Topic: User Impressions/Reviews Thread

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy Great piece on Genshin Impact! It... basically confirms what I'd already suspected about the game re: monetization and game design. ALL companies are out to net money with their game. They can either design a proper game and charge an entry fee to enjoy it (my preference, obviously), or they can design a """""free-to-play""""" game and orient the game design around extorting money from the player (I guess there are full priced titles from big publishers that still try to bleed you dry with lootboxes and whatnot, too; THAT anyone makes any money with that model will always amaze me). Despite really liking the "BotW meets anime waifus" aesthetic of the game in general, I pretty much dropped any plans to ever play the game when I heard it was a freemium title. But I've still been very curious about it, given the obvious polish and high production values involved with this particular title.

Those various meters and microtransactions sound like a nightmare to manage. And, wait, you have to use a RESOURCE (resin) to get rewards for defeating bosses?! That's bananas! I imagine the strategy there is to just wear down the player to the point where they start agreeing to small purchases in exchange for the game allowing them to play in peace for a while.

It's a pity, too, because the art style is great, combat sounds fun, exploration seems like a good time, the music is unique (Mondstadt's field themes are gorgeous, and even the battle theme for that region is really chilled out and interesting; and yeah, the cool orchestral Chinese flair of Liyue's battle theme is great)... it seems like it's 90% of a good game, but that the early access nature of it and, especially, the predatory monetization just ruins it overall.

Great job as always, Foxy!

@nessisonett Yeah, Kondo has heavily hinted that they're interested in remaking Ys V on modern platforms, so I'll probably wait for that version. Their definitive remakes always seem like SIGNIFICANTLY better games than the originals were.

Taisen Hot Gimmick (Arcade) - A Japan only "Mature" Riichi Mahjong title I played on my tablet (I say "Mature" as while there are some scenes of topless female characters, it's really not much/if any more graphic than titles like Waifu Uncovered or the older God of War games, which are on console), and it's absolutely one of my guilty pleasures. For reference I do own the HD Switch version (which I believe is the only official western release), which is based on a PS2 port that added extra content (while I may touch on that port's additions, I'll mostly be focusing on the arcade original). Due to the nature of the title I've decided not to post screenshots (though like 95% of your playtime will consist of looking at mahjong tiles on a green background with no more than a portrait of your opponent's face in the upper right corner).

• As mentioned before it's a Riichi Mahjong game, and unlike the matching "Solitaire" variety we usually see in the west, the real deal is more akin to something like Poker, though much more complex. There are three different Suit tile types (each come numbered 1 through 9), and two different Face style tile sets (a set of four that I believe correlate to either the four directions or seasons and have a black kanji on them, and a set of three called Dragon tiles, one of which has a red kanji, the other a green kanji, and the last one appears blank here, though I believe might have a blue kanji in other games?). It's actually a really complex game, so I won't go into specifics (as I don't consider myself fully versed), but you have 14 tiles in your hand and make a winning hand with four sets of three tiles (such as matching identical tiles, or having three tiles in the same Suit in order, like the "2", "3", & "4"), plus a pair of matching tiles, though there are a few other winning configurations as well. There are some other complex rules to get your head around too, like in some situations you can't win on a hand if it contains a type of tile you have in your discard pile (I haven't gotten to grips with all of it's subtle little rules, and still pretty often find myself in a situation where I think I have a winning hand but the game won't let me play it). Needless to say the process of learning the game itself has been a very rewarding one.
• On a typical run you'll have 8 opponents to beat. The first three consist of 2 high school girls & an American woman (and you have your pick of which of the three you want to start with), the next 3 consist of an office worker, nurse, & police officer (again, you're able to pick which of the three you'll start with), while the 7th opponent is a dominatrix, and the 8th is a sultry Kitsune in human form. Whenever you ultimately win you'll have your choice between a few different fanservicy scenarios (three for the first three opponents, two for everyone else) & the option to let them stay modest, and it's that last option that's the key to unlocking the game's hidden opponents (3 in total, bringing the game's total to 11 opponents, though you'll only ever face 10 during a single run). The game is developed by Psikyo (behind shmups such as Samurai Aces & Gunbird), and if you beat the first three opponents without stripping them you unlock the option of either facing Samurai Ace's' Miko or Gunbird's Marion (you only get to face one during a run). If you clear the first 6 opponents without stripping them (and I believe this includes the first bonus opponent as well, so a total of 7), you get to face off against Samurai Ace's Flush (a muscular male samurai, it's a bit of a gag proving the game doesn't take itself seriously).
• Opponents essentially have two different health bars. The first is a point value, and the second is a trio of hearts. Winning hands have a point value associated with them (the harder they are to pull off the more they're worth) which is deducted from your opponent's point value. Whenever you fully drain their point value (or beat them three times, draining their hearts) you win. The first few opponents have such low point values that you'll likely win in one go no matter how common your hand is (unless it's just a Tenpai, which just means you're one tile off a winning hand by game's end, and is worth very few points), but when it comes to later opponents you'll have to decide whether or not you'll want to go for a war of attrition with easier hands that'll take multiple wins in order to beat them, or gamble on trying to go for a big hand that can take them out in one go. Of course being an arcade title winning isn't exactly an easy thing to pull off even if you generally know what your doing as your opponents can pull winning hands out of thin air at times. Luckily this is offset by a store of points that you build up after every round (win or lose) that you can spend on powerups, which when activated give you a starting hand that's only a few tiles off a winning configuration (the more expensive the powerup, the rarer the hand it'll give you), showing that if you just keep at it (pouring money into it if you were actually playing in an arcade) you can essentially power your way through it. From experience however, it's possible for the computer to pull out a miraculous win even if you start off one tile away from the rarest hand, so victory isn't always guaranteed this way. That's just the way of the arcade however, and I want to point out that I have beat many opponents without a powerup, so it's entirely possible to win normally.
• Otherwise your opponents are depicted in a realistic anime style (think less Senran Kagura or One Piece, and more Evangelion or Cowboy Bebop), through there is a cartoon dog that runs around the playfield & does things like hold up cards counting down the time you have left in your turn. There is a little narrative that goes along with each opponent (which I only know by playing the localized Switch port), but where it gets a little controversial is that it centers around "punishing" the women for some perceived slight. These are usually pretty silly (such as the American woman's sin being that she just won't admit that Japan is number 1!), but can definitely understand a bit of uncomfortability.
• As for the upgrades to the Switch port (since I said I'll touch on it in case you're interested), the most notable is the cleaned up art assets & presentation. Otherwise they increased the number of scenarios you can put the women in (though it removed the nudity from the arcade scenarios, & doesn't have any in the new scenarios), added a new unlockable bonus opponent between the dominatrix & Kitsune (not sure if she's from another game or is an original character however), and slightly aged up the two high school opponents to avoid controversy.

So yeah, a bit of a guilty pleasure. Apparently there are 2 or 3 other games in the series that haven't made it westward that I'll eventually try out.

My preference too of course @Ralizah if it wasn't obvious

In fact before I dropped and deleted the game they had sent an in game message to the mail box with a survey (That actually spurred said actions) in which I basically said If it was a traditonal experience I'd be all over it.

Yeah it really is exhausting with every little thing you have to keep track of (I didn't even mention a bunch of other things).

I think the big bosses in the overworld are considered raid bosses or something along the lines and why you have to use a rescource for the rewards? I dunno. I didn't even mention the co-op feature either! It works? I never personally used it myself. The frame rate isn't great on a slim PS4 either.

And yeah it's a very charming game, it's the reason why I spoke about it's many strengths first and foremost, which makes it all the more the pity regarding it's predatory monetisation methods.

And cheers Ralizah. Glad you enjoyed reading it!

I don't blame you @Th3solution still wanting to give it a try seeing as it is free and all. I gave it a chance after all despite not liking the sound/agreeing with it's monetisation methods despite the praise it was getting.

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy Late to the party, with apologies, but I really enjoyed your review of Genshin Impact on the previous page... all the way through 'til the end, which I'm sorry to see you can't actually do with the game itself, thanks to its unfinished state and aggressive monetisation. The calculations you made working out the game's true cost paint a frightening but important picture, to the point where I'd call this the forum's best bit of "public service posting" to date. Informative, witty and interesting to read, even for a passer-by with little love for the genre. Thanks for posting!

@RR529 The diversity of games you review is really cool, irrespective of their content. It's easy to see controversial titles reported on with derision (or as click-bait) so to hear from somebody who actually sits down and plays them provides a crucial perspective, I reckon. Plus I've always liked Mahjong, although I fear I've been subjected to its weaker Western variant more than the real deal, so your first bullet-point about the learning curve contains some fascinating stuff.

...There was wit?

Thanks for reading @RogerRoger (And nice to see you too! I was going to shoot you a message in fact asking if you were ok as I hadn't seen you in a little while)

It's a shame it unfortunately takes the mick with the monetisation and the likes (I didn't even mention that the only way you can unlock each character's skill tree is by getting repeats of those characters 6 (or maybe even 7) times needed to get it all fully unlocked) as I said in the review there's honestly something fairly special past all that.

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy No worries, and thanks; a thing happened, s'all. Rest assured that I'll always find my way back here (and that's a threat, not a promise!).

I feel like we're entering an age where free-to-play games have always been part of the younger generation's lives and, as such, these kinds of practices are becoming more and more acceptable (or rather, developers feel they can get away with tougher, more obvious paywalls because "that's the way it's always been" for some gamers). Don't get me wrong, I've dabbled in free-to-play games, and have put money into one in particular, but they're usually A: not exactly Triple-A quality, and B: fair about progression, letting you level up and see the core content through regardless.

@RogerRoger, Thanks! When I first played the Switch version I even had a page up on my phone about the general rules of the game to refer to while playing. I'll usually go on a kick of playing it quite a bit for a week or two, then put it down for a few months until I get the itch again.

@RR529 Nice, detailed review. I've seen a few of these Mahjong games on the eshop, I think, but wasn't really sure what to think of them. I'll confess: Mahjong looks like the most arcane thing in the world. It's interesting to hear about the crossover with Psikyo properties like Gunbird.

You said you played it on your tablet... does this mean you downloaded it from the Play Store or from the App Store?

@Ralizah, it's actually the reason I was enquiring about emulation awhile ago. There's no way Google (or I assume Apple) would let an uncensored version of one of these games on their app stores (from what I understand, even most gacha games from Japan & Korea often have to edit out mild fanservice from the western versions of their apps due to Google's strict policy on such stuff when it comes to female character designs).

Here's just one example, but you can find complaints of this nature in the fandoms of a lot of these games.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=F5wy2HyFrtY&t=61s

Super Mario Sunshine HD Remaster (via the Super Mario 3D All-Stars package)

Platform: Nintendo Switch

Completion status: 120 shine sprites and 240 blue coins; a 100% run, as far as I can tell

Super Mario Sunshine (henceforth SMS), originally released worldwide for the Nintendo GameCube in 2002, has always occupied an awkward space in the series. Released as a platform exclusive on one of Nintendo's lower selling consoles, the game itself never saw a re-release or remake until now (unlike the other two games in this collection: Mario 64 has enjoyed re-releases on Wii and Wii U, as well as a full remake on Nintendo DS; the far more recently Super Mario Galaxy has, itself, been re-released on the Wii U) and has long suffered with the reputation of being the black sheep of the series, whose odd design choices and reported glitchiness made it unworthy of being talked about in the same lofty tone as the (almost) universally acclaimed Super Mario 64. I myself played it in the early-to-mid 2010's and enjoyed myself at the time, but never fully completed it (collected all the shine sprites, I mean; I, of course, beat the game). I thought it would be fun to continue my collectionist streak with this game and see what I think about it years on in its new HD remastered form.

SMS is, no doubt, a very unusual game in the series. It begins with a fully animated cutscene of Mario, Peach, and her trusted steward Toadsworth (who I previously encountered in Paper Mario: TTYD, also on GameCube) flying to the Isle Delfino to enjoy a vacation. When they arrive there, though, they discover that a mysterious, shadowy entity shaped like Mario, known as Shadow Mario, has used a magic paintbrush to defile the island with goop. This defacement is so profound that the Isle's guardians, the shine sprites (sort of a living power source), have retreated to various parts of the island, throwing the lives of the local Pianta people into havoc. Mario is locked in a jail, sentenced by a local court for Shadow Mario's crimes, and then sentenced to clean up all the goop that ruined the natural beauty of the Isle Delfino. Thankfully, Mario has the aid of the FLUDD, or Flash Liquidizer Ultra Dousing Device, an apparently sapient device that Mario wears on his back and uses to manipulate the power of water.

Although there are multiple kidnapping attempts through this game (life must be hell for the Mushroom Kingdom princess), the most apparent distinction from older Super Mario games can immediately be seen: while still light on plot, it has an actual narrative. This is all fairly rudimentary, of course, and the bulk of the game's storytelling happens at the very start, but after Super Mario 64 (the plot of which can be summarized as "Peach invites Mario to her castle for 'cake' before getting kidnapped"), it's nice to have some narrative grounding to enjoy. The game actually has around 14 minutes of cutscenes! There are some minor plot twists related to the Shadow Mario villain as well.

The cutscene that opens the game is actually rather surprising, because this is one of the few Super Mario games where characters actually verbally talk to one-another. It might seem funny to non-Nintendo fans, but when Mario characters are prone to only uttering a few, very basic voice clips over and over, it's rather shocking to hear them speak in complete sentences. Mario himself is exempt from this, unfortunately. The cutscenes also have a cinematic quality to them that was surprising when I first played it as well.

The naturalistic quality of the presentation extends to the level design. Everything feels very... organic in SMS, especially coming from the very abstract levels in 64. Like that game, Mario returns to a hub world that connects him to various levels where he will need to complete various tasks to find and return the Shine Sprites. The hub, Delfino Plaza, is large, open, and fairly dense, with various buildings to enter, ports, beaches, fruit vendors, towers, and nearby islands to explore. Most of Delfino Plaza's secrets can be unlocked as the player unlocks upgrades to their FLUDD, with a few being locked by story progression.

The levels themselves also follow this trend insofar as they're all just different parts of Isle Delfino. As such, the entire game is steeped in a tropical/beach theme, which some might find tiring, but I actually really enjoyed how the world in this game felt coherent and less explicitly gamey than in other Mario titles. It also allows for unique level themes I've not seen in other Mario games, as he explores sea ports, large beaches, hotels, theme parks, and so on. The crucial thing is that all of these locations feel like they could reasonably be in the same broad landmass, and it brings a sense of cohesion to the adventure.

One of the immediately controversial aspects of this game has always been how dependent Mario's moveset is on the FLUDD. Sans Mario's creepy talking water backpack, a few things have changed about his moveset: the long jump is gone, as is the (pointless) punching, kicking, and crawling. In their place is the spin jump, which allows Mario to go spinning up in the air, allowing for greater verticality than the usual jumping movement. Most other movements from Mario 64, such as the triple jump, backflip, etc. are still here. With that said, on his lonesome, Mario feels a little bit gimped with his long jump, which is an issue during challenge levels (more on that in a bit). Thankfully, the FLUDD is available during the majority of the game, and it adds tremendously to Mario's versatility of movement. The FLUDD comes by default with the hover nozzle, which allows him to shoot water at the ground and keep him suspended in the air for a short period of time. Nozzles unlocked throughout the game will give him a high-speed dash (which he can use to cover large distances quickly, as well as smash into doors to access secrets) and the ability to rocket high up into the air. Additionally, Mario can shoot water out of the nozzle at enemies, which tends to be tremendously helpful during the game's boss encounters (which are much more frequent than they were in Mario 64, thankfully). He can also shoot water at his environment. One tremendously helpful move is to shoot water at the ground and then to immediately send Mario into a dive, which allows him to slide large distances on his tummy. It can take a bit of getting used to coming off of other Mario games, but the FLUDD really does add a tremendous amount of freedom to Mario's moveset when it's combined with normal Mario platforming, which is often necessary to find some the VERY hidden collectibles in this game.

Nozzle upgrades become available throughout the game as the player advances the plot by completing various episodes in each world. The more plot-driven nature of this game means that, unlike Mario 64, the player is basically required to engage with almost all of the game's levels before they can head to the final boss confrontation. This sensibility feeds into the design of the hub level as well, since some levels, and many secret shines available in the hub, aren't accessible until the player is able to use one of the unlockable nozzles, or until a plot event changes in the environment in some way. It's probably worth mentioning that the game has a significantly smaller number of levels to explore versus Super Mario 64 (7 levels with 8 main episodes each, versus 64's 15 worlds with 6 episodes each), which might have motivated the move away from player freedom in this regard. I definitely think I prefer SMS's approach to content, however: while it has fewer environments to explore, and fewer episodes overall. environments tend to be denser and more thematically engaging. Mario 64 often felt like a level pack to me, with almost no plot progression or sense of continuity between environments.

I mentioned that Mario feels a little gimped without his FLUDD, and that exact aspect of the game crops up every now and then during episodes where Mario is tasked with entering a secret level and retrieving the shine sprite at the end of it. At the beginning of a secret level, Shadow Mario temporarily steals the FLUDD from Mario, forcing the plumber to get by purely on his own ability. These levels are abstract, utterly linear, and focused entirely on platforming across large, rotating shapes and platforms. I believe I mentioned these levels in my review of A Hat in Time, because their design is incredibly similar to the Time Rifts in that game. With that said, it can be easy to become too comfortable with the safety net afforded by Mario's FLUDD (particularly the hover nozzle, which has saved me from certain doom more times than I can count), and you can easily end up feeling incredibly naked and vulnerable without it. They're usually decent challenges, though, and the platforming is never too enraging thanks to the changes in how Mario moves in this game. The horrible little pivot that plagued Mario's turns in Mario 64 is gone. Surfaces are no longer slippery unless you're on a proper incline. Frankly, even without the long jump, Mario is much more of a joy to control in this game, as he feels weightier, and I almost always felt like I was in controls of his movements.

I also want to briefly mention how much better the camera is in this game than in Mario 64. While it still has an unfortunate habit of getting 'stuck' on scenery at times, it still allows the player almost full control of the camera at all times, and, in general is incredibly responsive. It might be a little disappointing in a more modern game, but given the age of the experience, I think it works fairly well.

Before I transition away from talking about the game design, I do want to discuss what is perhaps the most often criticized aspect of this game: the blue coin collectibles. 24 of the shine sprites needed to get to this game's total of 120 are locked behind collectibles Mario will find throughout the various levels called blue coins. There are 30 of these coins in each level, and every 10 of them unlocks a shine sprite. Some of them are easy enough to find, as they're either openly visible and can be found in any of that world's episodes. But a surprisingly large chunk of these coins are an absolute nuisance to find, as their placement is often obnoxiously random (blue coins have popped out of tiny, seemingly ornamental background fixtures that the game provided no reason to interact with, for example, or even just random spots in the environment that are totally unremarkable otherwise) and, even worse, some coins can only be found in certain episodes in a level. Of course, the game doesn't tell you how many coins are in a given episode, which leads to a potentially dreadful amount of tedious trial-and-error gameplay as you hunt around already cleared episodes with no clue at to whether you even have a chance of finding them there. The endgame grind of hunting around for various blue coins is a total drag. I ended up using a guide to find a few that I just could not seem to find anywhere. I recommend others use a guide way sooner if you want to fully complete the game. Or, better yet, don't bother 100%ing the game, as you get nothing for it apart from a different splash screen at the very end of the game.

I feel like my discussion of this game has been broadly positive so far, and, indeed, my experience was broadly positive, but I do want to highlight how infuriating some of the levels in this game are. Beyond Tick Tock Clock-levels of infuriating, frankly. During my initial GameCube playthrough, the hidden pachinko machine and lily pad levels were my bugbears (and, indeed, a level where you're on a moving object, are forced to collect red coins, and die the instant you touch any of the water surrounding your tiny lily pad vehicle is still utterly worthy of my scorn), but I was surprised to discover how many of the normal episodes in this game also hinge on design choices that can only be described as ridiculous bullpucky. I'll highlight a handful: two from Gelato Beach and three from Pianta Village.

The first particularly annoying episode in this game, for me, was The Sand Bird is Born, where the player is tasked with entering a special level where they have to platform across an enormous bird made of sand and collect red coins as it passes them. Sounds simple enough, right? Shadow of the Colossus without being able to grab hold of the colossus. Unfortunately, the level is pure misery from beginning to end. Mario is constantly being knocked off-balance by the flapping motions of the bird's wings, and sometimes just by the rocking of its movements in general. So even interacting with the thing normally is annoying. The level becomes particularly dire once the bird decides to start turning mid-air, forcing the player to awkwardly try and hover their way onto the side of the bird, and then back again when the bird repositions itself. Oh, and, as this is happening, the player is forced to try and collect tiny red coins that are easily missable.

Things get worse in The Watermelon Festival, an episode where Mario has to safely push watermelons to a Pianta on a tiny, rickety pier without breaking them. Two things massively complicate this mission. The watermelons themselves control horribly. The player basically has to just barely nudge them in order to maintain any semblance of control over their movements. This is especially fun when you're trying to move them across thin planks of wood and prevent them from falling in the water. What makes this even worse, though, is that the stage is literally riddled with these horrible enemies that all try to send your watermelon flying into the air. The watermelon, of course, breaks upon hitting the ground again. You can spray them with water to very briefly incapacitate them, but you're pretty much surrounded by the horrible things the entire time. And you can also say goodbye to your watermelon if you allow one of them to get too close to you, because they'll send you flying across the stage before also destroying the watermelon you've spent several minutes very deliberately moving across the huge beach. The experience is horrible from beginning to end.

The frustration and anxiety are amped up in an episode titled The Goopy Inferno. In this episode, the entire level of Pianta Village is covered in magma, and the player is forced to try and navigate across and underneath it in order to retrieve their FLUDD after it's again stolen by Shadow Mario. I lost count of how many routes I tried to take before discovering the right path. And once you do, you still have to contend with these horribly grate-climbing sections where you're left defenseless as enemies skitter after you to try and knock you off to your death. You have no recourse against them, and god help you if an enemy in front of you takes any level of interest in Mario, as he's effectively done for at that point, and you have to start over from the very beginning of the level and spend several minutes getting back to where you were previously. I can't count how many times I died in this level, and even going back to it to look for episode-specific blue coins (thanks for that, Nintendo) was pure misery.

I'd also be remiss if I didn't mention the special level in Pianta Village where you have to get chucksters to toss you between tiny platforms. The slightest little change in angle in terms of how Mario is positioned when he talks to one of these jerks is the difference between survival and being tossed into the abyss. Frankly, whether the player gets to the end feels a LOT like luck: if they keep trying their hand at the level enough, EVENTUALLY the chucksters will toss Mario onto the platform where the shine sprite is located.

OK, so that sound intolerable, right? Now imagine that level... but with red coins and a very strict time limit that allows for no mistakes. One of the shine sprites in Pianta Village is locked behind this challenge, and it's every bit as miserable and rage-inducing as it sounds.

Thinking about it, Pianta Village could be removed from the game entirely, as far as I'm concerned. Solidly half the episodes feel poorly-designed, like something out of a rage platformer designed to inflict suffering on the player.

These aren't, for sure, the only annoying bits in this game. I could also mention how, to even get to the secret lily pad level in this game, you're forced to ride a yoshi across a variety of boats in order to get to the island where the level is located (yoshis can't swim, apparently), which means undergoing a profoundly tedious process of spending ten literal minutes largely just waiting for boats to slowly ferry you to other boats. Of course, the boats are small, so if you slip and the yoshi dies near the end of the ride, well, guess what? It's ten more minutes of tedious waiting time for you, buster! Same thing happens if you don't eat enough fruit and your yoshi runs out of energy before you reach the island. I should also mention that, when you lose a yoshi, you also have to repeat the process of getting a yoshi in the first place, which means trudging to the fruit market to find a piece of fruit and then slowly trudging back to where the yoshi egg spawns in Delfino Plaza in order to convince the louse to hatch in the first place. So screwing up even once during this process ends up penalizing you fifteen minutes or so. It's aggravating as hell. Thankfully, I discovered that you can skip a huge portion of this sequence by manipulating some of the glitchy physics in this game.

This theme of not respecting the player's time recurs throughout the game. The Pianta Village level, for example, is an absolute chore to get to, as it requires the player to locate and equip the rocket nozzle before dragging themselves all the way to the top of the town to rocket themselves up toward where the entrance to the level is. While I really like the expansiveness of some of these environments (especially considering how much verticality there is to Mario's platforming this time), it really sucks how much time I had to spend effectively re-treading my steps over and over again.

If my review hasn't provided any indication, the game is a bit weird, but that sometimes works in its favor. I mentioned before that there were more boss encounters in this game than in Mario 64. They're not just more frequent, however, but sometimes wildly creative. I can't think of another Mario game that would have a setpiece where Mario is riding around in a roller-coaster, firing missiles at an enormous, robotic version of Bowser, for example. One boss was repeated too many times, though, and I feel bad every time I beat it. At least three separate times you'll have a face-off against a giant squid called Gooper Blooper. In reality, this thing is usually laying around minding its own business, and, to beat it, the player will have Mario begin savagely ripping its tentacles off one by one before nearly ripping its face off. It's seriously the most grisly, disturbing thing I've ever seen in a Mario game, especially considering the dismembered tentacles will flop around briefly after you rip them off its body. I felt even worse when I was informed that the player can technically defeat Gooper Blooper without slowly, methodically dismembering the poor thing. The game made me think otherwise, however, as the FLUDD effectively instructs Mario to rip its tentacles off before attacking the face. Not cool, Nintendo. Even cartoonish animal cruelty still turns my stomach.

The Super Mario 3D Collection has gotten some flack for being a low-quality set of remasters, and I kind of defended Mario 64 from that charge a bit, but SMS is less defendable. Let me explain.

Image quality-wise, the game looks pretty good on Nintendo Switch. It was always a looker on Gamecube, and the in-game image is being rendered at 720p in portable mode and a crisp 1080p on the TV, respectively, which makes it feel a lot more modern than Mario 64, which caps out at 720p on the TV. Another impressive aspect of the game at the time was how far the draw distance extended: you could climb up on a building and see collectibles pretty far off in the distance, or get a sense of what challenges awaited you before you ever got to them. And those fine details are even easier to spot now given the boost in resolution. Before getting into my complaints, I'd like to note that the art direction still looks fantastic in this game: colors are bold, environments are surprisingly detailed given the age of the game, and the water was and remains flat out gorgeous, which is good, since you'll be seeing a lot of it. I'm not as big of a fan of the Pianta designs, but you certainly can't knock for his game for a lack of visual identity. Every single aspect of this game FEELS tropical.

I do have one big technical gripe with this game, though. Unlike other people, I don't mind so much that this game is running at 30fps, as I figure the game was built with that framerate in mind, and so doesn't really need to be 'fixed' to run at higher framerates. I do expect a smooth framerate in a remaster of an 18-year-old game, though, which makes it frustrating that, just like in the original, the game is constantly chugging in Delfino Plaza. I'm not a framerate snob, but it's distracting when the framerate is dipping into what must be the mid-20s constantly in the hub area. This is, thankfully, less of an issue in other environments, but it's unacceptable given the age of the game, in my opinion.

I'd also like to point out that Nintendo 'fixes' the aspect ratio issue with the in-game cutscenes by cropping and stretching them, which means you're missing out on the outer edge of the image during cutscenes. This is more understandable, though, given it'd be impossible to properly remaster these cutscenes. Nintendo would have to just re-create them for this release.

Musically, while Sunshine isn't exemplary like certain later 3D Mario titles (mainly due to a lack of diversity), its OST is still fun to listen to.

I really like the relaxed tropical vibe of the music that plays in Gelato Beach. It really sells the low-stakes vacationey vibe of the game. This feels like it belongs in a game with the word "sunshine" in the title:

I'm also a big fan of the arrangement of the World 1-1 theme that plays in the secret levels:

While I'm not a fan of the boss music in this game, the music that plays when you fight Mecha-Bowser is OK. Reminds me of something from a Pokemon game, frankly.

Although, arguably my least favorite track in the game is the one that the player will hear the most. I wish Nintendo had opted for a more complex arrangement for the music that plays in Delfino Plaza. It's... a bit repetitive.

I did some complaining, but I did come out the other end of Super Mario Sunshine still really enjoying it for the most part. A handful of its levels are frustrating, but it represents a MASSIVE step up, both technically and artistically, over the painful Super Mario 64. Visually, it still holds up well. The music doesn't make me want to scrub my ears off. The camera works well (mostly). The overall feel of the controls is great. It has more of a sense of narrative and progression to it than the random assortment of worlds in Mario 64. The FLUDD is a lot of fun to control. It's a good time. I'd just recommend ignoring the blue coins and playing the main eight episodes in each level. Not an immortal classic, necessarily, but I'm glad a new generation has the opportunity to experience this.

7.5/10

@Ralizah One heck of an enjoyable write-up, as always. Your systematic approach to the game's mechanics made for a nice way of addressing the long-standing concerns against this "black sheep" in Mario's ongoing series (concerns even I'd heard of before). Overall, I'm left reminded of how I often walk away from games considered "timeless classics" confused as to why subsequent sequels, which clearly made improvements, aren't more fondly remembered; in the above, your constant (yet always valid) comparisons to Super Mario 64 helped me sympathise and understand your perspective.

Far from perfect, for sure, but what game is? I've always liked the look of Sunshine and, had my partner been interested in grabbing the recent re-release, I have a sneaking suspicion that it would've ended up my favourite (Pianta Village and Gooper Blooper cruelty notwithstanding).

@RogerRoger Thanks! Yeah, I've noticed that "people praising the inferior original over clearly superior sequels" thing before with a number of properties. In some cases, I think it's down to the original making a bigger impression on release. In other cases, though, I think people just repeat what they hear other people say, sometimes without even realizing they're doing it. Especially with the advent of social media, it's so easy to fall into regimented patterns of thought and judgment without being any the wiser about it. Of course, the risk, as I'm especially sure you're aware, is that pushing back too hard against this can see you being labeled a 'hipster' or 'contrarian.' Thankfully, if the game is good enough, its legacy usually recovers. I'm noticing a lot of "Super Mario Sunshine is pretty good" posts alongside the "Wow, Mario 64 isn't as much fun to play today" posts on various websites.

And yeah, I can't even pretend to hide how much I love to hate Super Mario 64. I did want to make reference to it more heavily in this review given how it was the immediate predecessor to this game, and how its legacy shaped the public reaction to Sunshine, though.

Is your partner not a 3D Mario fan?

@Ralizah He is and he isn't. Basically, he struggles with a second analogue stick, but he does love Mario and really enjoyed watching me play through Odyssey for him (even though it apparently "wasn't a patch on the originals" which makes me think he might generally prefer 2D gaming). As much as he's a Nintendo fanboy, I don't think gaming has been a consistent presence in his life, so there are gaps in his history where things simply won't mean as much to him.

You're absolutely spot on. I think nostalgia plays a big role in this specific kind of skewed judgement (something I touched on in my Episode I Racer piece a while back; coincidentally another N64 "classic" being surpassed by a subsequent, oft-overlooked release). When coupled with the echo chamber of the internet, it can make for a powerful and impenetrable wall of opinion. The amount of times I've encountered a "...but isn't that the bad one?" reaction from those who've never even engaged with the subject matter is astounding. I get it, and it's why we often like to wait for reviews before purchasing a game (or watching a movie, or even buying a book) but it's also why retrospectives like yours are crucial, because attitudes are forever evolving.

Even removed from the reassessment a re-release like this provides older fans (which I'm pleased to see you report is being fair), it can often be a simple age thing. The kids who were blown away by Super Mario 64 and subsequently got grumpy with Sunshine have all grown up; now we're seeing the next generation become the journalists, influencers and content creators who're informing the wider consensus and challenging the notion of Sunshine being "the rubbish one".

Which is why all of your Mario 64 comparisons were totally valid, as would more have been!

@mookysam I've come out the other end of my second run of Sunshine definitely noticing its flaws more. I think that inherently happens when you 100% it, because the blue coin hunt near the end just sucks, but I'd forgotten how frustrating some of those main story episodes are. With that said, I'd probably still place it closer to the top of my 3D Mario ranking than to the bottom. I guess I'm going to revisit and fully complete every 3D Mario game now, though, so it'll be interesting to see how my feelings have changed once the dust settles. I would've put Sunshine over Odyssey before replaying it, but now I'm not so sure.

Nintendo needs to hurry up and port over Galaxy 2 so I can grab some decent screens of it. It's so easy to get good screenshots for my reviews with Switch games compared to any other system I own that I'm just naturally gravitating to that platform most of the time. Also, I need excuses to play stuff with my Pro Controller now that I finally own one.

Looking forward to your review!

RogerRoger's Random Sonic the Hedgehog Retrospectives
Part Seven: SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 4: EPISODE II
May 2012 / Android, iOS, PC (version played), PS3 and Xbox360

Once a series has lasted a certain length, the concept of a throwback becomes inevitable. Even when your brand is known for innovation and risk-taking, sooner or later you'll have to surrender and "give the fans what they want" by taking a backwards step and pandering to nostalgia. This fate has befallen Sonic several times, most recently with the outsourced Sonic Mania, and yet there is a previous example in the back-catalogue which proves that it's possible to put a fresh spin on replicating the past.

Released as a digital download on pretty much everything possible, the first Sonic 4 episode was hyped with flourish in 2010. It promised to continue the story from where MegaDrive classic Sonic 3 & Knuckles left things back in 1994, a promise to which many fans went "Eeeee!!" and everybody else went "Hang on, there was a story?!" Alas, it arrived on people's hard-drives with terrible level design and broken physics, presented with all the audio-visual flare of a shouting match in a junkyard. Plans for an annual, episodic trilogy using the same code were hastily abandoned, as Sonic Team and co-developer Dimps went back to the drawing board.

Two years later, we got Sonic 4: Episode II and, spoiler alert for the paragraphs below, it was a vast improvement in every single way... in fact, I'd go as far as to say that, when taken separately from its awkward older brother, Episode II is one of my favourite 2D Sonic games. Maybe even my favourite.

Corner of the first zone; touchdown!

It isn't perfect, of course. Because it wasn't enough to simply provide fans with a functional and inventive experience, Episode II abandons the idea of continuing the legacy of the MegaDrive games, instead tethering its story to the overrated dumpster fire that is 1993's Sonic CD. When the Little Planet appears in the sky once again, Eggman begins to encircle it with a moustachioed superstructure, planning to harness its power as the core for a new Death Egg battle station. To keep Sonic distracted during construction, he finds the defeated shell of Metal Sonic and revives it, sending it to cause chaos and exact revenge on the Blue Blur.

This part of the backstory is actually playable via a smart bit of DLC, automatically downloaded if your chosen system detects that you've also purchased Episode I. Merging the world maps together, you're able to revisit four of the previous instalment's acts as Metal Sonic, dashing through them in reverse direction to track down your nemesis. It's a cute concept, but only really serves to highlight the drastic presentational difference between both episodes; suddenly you're back navigating these fugly old levels, with no effort made to improve them, which is a real shame (especially since Metal Sonic doesn't boast any unique abilities, controlling identically to his organic namesake).

I mean, c'mon... this is just embarrassing...

When you finally start Episode II proper, things are much better. The graphics are practically Rembrandt quality when compared to the nightmarish Picasso of fuzzy JPEGs and low-poly models which came before; now environments are fully rendered in 3D, scaling to each platform's performance perfectly (my most recent replay was on PC, as noted above, but I've also played this on PS3 and an Android smartphone before). You'll also notice that Sonic's physics have been refined, making him much more responsive to control. He no longer feels as though he's wading through waist-deep treacle, and his momentum will carry him through loop-de-loops in a natural and logical way. Well-paced levels become a breeze to blast around in, with plenty of layers to encourage exploration should you desire to return and seek out the hidden Red Star Rings scattered throughout. I mean, this is all stuff that should've been sorted from the get-go but hey, second time lucky.

The extra development time wasn't just spent fixing past mistakes, either. Mirroring the early progression of the series, Tails now joins Sonic on his adventure; he'll follow a single player by default, but can also be controlled by a local friend. As per tradition, the poor fox will spend most of his time comically dying off-screen, but he also comes in handy when collecting rings, especially during the halfpipe Special Stages (which also make a very welcome return here).

Hey, those fifteen rings made all the difference, okay?

Even more handy, however, are his special "buddy" abilities, which are a brand new gimmick. Mapped to a dedicated button, they come in two context-sensitive flavours; activate whilst jumping, and Tails will scoop Sonic up to allow for a limited window of flight, whereas summoning him from standing will initiate what I've seen others affectionately refer to as the "Rolling 69 of Death" bulldozer move. The latter is useful for scaling inclines quickly, but is mostly used in semi-scripted ways to smash through obstacles and tunnel through otherwise impassable snow. It's the former which is a game-changer, given that the action freezeframes when calling Tails to his best friend's aid. Did you just mess up a jump? Are you now watching Sonic plummet to his doom? As long as you're quick enough on the trigger, it's Tails to the rescue. Phew!

Also adding some much-needed originality to the proceedings are the boss battles, which are no longer a bunch of re-heated retrograde rumbles; they provide an impressive sense of scale, particularly during the gravity-defying endgame, and require a little more tactical thought than usual. Even the occasional prerequisite chase(s) with Metal Sonic offer up new tactics, and having Tails on-hand in a support capacity affords multiple ways to ensure victory.

Exactly how we got from a swinging ball to this, I'll never know.

Considering its format, Episode II isn't a long game on paper (four three-act zones, four boss battles and a two-part finale, as well as the seven Special Stage halfpipes) but it crucially feels substantial during and after each session. Detailed and varied sections of gameplay offer up many memorable moments. There's great potential in every pixel, and the tantilising tease of a third and final episode, building on this winning formula by somehow adding Knuckles to the mix, was tremendously exciting eight years ago. SEGA had successfully redeemed their retro credentials; what would be next?

Well, nothing would be. For reasons unknown, Episode III was planned but abandoned early in its development cycle. Some noted that sales had been a tad low, whilst others pointed to the brief exclusivity dalliance Sonic had with Nintendo between 2013 and 2016, suggesting that digital episodic games weren't what the Wii U and 3DS wanted to be known for.

Regardless of the reason, I'll be forever disappointed that SEGA, Sonic Team and Dimps didn't get to properly finish Sonic 4. Given the astronomical leap in quality following its bungled beginning, we're only left to imagine how they could've ultimately re-defined the preservation of the hedgehog's historical roots in a contemporary way, contrary to this deliberate downgrade nonsense we're currently seeing in calls for Sonic Mania to get a sequel.

Divorcing it from its decrepit predecessor, therefore, we're left with a Sonic 4 which is a short but categorically sweet triumph for 2D Sonic.

It's not much, but it's a something.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II = 8/10

All this reminds me of when SEGA and Sonic Team got nostalgic fan-service 100% right, delivering one of the Blue Blur's greatest ever games... and y'know what? I think it'll make the perfect note on which to end these retrospectives.

Sonic the Hedgehog will return.

@Ralizah Great write up - I got about half way through Sunshine before being distracted but intend to get back to it. Your comments on the sand bird thing made me laugh as it got me sooooo angry. I managed it after countless attempts. Lots of swearing ensued.

@Rudy_Manchego Playing the sand bird aged roughly 3 or 4 was like having my world shattered. Everything is a lie and life is unfair.

@nessisonett Here's the thing - I played it when I was a uni and had lots more spare time and don't remember it or even remember me struggling that much. Then I also recall that I was a borderline alcoholic and also can't remember that much of my Metroid Prime playthrough either.

So what I am trying to say is alcohol help me beat Sand bird. Probably.

@Rudy_Manchego To be fair, I think I would need a crate of Stella to get me through sand bird nowadays. This is why my liver and kidneys don’t let me play Sunshine anymore.

@RogerRoger Another great Sonic review! I've been curious about the Sonic 4 games for years, but the episodic naming structure has always put me off. Although they seem like mostly complete experiences in and of themselves, by the sound of it?

It sounds decent, though. Pity the trilogy will likely never be completed. I like the idea that Tails actually has some utility in game beyond, as you concisely put it, comically dying off-screen. More focus placed on boss battles is a definite improvement as well.

Glad to know I'm not the only person who likes the 'half-pipe' special stages from Sonic 2. It's the only Sonic minigame I've ever consistently enjoyed. The pinball maze thing from the original and that... er... automatic walking ball collecting game from Sonic 3 never appealed to me.

It sounds like you're not as gaga about Sonic Mania as others have been.

Sure. "Other" people.