This is what I get for dithering on updating this last week
31. Pizza Tower ★★★★
The last few years have been something of a slow burn re-evaluation of Wario Land 4, it was always a well liked GBA game, but I don't think there was much talk at the time of it being a classic of sorts.
As time has gone on, its status as a hidden gem has become more apparent, and indie devs are taking notice as well, rise of the wario likes!
This leads into Pizza Tower, a game that's wears the WL4 inspiration on its sleeve, but isn't content to just leave itself as a mere homage, this game might be the evolution of the abandoned Wario Land formula. It escalates every aspect of the GBA outing, more insane, more visually elaborate despite its MS Paint meets 90s Nickelodeon art direction, more technically deep and even dare I say, more creative.
I feared that the hype seen on the internet over the first half of this year that holds Pizza Tower up as one of the greats in an already stacked 2023 might have me end up underwhelmed. As the game went on, it just kept getting sillier, funnier and content to just one and done entire fresh level gimmicks or mechanics in a manner akin to personal GOAT tier game Super Mario Galaxy 2.
The extra frantic elements of the platforming design bring to mind Sonic CD as well, now with good level design! The deeper you get into the game, the more the levels twist into mutated forms of the base pizza tower experience, the final stages in particular leaning into some truly distinct outings from jump scare horror to run n' gun. The level theming and music can be as eclectic as the rest of the game, despite being similar to WL4 on its base level, it's anything but predictable, while also reminding us all that WL4's mix of treasure hunting and turbo escape scenes was a winning formula.
There's a chance I grow more fond of this game over time, especially when I don't have to play it on my laptop and get the fullscreen experience (probably not this year for my fellow console players).
2023 is absolutely pizza time, one of the best indie platformers in recent memory, also the pre stage title cards are just the best.
32. Ghost Trick Remastered ★★★★★
The more time passes, the more I'm convinced that this is Shu Takumi's best work.
A tightly paced mystery that leaves a new juicy hook every 20 minutes or so, supported by a fairly unique puzzle mechanic that puts in just enough work to feel rewarding but not crater the plot progression by getting the player stuck for an hour or anything.
There's an excellent ebb and flow between the visual novel elements and possession puzzles, never lingering on either side too long, unlike the sibling series Ace Attorney which can have a few stump worthy testimonies or meandering text segments, Ghost Trick mostly skirts around this issue, so while it lacks the kind of fist pumping "heck yeah" of landing that mighty objection, it doesn't seem to ever stall out either.
I can't exactly say that the puzzle mechanics are all time greatness, it's about as good as trial and error based around rube goldberg machines is gonna get without being too open ended or cryptic though. The game's whole premise and plot utilises the fact that it's a video game and not another form of storytelling media, so already this moves Ghost Trick into a high spot for me as far as storytelling in video games go, able to use esoteric concepts like the 4 minutes before death time travel that just wouldn't adapt well as say a TV show (please never try and make an anime of this capcom, Ace Attorney already got crunched enough!)
Back when I first played this in 2011 and was more a freshly minted weeb, I remember thinking that it was a shame the game's art style wasn't more like Ace Attorney (so...standard anime), now in 2023 I realise that I was a fool, this game's art style is distinct, it's sharp, it pops, it hits that nice fusion between western comic and japanese manga sensibilities.
I love that it all takes place across a single night, the backgrounds invoke that kind of neon night city tone by supporting the late night setting with bold colours, the character animation is wonderfully cartoony, overly elaborate and a joy to see unleashed from the blurry DS shackles.
I'm a bit more mixed on the remastered OST, definitely a case of some tracks improving while others that were the best in the original game feel a bit less punchy (Lynne and Jowd's themes in particular), but that's why they give you both as an option, win, win!
For just as much props as I give Takumi and the localisers for the script as tangled web of mystery, I'm once again reminded that Takumi's work has a sharp comic streak that tickles me dearly, a game that can make excessive death amusing is one that's balancing the scales just right to avoid becoming too much of a downer.
Ghost Trick seems to be the kind of game where if it clicks with you, it jumps into the all time classic tier, I don't want to risk overselling the quality of this game, the sum of its parts build it up to a strong 9 outta 10 time for me but reviews landing in the mid 80's both then and now make perfect sense to me as well. In any case I will furiously cape for this game, every capcom sale I'm gonna be out there shilling away, trying to pull my own ghost trick or making this game a success dammit!
33. New Super Mario Bros 2 (replay) ★★★
I'm kinda surprised how much I've revisited this game over the years, permanent whipping boy of the NSMB sub series it may be, I can't deny finding it an oddly interesting game.
Which feels strange to say when the reason for its less that loved reception is how samey and seemingly pointless its existence is, one of the only mario platformers out there that feels like it was truly just made to make money NOW, throw the 3DS crowd a perfectly acceptable NSMB game to try and replicate the DS original's success, they even call it 2 when it's the third game in the series.
Two things make NSMB2 interesting among its series though, one is of course the central coin gimmick, the second is knowing it was done by a junior team that were getting their feet wet, both of these details influence the level design itself in ways.
Let me first say that the coin gimmick is so close to being great, only to be a load of nothing. See in NSMB2 there's coins everywhere, you can activate rings that turn enemies gold leaving coins in their wake and even causing Hammer Bros and Lakitu to stop chucking their deadly projectiles in favour of COINS, you becomes the mummy from that OG scooby doo series,
COIN, COOOOIN!
The multi hit coin blocks turn into golden blocks mario gets stuck on his head and then when you sprint or fall at pace it haemorrhages coins in this gloriously cathartic fashion, there's a golden fire flower that gives you an explosive midas touch causing enemies and block to explode in a shower of, you guessed it, COINS.
It's unusually satisfying, like my primal lizard brain is just getting dopamine hits from all the ching ching ching noises and watching coin numbers go brrrrring. Now what are coins used for here outside the usual "100 coins equal 1 life"….
errr, uh-oh, not much. And here is the first big stumble of NSMB2, it sets up a mario game where every stage could have had a rad score attack mode, a 2D mario game where coins as a currency to unlock things could've been central, the game instead does both of these things in one of the worst ways possible.
Introducing coin rush, a time attack side mode where the game roulettes you three stages to play back to back and try to achieve your highest coin score, why that kinda sounds like what I wanted right? Well, so close yet so far. A host of strange decisions kneecaps this otherwise great idea, since stages are randomly selected, your coin amassing is at the mercy of what stages you rolled, there's only one record you save as your best thus losing any kind of stage specific bragging rights. The third stage is always a castle or tower, complete with boss fight, so have fun fighting the bloomin' Koopalings over and over as well as higher odds of rolling the same stages. And the game drops a massive X2 coin modifier on the top of the end of stage flagpole, which is pretty much imperative to hit for maximum coinage, but of course not all flagpole access is created equal, most are admittedly easy (and this game has a flight item to boot), but goddamn if you just had a great run of coin collecting and slightly miss the tip top of the pole.
Still it's the best mode for amassing coins, coins for what you ask? Well, there is a reward, all you need is a million coins! I've played this game multiple times now, spent over 20 hours in it, I have maybe around 30,000 coins, the target is completely absurd and would require tediously grinding coin rush with optimal stages being rolled, and you do this all for A GOLD STATUE ON THE TITLE SCREEN
That's it, nothing else, all the coins this game is built around, entire side modes devoted to their accumulation, for basically nothing, god damn, GOD DAMN, WHY?!
It's a Mario platformer so level design is consistently good, rarely great mind you. You can spy a different approach to level design and structure from this team even outside of the coin surplus and I do find that interesting when you have 4.5 very similar entries in the series. This team took the chance to play more with autoscrollers, water stages (everyone but me immediately damning this game forever, and yes they do have multiple water autoscrollers!) and a strange infatuation with snake blocks as obstacles and pow blocks, it's just…intriguing to me, I can't really explain why.
Also they place star coins pretty well, no fake wall nonsense, these are the coins worth nabbing as they'll unlock secret stages.
Challenge wise, the game is EZ, perhaps a bit tougher than the original NSMB, but it rarely bares any fangs, the post game secret world is as easy as the rest of them just to put things in perspective here. Aesthetically it reuses NSMBwii music and visuals thus limiting any attempt to stand out outside of coins and probably the main reason for the game's crummier rep, except it throws in more WAHS/BAHS, to the point where they're now in your castles and the athletic theme is remixed into being fully WAH WAH, which is actually hilarious to me, they saw the hate and went "fuck you, now it's all BAH all the time".
Still, I kinda enjoy NSMB2, fundamentally solid, it has BOOHEMOTH which is one of my favourite autoscroller gimmicks in a platformer (a gigantic derpy looking boo who one hit kills you and takes up nearly half the screen, but is just as shy as any other boo, except eventually he dares to meet your gaze and inch forward, it's adorable), they try to spice up the samey visuals with a few more unique assets and backgrounds compared to other entries so there was an attempt, shame about the 3D effect though, why make it pop when you could make it BLUR? No really, why? Whose idea was this?!
34. Mail Mole ★★★
A nice and simple indie 3D platformer utilising a low poly art style, it had been sitting in my wishlist for yonks so I finally dug in alongside its DLC on a recent sale.
The game's 3D Mario inspiration is pretty clear, particularly 3D World with its linear obstacle course focus while also cribbing the Sunshine/Galaxy like pre level flyovers, Odyssey's currency based death penalty and what not. Hey I ain't judging, take from the king, I know I would, and this game does strike me is the kind of thing I'd make if I was to tackle a to the point 3D platforming project.
Mail Mole's gameplay is deceptively simple, you move, you jump, you dash, you can ground pound and yeah, that's pretty much it. On a surface level anyway, because your movement actually happens below the surface (eh? EH?), you move around as a roaming dirt pile, only emerging with the jump button before plonking right back into the earth. Now let me make a mountain out of a molehill quickly by pointing out that you take damage while in the ground which never looks quite right but completely makes sense in the context of y'know, challenge and obstacles, I just really wanted to make that bad yet oh so suitable pun.
Anyway, point is that the base movement of this game is incredibly to the point, the twist comes from how jumping and jump height, while still involving holding down the jump button, doesn't take to the air until you let go of the button. This small change creates a wrinkle to utlisling short hops and higher jumps in a sorta pre planning fashion. On top of this, hitting dash/run when you land back in the ground has the mole suddenly burst with speed allowing for a longer short hop/standard jump, and this is basically the game's secret sauce.
This movement quirk is enough to make Mail Mole that bit more than its inspiration, while stage gimmicks certainly have a familiar whiff about them (I like flipswitch galaxy too guys), the way you approach them can feel decidedly different since a high jump isn't immediate, point is, they utilised the fact that you're a mole pretty well for a game limiing itself to like three face buttons.
Unfortunately I wish the dash move after a jump was assigned to its own button, because as the game ramps up and requires a lot of quick jumps in succession, it's way too easy to accidentally dash as you hit the ground when all you wanted to do was move at the faster speed to extend the normal jump, and instead you go full dirt devouring long jump, pretty much 90% trips into a pit were because of this quirk.
In spite of that small annoyance, I liked the mechanic and it added a much needed extra layer to gameplay that leans into speed running (something the stages actively promote) and shortcut making, and that's always a good sign.
The game also has a host of autoscroller like stages that basically play like a (better) Plessie from 3D World, these were always a fun rush and it seems like one of the post game DLC packs was dropping 8 new ones on me, I approve.
The other DLC pack was a mystery mansion involving bitesize back to back challenge rooms on the clock and...wait, this is 3D World again! I see your mystery house challenge here game and once again, yeah fair enough, it's a concept worth cribbing and made for the game's best platforming challenges.
Game has a pretty suitable difficulty curve, with a bit of a finale spike mind you, it's not really a game to rave about and really only for those of us who need to fresh 3D platforming hit every few months.
Timely that I finished this when their next game based on the Summer in Mara series lands in just a couple of weeks, they may have convinced me to dive in on launch
Random thoughts
- The game takes place in carrotland, you collect carrots but...there's no rabbits? Is this the joke? Why is the mayor of carrotland an Owl? Outside the obvious that Owls >>>Rabbits of course.
- What few NPCs are here don't exactly have consistent art direction, the big bad being a Rat that looks like he landed in the uncanny valley between cartoon mascot game and more anthro game.
- Comic sans still ain't it!
35. Hey Pikmin ★★
Hey Pikmin, it's kinda bad.
Developed by Arzest, they do no better.
A game, that surely failed to chart,
A concept that deserved better
Hey Pikmin, don't be afraid.
You were made to be 3DS filler.
The gameplay is wafer thin,
Damn do I wish this was better.
*ahem*
So with Pikmin 4's impending arrival, I decided that it was high time I finished the oft forgotten Hey Pikmin, turns out I had only one stage and two bosses left to do so this was an easy stat pad for this thread huh.
This also meant I'd forgotten most of the game since I played 95% of it 3-4 years ago and obviously it wasn't quite good enough to warrant finishing then.
So in a show of good faith, I replayed a few stages, unlocked some secret ones and refreshed myself on the gameplay loop and how it utilises the pikmin types in a 2D space.
In concept I actually really like this game, I always wanted a 2D pikmin, the idea is sound, there are moments in gameplay where I almost feel like the game is onto something.
More often though, the game is just kinda slow and simple, I actually think it makes a great kids game for sure, not everything has to be for my boomer arse, and it's clear that with the sheer abundance of mid stage skit like cutscenes of pikmin doing silly pikmin things, that this game is out there to try and make gardeners of the youth.
Unfortunately, I'm an ancient being in my thirties, so unskippable scenes of pikmin tripping over objects in every stage sure does begin to grate as much as the repetitive gameplay.
Despite my SCATHING beatles parody, I don't consider this game bad as such, it's one of those perfectly functional outings that simply fails to excite. There are absolutely things to like about it, the game carries on the series tradition of amusing treasure analysis, I actually enjoyed grabbing as many collectables as I could just to see what off the wall take Olimar had on simple items to us that his alien self can't comprehend, actually I gotta share one of my favourite item descriptions from any game (yes, any game!) that comes from Olimar inspecting the original Super Mario Bros NES cartridge and its strange boxart layout
"The man this chronicle is presumably about is a very tragic figure. He seems to be simultaneously running up against a brick wall, falling to a fiery death, and menaced by a sort of reddish-white, wriggling larva. With so many insurmountable obstacles on all sides, he can't be long for this world. May you have better luck in the next life, my mustachioed friend."
Music might be the best the series has had since the first game in a low key pleasing manner (though that's more a knock on P2 and 3 not matching P1 here), game looks nice enough, uses dual screens effectively instead of 3D, I'm not wrong to think that 2D Pikmin has potential, it just needed something bolder and more ambitious than this, because all those good points don't really have much to do with the gameplay side.
Somehow even in 2D with a limitation of pikmin that can follow you, these dopes will still get lost, snagged by scenery and die off screen because you walked too far away and they presumably died of loneliness, hitboxes on enemies can feel iffy, puzzles are basic as can be, you get the picture, it's Arzest being Arzest (pray for Sonic Superstars!)
36. Super Mario Land 2 (replay) ★★★
And now for another handheld Mario 2 outing, one that feels almost like the opposite of NSMB2, where level design from a pure platforming standpoint is nothing to really write home about, but the theming carries it hard. Basically I remember these stages, they're unique, they're actually on the lower end of 2D Mario level design but you just don't forget the mechanical toybox of Mario Zone, or the Whale's interior in Turtle Zone, heck I finally noticed that the one Pumpkin zone stage with the umbrella enemies was a japanese themed yokai stage, ohhh those things with the tongue are paper lanterns! There you go younger me, we finally figured it out, thanks anime.
So SML2 is carried a lot by the tone and also how much of a visual jump it is coming off SML1, SML2 looked like witchcraft coming off its predecessor that looked like it would fit on an old school nokia mobile phone.
SML2 does carry on the Land trend of just being plain weird, those levels I mentioned should've given it away after all, even its most basic zone (Tree Zone) has like, this strange tree interior stage filled with floaty goop and ghostly cow monsters.
Hilariously this game actually gave me a use for 999 coins, to gamble and earn myself 99 lives, so it's kinda already beaten NSMB2 at its own game huh.
Strange decisions abound all over the shop, you can find hidden stages that are completely standalone, stages that can never be replayed after being beaten, worlds like the low gravity Space Zone have a whopping two mandatory stages with one hidden optional stage that exists to basically give you coins and upset the once happy moon on the world map by sending a shooting star into it (am I the arsehole?)
I found a hidden stage in pumpkin zone that required the fire flower to break down walls, make the tightest jumps in the game and be careful not to blast away the very ground itself (thus making it more challenging than every stage in the game around it), all under the seeming pretense of it being an extra live filled bonus stage where actually grabbing those lives were the diciest jumps in the game, and beating the stage didn't even move you ahead on the world map (this is what I mean by standalone stages). I'm not sure what this little anecdote says, just that SML2 plays by no sort of standard Mario ruleset
Despite the game's overall ease, the final stage is this wonderful borderline troll of a difficulty spike that broke many a child (myself included), even now some bits of its gauntlet run have me a bit tense. I may not be in danger of getting a game over now, but did you know if you DO game over, you lose all the golden coins that open the castle and have to go back and redo the bosses? Anything to make this hour long outing last longer I guess!
I have a fondness for this entry, the music bops, it's got is own vibe that stands out all the more after all those NSMB titles. Plays well, has aged fine, a nice breezy play.
37. Kirby's Tilt and Tumble ★★
*sad Kirby pic goes here*
Let me firstly say, it's great that they were able to emulate this with motion control, it was a game I expected I'd never play, yet here it is.
Now let me also say that I sure wasn't missing much. It's hard to tell if the game's control issues come from the emulation or if it was always like this, but let me tell ya, flicking your switch to jump ain't it and perhaps unsurprisingly, in a world where motion control and gyro is now normal, the novelty of this game's whole tilting thing ain't exactly as exciting as it once was, nor can its design measure up to what's come since.
I'd actually played my way to world 3 months back when first investigating this curiosity, I never really had plans to finish it, but something funny happened.
See after finishing SML2, I went back to the game boy app menu, saw this and thought "let's give it one more go", picked back up from the first stage in world 3, I find a barely hidden whispy woods chilling in a corner in the first area.
"do you want to warp to world 6?"
Heck yeah I will
First stage of World 6, I find another barely hidden Whispy Woods
"Do you want to warp to World 8?"
Aw yeah, let's just skip half the game and add it to my 52 game list.
This does however mean I had to actually play world 8, and without instant rewind I'd probably have just dropped it because this game can be fiddly n' frustrating to tilt n' tumble through, difficulty fluctuates all the time, it goes from cakewalk to pinball hell depending entirely on if bottomless pits are around or not, how the game chooses to centre the gyro/motion is a mystery to me, sometimes I have it, then I immediately lose it.
Nothing you can't brute force through, with an ironic delicate touch necessary at the same time, I beat Dedede, got an abrupt and uneventful ending and found that I collected just one of the game's 30 odd main collectables that probably lead to a true final stage or something as per series tradition. Jumped back in my completed save to quickly check out a couple of stages from the worlds I skipped, yep this game really does only have like 5 stage themes huh, I don't think I missed much, there was a quicksand gimmick in one world and ice in another, I definitely did not miss much.
Look tilt n' tumble, there's a nice slot for you right here at the bottom of my kirby franchise tier list, I almost want to give you one star so this post can have all five scores represented, realistically though, you're not a BAD game as such, just one built off a gimmick that doesn't hold up much now.
