Super Mario is today what Mickey Mouse wishes it still was: a joyful, universally recognizable character deeply entrenched in the childhood of millions.
There is a special place in my heart for the infamously strange Super Mario Bros 2. Many connoisseurs will justly mention that it is merely a reskin of the lesser known Doki Doki Panic. What is often left out is that Doki Doki Panic was created as well by Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto and that it originally contained references to its previous work on Mario, such as the POW blocks. In the long run, I feel that Nintendo of America’s decision to adapt DDP as SMB2 for the occidental plebs boosted the series with several charming monsters, a more interactive world, as well as multiple playable characters. We owe Bobombs, Shyguys and Ninjis to this very title.
super mario advance was my first mario. looking back, its good when sequels try new things. and the mario franchise is better for what doki doki brought in
Stardew Valley is the game that keeps on giving. At this point, I wish there was just more. More towns to visit, more activities, more everything.
The only thing that does kind of suck is that after year 1 I feel like I’ve kind of mastered whatever I was attempting to do. I’ve heard some people say after year 1 is where they enjoy the game the most, but idk I feel like by that point I’m making more money than I need and the only thing left to do is collect stuff or attempt the skull cavern.
But man. That first year is a blast. I’ve been thinking I should try out more mods or possibly a jojamart run at some point
Thank you for keeping these up. I enjoy seeing these threads a lot.
As to stardew, I’ve only played a little bit, never past the first season pretty much. I’m not one to play it solo and group session always die very quickly. When most of my friends are unemployed or don’t work full 9-5, it’s hard to coordinate with them.
That all said, I love this game and it does so much right and Dev is awesome. This game feels to me like a lot of what game companies should strive to be.
Earthbound was probably the first game I was ever really enamored with. Even today, it’s definitely one of my favorite games ever. And it’s probably the first JRPG I ever played, and it’s what started me down a long path of JRPGs.
My parents got me a subscription to Nintendo Power magazine, and I remember reading about the game there and wanting to play it. They didn’t buy it for me when it came out, but I did rent it from Blockbluster a few times. And they did eventually buy it for me for Christmas. It even came with the strategy guide!
Everything about the game was great. I didn’t appreciate it at the time, but it was insanely accessible, even to a then 7-8yo kid like me. JRPGs tend to be darker and complex (though not always). But Earthbound still had complexity, but it wasn’t darker. Yes these kids were having to save the world from destruction, but the story was told in an upbeat, fun way. And it was just the right amount of complexity.
Earthbound is also probably the first game I ever beat. Certainly the first JRPG.
I did try the fan-translation of Mother 3. I didn’t end up finishing it. I got close, but it was far too depressing and different from EB. The game was beautifully done (as was the player-made strategy guide!), but I just couldn’t really get into the story and characters. Just wasn’t for me.
That was someone's insane interpretation of the ending of the first Mother game (a.k.a. Earthbound Beginnings). It's not as out there as the guy who filled the Silent Hill wiki with claims that it was all symbolism for circumcision trauma (yes, really), but it's still kinda nutters.
It’s certainly a fan theory, but that’s not a confirmed thing by any means. The location of the last battles does look the inside of a vagina, looking towards the cervix, but that’s supposedly only a coincidence.
Ah that’s a shame about Mother 3, I really loved it. Seeing the gradual decay of a town affected by tragedy after tragedy (& a heaping dose of capitalism) become a shadow of itself was so beautiful. The pacing of the game is a bit odd at times, but overall I was surprised how much it resonated with me.
I’ve only played mass effect 1. I completed it around five years ago and absolutely loved it. I always have difficulty completing games, but for this one I read all the codex entries, completed all the quests I could find and really absorbed it all.
The opening is so memorable, it immediately gave me this epic sense of scale and importance and this lasted throughout the game.
I’m thinking of maybe playing it again as femshep and then continuing on with 2 and 3, although I’m not sure if it will match my original experience.
Ooh, I remember emulating it a long time ago; when I finished the last stage, Super Mario appeared, said “Thank you so much-a for to playing-a my game” and sucked my dick. Wanna play the original arcade cabinet eventually; some of my acquaintances who played it said that it was supposed to be Abraham Lincoln instead of Super Mario
Kirby’s Adventure: Nightmare in Dreamland for the NES is my favorite entry. The sprites are excellent, I love the overworld between levels, the music is top notch, and it’s one of the few NES games with an autosave and progress meter.
Kirby Superstar for the SNES revisited the game, but it dropped the overworld, the music isn’t quite as good, and the powers don’t really feel right. They did include some newer abilities and co-op, which is nice, but it feels more disjointed than the original.
Kirby’s adventure feels really modern for an NES game, still holds up great to this day. The difficulty is also closer to what people are used to nowadays, compared to the punishing difficulty of many NES games. One of the few NES games I played through completely.
This is never a problem for me on Xbox (Series X). It feels like it’s always a problem on the Switch. Also, that damn console has the nerve to wait and only prompt for an updated when I try to launch a game. Infuriating.
Donkey Kong Country was my favourite childhood game series.
The first game was a blast: fun gameplay, full of secrets and things to collect, good music, gorgeous graphics even for 2025 standards, the difficulty was just right. (A bit too hard for me back then, too easy nowadays.)
I remember when DKC3 was released in '98, I’d go to the cartridge rental shop once a week to ask the guy if they had it already. (He was extremely patient with me. That guy was a bro.) Once I finally got to play it, it didn’t disappoint me at all, I loved those puzzles and it was amazing to explore the map freely. Kiddy was a bit odd, but really fun to play with, and I loved how Dixie throwing Kiddy had different mechanics than Kiddy throwing Dixie.
But by far my favourite was DKC2. Everything was perfect - they picked the formula from DKC1 and expanded it: more collectibles! Better music! Better looks! The bonuses now aren’t just “find all bonuses in the level for +1%”, now you got something to find in them! I can literally play the first level of that game with a blindfold, it’s itched in my brain. (Fuck Bramble Blast, though. I had a hard time finding one bonus and the DK coin there. And by then my English was a bit too awful to get what Cranky said.)
Then… well, DK64. It killed the series for me. I didn’t get why it wasn’t fun, but nowadays I see what happened - early 3D games had clunky controls and camera, plus the whole “gotta remake the whole thing five times to get to 100%” was meh.
Wow, the analysis is great - thanks for sharing it! For me Stickerbush Symphony always evoked some sort of loneliness or melancholy…
And yes, the whole series has great music. I agree DKC2 is the best in this regard; not just because the tracks are great on their own, but because they fit really well the mood of each level. Disco Train is on its own a rollercoaster, Mining Melancholy’s “mmhmm mmhmm” evoking winds and machinery, Bayou Boogie making the level sound m… mois… swampy. From other games of the series DKC1 Forest Frenzy and DKC3 Nuts and Bolts are also great. (Now thinking, the DKC3 soundtrack as a whole is a bit more industrial.)
DK64 has a certain charm to it. I think there’s a really good game in there, but it also tries to do WAYYY too much, and having to memorise all those Street Fighter button combos to pull off basic moves is hard work.
I tried to avoid translations in my list. But anything by Aeon Genesis is also great, so is Mother 3 with the Tomato Ring. The SMT translations are a high point too.
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