refreshing; playing it after OoT that's the best descriptor.

I did play this when it came out. I got one hour in but then I just couldn't. so full disclaimer: I hate this game. like, existentially. it not being a prequel when they said it would be, and instead pulling the most bullshit time travel crap ever seen with a bunch of OCs nobody gives a fuck about, well I'm always going to hate this game. also to me it's the beginning of the train of shitty shitty BOTW sequels. and it's just a bad idea in general: og HW was fun bc the whole LOZ cast was there, sure let's have Tingle and Marin and Midna fight Ghirahim, y'know? this is just BOTW and it's not funny, you also can't take it seriously, it's non-canon anyways, UGH. that aside, I also don't like the hack & slash gaming genre, though this game is an especially irritating specimen in my eyes. also, Zelda's awakened moveset could at least have been OP powerful after having to sit through almost the whole game to get it. c'mon. tedious busywork on top of tedious busywork... I don't recommend this game for anyone, ever.

oooh the stylus. okay: the big thing is getting the mic to work. bc it's crucial. and it's really finicky. (and caused me so much grief trying to get it to work at first). but if you've got that down then yeah, this game is pretty cute i guess. honestly dragging link around with the stylus is an interesting sort of gameplay, if a bit challenging. literally all the minibosses in this game are so weak and i honestly think it's bc otherwise they'd be too difficult bc of the controls. anyway playable zelda, zelda is the companion character! pretty nice, i guess, though having her be scared of rats and having rats as an obstacle everywhere is certainly a choice. a bad one. also traveling in a train...... i know it's the whole gimmick but there's no way around it: it's either 1) annoying or 2) boring. every single time. you can't fast travel (well. a little, but still in a train) and instead you have to take the train everywhere, which takes like 5 minutes. and you can't just zone out during, bc monsters will attack your train on pretty much every ride. but not constantly. just sometimes, so you can never zone out but you'll never be entertained either. so, the main gimmick being the worst thing about the game isn't great. otherwise it's a perfectly nice LOZ game though.

I can certainly see why it's such a genre-defining classic and why it got such high scores. it's good, obviously. but it also feels a little empty - it doesn't have a distinct gimmick, y'know? It's THE 3d zelda game. it's the LOZ archetype. I played MM first, so this game felt more childish: black and white morality, more wise guides for you to follow, literally more about being a child than MM. of course the orientalism has not aged well, though otherwise, even though I knew the story, I definitely found a lot to appreciate and learned some new details playing it. It looks really good too on 3DS, and I love the uses of fixed camera - the ones in the Castle town back alleys are so good. they should do it more. otherwise, the camera could be annoying at times, no surprise. but yeah, I can see why it's such a well-beloved game and why a kid would get obsessed with it. crazy how long it's been since it came out. though on that note: it did have a few bits of retro game bullshit, like having to stand on a specific piece of dirt and use a random item to make a treasure appear - at least all that was optional. just a fun little way to remind you that despite the upgraded visuals this game's older than me.

phenomenal game. if you've only heard of this game then "3 days time limit? pfft that doesn't seem stressful/hard at all" may be your thought. well that changes really quick when you're stuck trying to figure out a dungeon. i really didn't like LOZ dungeons when i began playing this, however, stone tower dungeon convinced me. that dungeon is so cool. yeah it singlehandedly made me like dungeons. in general this game has great dungeons: large, more difficult than OoT, great music, the vibes of this game are great and that goes for dungeons too. the bosses are great! anyway, having said how good the dungeons are, let me be clear: they're my least favorite part of the game. i LOVE sidequests, provided there's been put care into them and they're not just grinding or busywork. the sidequests in this game are fantastic. this game really doesn't feel complete without doing the sidequests too. the world of Termina is so colorful and the characters are all brilliant for what roles they fill. collecting masks is such a cool gimmick too, the transformations are great and the backstory attached to them goes hard. like haha yeah obviously this is a game where the moon's going to fall - but yeah, it IS a game about how the moon is going to fall and everyone will die and you create a timeloop to prevent it and everyone knows they will die but they don't want to tell that to a little kid and everyone has unfinished business and you just want to help them. and the final part of the game is incredible.

if you've only played botw/totk, then this is a great transition for getting into the other LOZ games. it's open-world-ish and you can solve puzzles in many different ways thanks to the echo ability, however, it's also a 2d LOZ game with more traditional dungeons. also, it looks super cute. and FINALLY, you can play as Zelda. aside from the obvious reasons why that's good and I appreciate it, it's fun getting an outside look at Link and what he's doing when you don't play as him. it's a fun little game with a decent story, looks cute, and the echo gimmick is nice. you can make smoothies with rocks. Zelda has a cat. there are even annoying collectibles hidden everywhere if you've missed the koroks required for 100%. but mostly this game is about summoning an army of ignizols to set everything around you on fire while you shout "go my minion".

my first LOZ game and my favorite.

bullet hell/bullet heaven, horde survival in space with an incredible breakcore soundtrack. also a cool little story. this game is so much fun, i still haven't gotten a perfect run but soon. soon. the game has a great artstyle in my opinion, the music is amazing, the bosses are fun. it's not a pricey game so if any of that sounds fun you should check it out.

fuck yes. I love this game. this game actually got me grinding for perfect scores, that's how good this game is. blood is fuel, hell is full of blood, you're a robot and you're so fucking fast and can jump crazy high and you have a shotgun and a rocket launcher. everything dies in huge explosions of blood and gore. commentary on why war is bad so blunt you don't need any words. great environments. gah the ps1 crunch retro look is so great.
so, it's a first person shooter, inspired by quake and devil may cry. mankind is dead only robots are left and you need fuel. also, angels and hell are real. there's a story that's pretty cool too but you should absolutely be here for the action first of all. what else? they sell body pillows of some of the bosses if you're into that.

disliked it. It’s so gray, plain, featureless, apathetic – like the main issue is that this game, world & plot, only has One thing it talks about: reincarnation. Nothing else. Nobody cares about anything and everybody’s dying. It’s not even a game about hopelessness, it’s just fucking boring. Zero point in any of it. Combat is annoying and there’s nothing else about the gameplay that makes up for it.

on steam also. I got this in a bundle i think. very small game but incredible ambiance. lots of fascinating lore bits - clues? - thrown out there and just do what you will with it. water an ancient birch. talk to some weird guys. it's eerie, but in a kind of homey way. the ps1 style textures are so good.

for an april fool’s joke this one was crazy elaborate and detailed and beautiful and just whoah. Short visual novel obviously (with some running segments) but really cute. The Sonic characters are at a costume party murder mystery themed birthday party on a fancy train! That’s so great. Worth it for the costumes alone. Ofc it’s free, so even better!

actually was this one even made by atlus? probably not.
anyway, I just don’t enjoy these hack-and-slash games with hordes of enemies, I realize despondently, as literally every level in this just felt like chewing cardboard. Also blah blah not all cops yeah, whatever, Zenkichi is still one and ugh, did we have to have him in this? Ichinose and Sophia were cool though. Fav thing abt this game is the cooking mechanic and just, seeing everyone hang out in all the different cities. Cute hub worlds. Not much else to say.

y’know basegame xc3 was not the most mind-blowing experience for me (said diplomatically) but this is really the missing puzzle piece (or at least for most of it). I enjoyed the hell out of this. This one is just pure enjoyment all the way through is what I’m saying, like this is fanservice catered to ME, meal cooked and served with references and cute legacy characters and returning characters as old wise mentors etc. A is literally in it!!! felt almost like fanfiction but I did love it.

now i've obviously replayed this one like five times. it's awesome. Great. So much fun. this is a full-course dinner. This game is massive. It’s so cool. Let’s see the main story probably isn’t that great if you’re watching a cutscene compilation, but when playing it it’s a different story my friend. This game was my fav for such a long time. It might still be. Open-world exploration game of my dreams. It’s just so great to play it, and replay it – the side-quests are all great, the worldmap literally never gets old – it’s just dazzling – and working your way up to getting a skell and then later, going for your first trip flying with it? Priceless. Top 3 moments of gaming. Also the music is fucking amazing. 10/10. the only bad thing is how many unanswered questions there are at the end like please… I’m begging here monolithsoft, c’mon.. throw us a bone...
and after playing DE, most of the questions still aren't answered! but there were a bunch of QoL improvements & maybe they just made things easier in some spots? at least getting tickets is. so I finally 100%-ed this game this year! oooh and the new characters were fun. the epilogue... eh. i would have liked to see the epilogue they would've made in 2015/16 instead of this. no spoilers. still, it's out for switch now!! if you haven't played it do it.

game of all time. It’s cubes, and you build with them. Unbeatable concept. I have no idea what my playtime is but it must be thousands of hours. Gorgeous game too honestly. I mean it’s all what you make of it and I love building and I love seeing other people’s buildings and I love mining and farming and exploring. Loved the game when there weren’t even horses and, gotta admit some of the updates I’m not so familiar with anymore, but still there’s so much lovely new stuff nowadays, like the cherry trees. Gah they’re just so fucking pretty. I love this game.

that genre of literature, robinson crusoe, where some guy gets stranded on tropical island and is so afraid "the cannibals" will get him and then he has to like survive and build a house etc etc YEAH that except it's a minecraft rip-off. i just remembered this game when i typed up the minecraft review lol. anyway i've never gotten very far in this, unlike minecraft tools in this game break like, instantly, and also the sharks usually kill me pretty fast. this game has mangoes, though! and the ocean's pretty nice. idk this game's entire existence is funny to me mostly.

so much fun. Yeah there are issues. Pretty glaring issues (see: Ann’s treatment by the narrative) but like, this game is also so much fun to play. Easily sinking hundreds of hours into it. The music bangs. The aesthetic is cool as hell of course, who doesn’t love gentleman thieves. I fucking love the dungeons, like just the fact that you’re pulling off heists at like, museums and banks is great. I love Madarame’s palace and the casino and- anyway. I can spend legit hours at a time just driving around in mementos (creepy supernatural subway tunnels beneath tokyo) mowing down enemies. The cat turns into a bus hell yeah. The royal-exclusive stuff is neat too. And the characters are a lot of fun… they’re all really lovable. I just loved playing this game, I really should replay it soon.

considering how much I play it yeah it’s going on here. First of all, party game of all time. Secondly, due to playing it a shitton, I have opinions on literally every individual game in it. Globe Trot is objectively the best of the party games – you can actually do strategy in it, the board is fun, lots of options. Board Game island gets stale really quick since all you’re doing is moving forward. Bingo is bingo, enough said. Spin-off is mostly fun for making the bank’s numbers go up. Mii of a Kind is pretty short but it’s fine. The pair games are all pretty nice – both trying to get the highest score and lowest score in Friend Connection is hilarious and requires cheating, Balance Boat is really fun, and Match-Up is unbalanced as all hell but that’s also fun, just crushing your opponent unfairly. As for the House Party games… Hide and Hunt yeah, but also I’ve overplayed it (fun though), Word Bomb & Time Bomb are both funny, Animal Tracker is… something. Strange? And Buddy Quiz is not very interesting tbh. Of the minigames, it’s literally criminal that there are only 5 1v3 games – they all get played like 5 million times and by this point I despise each and every single one of them – but the regular 4player games have lots of good options. Gah that’s what I miss so much with other consoles, there’s no shaking the remote or pointing at the screen or swinging the remote or… well anyway. Great minigame selection!

glossier than Wii Party ofc, and the games are perfectly pleasant, but sadly it doesn’t have Globe Trot. Fashion Plaza is still pretty great though! Anyway, I haven’t played this game as much as the previous one. Well, let’s rank the TV Party mode games: Fashion Plaza is best, Teammate Madness is like Mii of a Kind but a lot more fun, Highway Rollers is just a straightforward sprint to the goal (meh) but it does have the benefit of ridiculously high numbers and a ton of dice which is fun so it’s fine. Unfortunately GamePad island is really meh. The Balldozer is… hmm. Perplexing? Not my cup of tea? Then there are a lot more House Party games than in Wii Party, some of them really great! Some of them super short. Some of them with motion controls that are… finicky. Then there’s also Gamepad party which is pretty meh overall imo. The minigame selection is nice, and there are various games attached to the minigame selection too. So a pretty nice spread.