare Gold

Metal Gear MSX

Metal Gear 2

Metal Gear Solid

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Mother 3

Sonic the Hedgehog

Sonic the Hedgehog 2

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles

Sonic Adventure

Sonic Adventure 2

Sonic Lost World

Pikmin

Pikmin 2

Pikmin 3

R.O.B. Stuff

Animal Crossing (Gamecube)

Animal Crossing: Wild World

Animal Crossing: City Folk

Animal Crossing: New Leaf

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Mega Man 1

Mega Man 2

Mega Man 3

Mega Man 4

Mega Man 5

Mega Man 6

Mega Man 7

Mega Man 8

Mega Man 9

Mega Man 10

Mega Man 11

Wii Fit

Punch Out!!

Super Punch-Out!!

Punch-Out!! (Wii)

Wii Sports Resort

Find Mii

Tomodachi Life

Miitopia

PAC-MAN

Pac-Land

Mappy

Xenoblade Chronicles

Xenoblade Chronicles 2

Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna, the Golden Country

Duck Hunt

Wild Gunman

Street Fighter

Street Fighter II

Street Fighter III

Street Fighter IV

Street Fighter V

Final Fantasy VII

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

Final Fantasy VII: Remake

Bayonetta

Bayonetta 2

Splatoon

Splatoon 2

Castlevania

Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest

Castlevania: Rondo of Blood

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow

Persona 3

Persona 4

Persona 5

Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation

Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen

Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King

Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age

Banjo-Kazooie

Banjo-Tooie

Fatal Fury

Fatal Fury 2

Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory

Garou: Mark of the Wolves

The King of Fighters ‘98

The King of Fighters XII

ARMS

Minecraft

Balloon Fight

Nintendogs + Cats

Pilotwings Resort

Tekken

Tekken 2

Tekken 3

Tekken 4

Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection

Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion

Tekken 7

PictoChat

Elecktroplankton

Miiverse (Somehow)

Kingdom Hearts

Kingdom Hearts RE: Chain of Memories

Kingdom Hearts II

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep

Kingdom Hearts RE: coded

Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance

Kingdom Hearts II.8 Final Chapter Prologue

Kingdom Hearts III

[smashjourney]

Well, it’s been over a year since I’ve started this. I figured I should add one (Hopefully) final round of ammendments in Celebration! Including the first and hopefully last time I remove something from the list.

Removed - Castlevania: Nocturne of Reflection

I removed this one for two reasons - the first of which, it’s a radio drama, which I didn’t realize. While I’m okay with putting things on the list that aren’t games if they have are signifficant enough to Smash Bros. (such as Advent Children, thanks to Cloud’s alternate costume), this one really didn’t.

The other reason is because the name I listed it as “Nocturne of Reflection” isn’t even a real thing. It was supposed to be called “Nocturne of Recollection” and I felt incredibly dumb when I realized my mistake there.

Added -

Dr. Mario 64

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow

Metal Gear MSX

Metal Gear 2

The reasonings behind adding these games are -

Dr. Mario 64 - I’ll be hoenst, I mostly added this because it felt weird having the only game on the list for Dr. Mario be the original, so I added this one just so I could say there’s more than one.

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow and Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow - I mostly added these because I felt weird about removing something from the list, so I replaced it with two more Castlevania games to make up for it, even though as far as I can tell these games don’t have much signifficance to Smash, I feel like they are a lot closer than Nocturne of Recollection is, plus these ones I can actually play.

Metal Gear MSX and Metal Gear 2 - I sort of forgot that there were Metal Gear games before it became Solid, but someone following actually suggested these to me which reminded me that they exist! I’ll definitely look forward to playing them at some point in the future!

And that’s all! While I would like this to be the final ammendment I’ll make to the list, I’m always open to suggestions about games I may have forgotten to put on here, or passed on putting here because I didn’t see a strong enough connection with a particular Smash fighter or stage. Thank you for reading!

[smashjourney]

EarthBound

Despite being a big JRPG guy, one of the ones I’ve always passed up playing before now is EarthBound. It’s not that I didn’t want to play it or anything, but I’ve just never really found a good opportunity to play it until just recently, when they added it to the Switch SNES Online.

This game is full of IMMENSE ammounts of charm. I don’t think there is even a single pixel of this game that isn’t charming as all hell. This really is the kind of game that could only have been made in the ‘90s and no other time period, and I love it for it.

As for the actual gameplay, well.. it’s honestly nothing special. Just a mostly normal RPG battle system with one or two small additions like the scrolling HP meter that add a bit, but not enough to make it stand on it’s own. Thankfully, the game doesn’t need the battle system to feel unique, since it’s all about the funny dialogue, weird backgrounds, and just general strangeness that the whole game exudes. 

In addition to all of that, there’s the story, which despite the actual “Plot” not being great, the characters and emotion behind everything made me feel a lot and kept me invested, even though they barely talk at all. I really felt for the characters by the end, and I’ll admit I was definitely tearing up a bit during the final battle.

Those are my thoughts right now. Next up, I’ll be visiting a far-off Land. Thank you very much for reading!

[smashjourney]

F-Zero X

ZooooOOoooOOOooooooooooooooooooMmmmmmm! More F-Zero! I really wanted to try this one out since I saw it was released on the Switch Online N64, and I wanted to play a game on there and this looked about as good as any!

I might be starting to fall in love with this series, despite how bad I am at it. It took me ages to even figure out how to turn properly, and I struggled non-stop throughout pretty much all of the races. I’ll even admit I liberally used save states to get through it, but that doesn’t change the fact that I had a ton of fun with it.

Despite me admittedly cheating a bit with the save states (And I had to use a code to unlock the X Cup) I could still tell that it’s a great, challenging racing game. I just wasn’t realy up to the challenge, and it’d take me weeks to beat it properly without states. But the music, tracks, and just general design of everything was very well done. Also, when I did the X cup, I got a track that caused all of the other racers to die, and that was hillarious.

Those are all my thoughts right now. Next up, I’ll be paying a visit to a true SNES Classic, recently rereleased on switch! Thank you very much for reading!

[smashjourney]

WarioWare: Touched!

Back to more glorious, glorious WarioWare, but this time I’ve gotta use the touchscreen. This one was a lot of fun, even more so than the original! The Microgames felt a lot less unfair this time around, although I’m not the best with touchscreen controls, so I struggled maybe a little more than I did in the first one.

I feel like Touched did the humour and style a bit better, too, although I suppose that is too be expected from a console upgrade on the art, at least. Everything in this game is just a little bit funnier than the first one.

I think that’s all I really have to say about this one, honestly. WarioWare is somehow both super self-explanatory and impossible to explain. It’s a great series, and I’d recommend it to just about anyone.. but yeah, it’s incredibly weird.

Before I sign off on this post, I should mention why I’m skipping over WarioWare: Twisted. The main reason being is that it’s incredibly hard to get your hands on, and it’s also difficult to emulate. For that reason, I basically have to skip over it, at least for now. Maybe I’ll get my hands on it eventually, but I’m keeping it off the Smash Journey list for the time being. Anyway, next up, I’ll be blazing through like a Falcon! Thank you very much for reading!

[smashjourney]

Tekken 4

For a fourth time, The King of Iron Fist Tournament returns! And, weirdly, this time around I have a weird story that I didn’t go into this expecting at all. As I was playing it, when I saw the character select screen, I got a weird sense of Deja Vu. Then, when I reached a particular stage, I had it again. Then, when I reached Heihachi for the first time, I got it once again. After checking with my family, it turns out that we actually had this game when I was a kid, but I had completely forgotten about it until now. I had never realized even once that I used to own a Tekken game, and thought I only ever played it a few times at the house of friends and family. What a weird feeling.

Anyway, as for the game itself, I think I actually somehow like it even more than Tekken 3. This series just keeps getting better I guess! Although, this time around there aren’t nearly as many new characters or modes, so it sort of feels like Tekken 3, but just.. Again. I mean, being basically an improved version of Tekken 3 is most certainly not a bad thing to be, but I do long for maybe two or three brand new characters and some new modes.

Well, one mode that is sort of new is the “Story” mode, even if it basically is just the Arcade mode of the past but with a bit more story attached for each character. In the past, if I wanted to know what was going on with each character, I’d have to go to the wiki and read what I could. This time, I didn’t have to thanks to the dialogue at the beginning and end of story mode! There were some genuinely kinda cool story telling moments for me, like I played through Marduk’s story before going through King’s story, and going into them in that order had a lot of weight. That kind of thing I really love!

Those are all the thoughts I could think of. Next up, I’m going to touch many many things. Thank you very much for reading!

[smashjourney]

Xenoblade Chronicles

In anticipation for Xenoblade Chronicles 3, I’m going to replay the first two for the Smash Journey! (Months apart, because otherwise I’d burn out.) I really adore this series, full of wonderful characters, stories, music and landscapes.

When I was first introduced to Xenoblade Chronicles 1, I was enamored with it, but since that was during the days where it was a pretty hard game to find, I could only watch youtube videos of it instead of getting to play it myself. Actually, one year, I got the 3DS version for christmas, and I was super excited to play it, and then it turned out you needed the New 3DS to play it which I didn’t have. By the time I actually got a New 3DS, there were other games I was busy with and never got around to playing the 3DS version. It wasn’t until 2020 with the release of the definitive edition on Switch that I got around to playing it for myself.

All of that to say that even though I was pretty much spoiled on the story before playing it, it still holds up incredibly well, which in my eyes is the sign of a great story, when you know exactly what is going to happen but you’re still engaged and excited about seeing it. I don’t know if I’d call it one of the best stories in all of gaming, but it has to be one of my personal favorites. I get really emotional during the final cutscenes to the point where I’m fighting back tears.

The story isn’t the only great thing about Xenoblade Chronicles, though. I love the exploration, and the combat system is super unique, at least for a single player game. The MMO inspired system honestly works great for Xenoblade, and makes the game feel different from other RPGs. I’ll admit that they maybe took the MMO inspiration too far when it came to quests and grinding, but for me I sort of enjoy that style of gameplay, just kind of zoning out with music in the background while I grind away.

Those are all the thoughts I could think of right now. Next up, I’ll be entering the King of the Iron Fist tournament once again! Thank you very much for reading.

[smashjourney]

Sonic the Hedgehog

The origins of one of the biggest icons in all of gaming! I’ve never been the biggest fan of Sonic, but maybe playing through some of the games will change that! I actually did grow up with the Sonic Mega Collection on Gamecube, so this isn’t my first rodeo with the blue blur, but I never managed to actually beat any of the games until now.

I had a lot of fun with this game, the music was obviously great and the spritework phenomenal, but I thought most of the levels after Green Hill Zone were a little weird? Like, obviously when you think of Sonic you think of speed, but I didn’t get to just run at full speed after the first zone very often, which was kinda weird.

This game also introduces someone that I love, even when I don’t care about Sonic most of the time, that being the Eggman. there’s just so much personality in that round mustached man, even when he doesn’t speak. He’s an incredible villain, and I do love him dearly.

The bonus games were pretty annoying, but I managed to squeeze through them eventually. But the reward for getting all the emeralds... Yeah, that felt like a complete waste of time. Can’t say I’m into the very tiny change at the end of the credits.

Those are all the thoughts I could think of. Next up, IT’S REYN TIME. Thank you very much for reading!

[smashjourney]

Pikmin

This is a game I knew a surprisingly large amount about before playing, which you wouldn’t expect since Pikmin is one of the slightly more obscure series to be a part of this. Not sure how I knew a lot about this series in all honesty, maybe some wiki surfing when I was around 12 years old playing brawl? Hard to say.

Something I definitely didn’t know however was how dark this game gets (figuratively). Like, I knew about how this game is about trying to escape the planet in 30 days before Olimar’s life support system failed, but I never thought the game would take it as seriously as it does. I’m not complaining mind you, it just really surprised me.

In all honesty, I thought I wouldn’t like this game very much, but I’m incredibly pleased that I was wrong! I’m not very good at time management kinds of things, but I was able to have a great time with this game in spite of that. I initially thought that the blue and yellow Pikmin were just gimicks that I wouldn’t use very often, but I actually ended up using them both quite a bit, even if red Pikmin were clearly the most useful.

The game gave me a major shock at one point, I had managed to reach the distant spring and I found a weird egg. I didn’t think much of it when my blue Pikmin wouldn’t do anything to it, so I continued onward and sent my blue Pikmin back to the landing site with some loot. When I eventually got back to base, that Smokey Progg thing just went and ate all 60 Pikmin I had on me. I decided to roll with the punches and withdrew all my reds and managed to kill the thing, but at the cost of 110 of my Pikmin. It was scary. I still managed to beat the game in only 21 days though, which I’m proud of!

Those are all the thoughts I could think of right now. Next up, I’ve gotta go fast. Thank you very much for reading!

[smashjourney]

Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land

On the list of games I consider part of the “Smash Journey”, I wrote down Kirby’s Adventure, although I opted instead to play the GBA Remake instead, in large part just because I love GBA era sprites, but also because it has a slightly deeper connection with Smash, with the fountain of dreams song and all.

Overall, this is basically what you’d expect from a Kirby game. Simple but creative levels, cheerful looking enemies (for the most part) and uplifting music. None of that is bad, it’s just when you hear Kirby, this is exactly what you think you’ll get, and it is!

This is the first Kirby game to have Kirby’s copy ability, and man what a great idea for a game mechanic. there’s a good reason it became what Kirby is known for, it feels so great to see an enemy and decide “Yeah, I want that.”

This is also Meta Knight’s first appearance! I’ve always liked Meta Knight, partially because of how broken he is in brawl, but also because he just seemed cool to 10 year old me. I mean, he is still cool to 20′s me, but for different reasons.

Those are all the thoughts I could think of right now. Next up, I’m going to get stranded and do some gardening. Thank you very much for reading!