Mega Man 7: A Deep Dive

Mega Man 7 is the first Classic Mega Man game to not release on an 8-bit console, and it very much suffered from the circumstances of its release. Between Mega Man X already being considered the future of the series, and Mega Man 2 bias already at full swing, MM7 just didn't have a chance. And that's a real shame because on so many levels, Mega Man 7 is the perfect Classic Mega Man game. It excels on pretty much every level, from weapon and level design, to aesthetics, to the way it brings in elements from the X and Game Boy games without losing the Classic series' identity. It's 99% of the way to being my favorite entry in the subseries, if only it just didn't drop the ball right at the very end. Let's talk about it.

In Defense Of Starlow

With the release of the first Mario & Luigi game in almost a decade (which I have not gotten yet so don't expect a review any time soon) comes the unwelcome revival of Starlow discourse. If you're at all familiar with the ever argumentative Mario RPG fandom, you should know that so much as mentioning Starlow is enough for people to get at each other's throats over her. It's gotten to the point where the reveal that she's even showing up in Brothership as not even a companion but a minor character, boasting around an hour of screentime in a 30-40 hour game, is still enough for the fandom to completely freak out. And that's a real shame, because Starlow is one of my favorite Mario characters of all time. So against all my better judgement, I'm going to jump into the discourse and defend Starlow.

Starlow debuted in Bowser's Inside Story as the obligatory companion character, and since I first played the game, she was an immediate hit for me. Her snarky personality meshed with BiS's style of humor pretty much perfectly, and she played a noticeable role as a communicator between Bowser and the Bros. She had a solid character arc too, as she arrived with this idealist mindset of Mario being the sole shining hero, Luigi being the cowardly second fiddle, and Bowser being an irredeemable monster only to slowly learn the latter two had more to them under the surface. Being a kid, I had no idea she was even the slightest bit divisive, and from what I can tell, it wasn't as intense back then. Her appearance in Dream Team stoked the flames a bit more since Starlow was the first companion character to reappear in a second Mario RPG, but I actually saw more people come to like her in this one. This game leans a lot more on Starlow's growing respect of Luigi, as she has to spend the entire game watching him as he sleeps (trust me, it makes more context in-game). Starlow witnesses Luigi's moments of courage and determination to help his brother, and by the end of the game, is completely on board and is rooting Luigi on. Of course, she also serves a much larger gameplay importance as she's the one who activates most of Luigi's dream world powers.

It was Starlow's appearance in Paper Jam where everything really fell apart. People could forgive a single reappearance, but this was Starlow's third game as partner and people wanted something different. On top of that, Paper Jam is pretty infamous for having more mean-spirited writing than most, which from what I've heard is more down to a poor localization. Pretty much every character is mean to Luigi in this game, but of course, Starlow looked like the worst case since she's been with the Bros for multiple games now and seemed to have grown in Dream Team. At this point, it was 100% cool to hate on Starlow. It was totally normal to cheer when the first trailer for Brothership launched with her nowhere to be seen, and it was totally normal to panic when she ended up showing up in the next trailer. Honestly, I do get the complaints over Starlow being reused as a partner too many times. When the Paper Mario series is right there offering incredible partner after incredible partner (minus Kersti), I'd get wanting the Mario & Luigi games to shake things up. But hating Starlow to the point of not even wanting her as a cameo feels like a step too far. Like it or not, Starlow is engrained in the identity of the Mario & Luigi series, it wouldn't feel the same without her.

Though, of course, Starlow's constant reappearances probably wouldn't have gotten as much flack if it wasn't for the main reason why people hated her: Starlow insults Luigi too much. But why is this such a deal-breaker for so many people? Why is Luigi so important? Well, Luigi is important because he's the most relatable character in the Mario series. He's anxious, he's scared, he's imperfect, but he always pushes through his anxiety and tries his best to do the right thing and support Mario. Luigi isn't the eternally upbeat hero that Mario is, he's the underdog, and a lot of people see themselves in him. So when Luigi gets put down by others, it can be easy to want to protect him. The Mario & Luigi games have always made Luigi into a bit of a butt monkey, people forgetting his name is basically a running gag, but the reason why Starlow gets the brunt of the hate is because she goes on adventures with Luigi. She witnesses his heroism firsthand and still chooses to rib him. Don't get me wrong, I see why people don't like Starlow.

But here's where my defense begins. Fans often point as a few choice moments of Starlow being especially mean to Luigi. The one I see the most is when Mario & Luigi tell her about the events of Partners In Time and how they saved the world as babies, where she jokes about how Luigi must've "attacked them with some ferocious crying". This is often depicted as Starlow being mean, and yeah, she is kind of abrasive here. And yet, people conveniently tend to forget that Mario pulls Starlow off to the side, makes it clear that this actually happened, and Starlow immediately apologizes. She recognized when she crossed a line. But also, if you were to tell me your baby self saved the world and defeated an alien race, yeah, I'd be pretty skeptical too. Paper Jam is a bit tougher to defend due to the aforementioned localization issues, but it's hard for me to solely call out Starlow when Peach, the canonical kindest character in the franchise, spends the game insulting Luigi even more severely. At this point, it's not a Starlow issue, it's a writing issue. And then there's Brothership whose only sin is Starlow simply calling Luigi the wrong name, a running gag that has lasted since even before her debut. Just ignore that Starlow still says Luigi several other times in the game including directly before her gag line.

I feel like people tend to expect the worst from Starlow, assuming that she is always malicious towards Luigi and any attempt to show support is her being fake or disingenuous, and that just completely removes my favorite aspect about her relationship with the Bros. The advantage of being a reoccurring partner is that Starlow has this history with Mario and Luigi, she gets them. Her remarks in Bowser's Inside Story come from a lack of understanding of what Luigi's capable of, but most of the dialogue I've seen from her in Brothership give off a more playful, sisterly vibe. And this even applies to Bowser, as their oddball relationship in Bowser's Inside Story is honestly one of the strongest things about the game. You can't imagine how happy I was to learn that she has a scene with Bowser in Brothership where she shows her ability to get under his skin unlike anyone else. I like Starlow because in a series as lighthearted as Mario, she has a more cynical, abrasive, and witty vibe to her and her ability to take the piss out of pretty much anyone makes for a really funny and endearing character. But I love Starlow because of those few moments where she drops the bullshit, supports her friends wholeheartedly, and seems to know exactly what to say every single time. There's a reason her cheering on Bowser at the end of Bowser's Inside Story and her cheering on Luigi at the end of Dream Team are two of my favorite moments in the series. Even Paper Jam, for all its flaws, has a moment just like this when Starlow encourages Luigi to rescue the other Marios, even making a funny fourth wall break referencing the Year Of Luigi.

But wait, let's not forget about Luigi because this goes two ways. The thing about underdogs is that if they're not going through any form of conflict, they're not underdogs anymore. What makes Luigi and many characters like him so appealing is how they overcome the odds and do things no one believes they were capable of. If everyone loved Luigi and treated him like a treasure and a hero on the same level as Mario, moments like his kaiju fight with Bowser in Dream Team or his mini-adventure in Superstar Saga to save Mario's life wouldn't be nearly as impactful or memorable. Hell, there is an entire spinoff series built around pushing Luigi outside his comfort zone, a huge chunk of the appeal of the Luigi's Mansion games is seeing Luigi freak the hell out every time he enters a room. So when I see fans getting mad every time Luigi gets insulted or depicted as a coward, I just get confused. Do you want Luigi to be less interesting and relatable? People get so fiercely protective over Luigi too, like he's an adult, he doesn't need to be "protecced". And the sheer vitriol I see towards Starlow, seeing comments wanting to step on her or shove her into a blender, I just can't imagine how people can get so violent over this goofy character. It just kinda unnerves me how weirdly personal this discourse can get.

Though, I'd also be remiss not to mention that Starlow is also just her own character, completely separate from Luigi. The amount of actual "Luigi insults" she lets out across four games is no more than a dozen, and she's had at least several hundred lines of dialogue at this point. Even on her own merits, I just like Starlow as a character and I find her to be a welcome and pleasant addition to the series. I like her snarky dialogue, I like her silly "Yello hello!" catchphrase, I like her simple but cute design and how utterly goofy it looks in 3D, I like how quotable Starlow is across all of her games, I like her friendship with Peach and her rivalry with Bowser, and I genuinely like how mean she could be. At her most biting, Starlow reminds me a lot of Kazooie, another one of my favorite video game characters (What can I say? I like the deadpan snarkers). When you compare Starlow to the other major partners in the Mario & Luigi series, she stands out as a lot more multi-faceted and colorful in her personality. I like Dreambert a lot, his more prim and proper personality plays off of Starlow really well. But Stuffwell? I'm sorry, I don't get why people seem to like this guy so much. His only personality is shouting "Back To Adventure!" and after smothering you with tutorials for the first hour, he pretty much dips from the plot entirely. But I guess he doesn't make fun to Luigi, so he's obviously better than Starlow, right?

I'm not trying to force anyone to like Starlow more with this, I mostly want to articulate on why I personally find her to be such a fun character, and also argue against some of the misinformation I see used against her. As someone who got into the series with Bowser's Inside Story, Starlow is a character that I have a lot of fondness for, and I really couldn't imagine the Mario & Luigi series without her. I know Brothership is quite the divisive game at the moment, which I guess is part of the reason why I'm not planning on getting it immediately, but I'm at least glad that it kept Starlow around and seems to have showed off some of her best qualities.

Smallville (Season 8)

Season 8 of Smallville almost feels like an entirely new show. It's now set in Metropolis, Lana and Lex are both demoted to very minor characters, and the main romantic focus has been shifting to Clark and Lois. In some ways, it feels like Smallville should have made this kind of shift years ago, maybe even after Season 4. And while this season still has its fair share of issues, it still feels like a refreshing change of pace.

Season 8 has a pretty messy first episode that tries to unravel a lot of the messy plotlines set up by Arctic. You can tell the showrunners want to pull off a soft reboot of sorts with this season, but they also realized they still have those pesky cliffhangers to deal with so we get shit like Clark being trapped in Russia. Once that's all resolved though, Season 8 really comes alive with its second episode where Clark finally moves to Metropolis and gets a job at the Daily Planet alongside Lois. It's been a while since we really got Clark and Lois sharing a lot of screentime, but I immediately remembered why I love these two together, they have such incredible chemistry and seeing them actually develop their relationship for the first time since Season 5 makes the whole season for me. Oliver Queen being promoted to a major character was also great, Justin Hartley got to really shine as the Arrow more than he has in previous seasons. With Lex and Braniac both (partially) gone, Smallville also needs to find some villains to replace them, to mixed results. The Lex replacement is Tess Mercer, and yeah, she's alright. No one can top Michael Rosenbaum's Lex so they didn't try to, Tess is her own unique character whose cold exterior makes you wonder what she's hiding. Even better is the season's main antagonist Davis, aka Doomsday. His whole Jekyll & Hyde arc isn't usually my cup of tea, but Sam Witwer's charistmatic, layered, and intense performance does so much to sell his conflicted nature. I'm not at all familiar with Doomsday from the comics so I don't know how accurate this version is, but hey, it's well-executed enough that I don't think it matters. At its best, Season 8 feels so fresh, almost as if it had a renewed sense of energy and inspiration to it.

Barring that shaky first episode, the first half of Season 8 was some of the best Smallville I've seen in a while. Between the fun episodic storylines involving Clark and Lois, the surprisingly well put together series of storylines that pay off in two of the best Smallville episodes in quite some time, and the strong balance of tone makes for an incredibly fresh experience. Even if I have a few issues with some of the plot points, like Chloe briefly forgetting about Clark's identity and Lana showing back up only to push Lois out of the show for a few episodes, that midseason payoff was so strong that I didn't really mind. However, once again, I do think the second half is noticeably weaker. I didn't mind Lana's return at first since Bride and Legion were such good episodes, but then she and Clark got back together again and her arc just kept dragging on, leaving me desperately waiting to see Lois again. After that's over, we have to deal with Chloe's messy relationship drama with Davis and Jimmy's already irritating jealousy issues being cranked up to eleven, culminating in a fairly unsatisfying and messy finale that resolves it all by killing both. Not to say that there weren't great moments in Season 8's second half, though, it's got its highlights. Tess had some fantastic character development with her faith in Lex being shattered, and the more lighthearted experimental outings like Infamous, Stiletto, and Hex gave this stretch of the season a real sense of fun. However, it was a noticeable step-down and it's a real shame that what was slated to be one of Smallville's best-crafted seasons just couldn't stick the landing.

Highlights:

Bride: As I said earlier, I think the double whammy of Bride and Legion make for some of the best Smallville episodes we've gotten since, like, Phantom at the latest. Even with those aforementioned controversial bits like Lana's return, Bride manages to cram so much into itself. The creepy documentary-style opening, all the cute throwbacks to early Smallville, the reveal that Lex is in fact alive, and of course, the Red Wedding-esque debut of Doomsday make for an episode that feels like it can rank alongside Smallville's best season finales in terms of sheer spectacle and shock factor.

Legion: And right off the heels of Bride, Legion is a surprisingly fun payoff for pretty much the entirety of Season 8's first half. Despite my misgivings with the Chloe/Braniac stuff, it felt really rewarding to see Clark finally send Braniac away for good. I actually really liked the Legion and how they serve as a commentary on the consensus around Smallville, all the jokes about "no flights, no tights" and Chloe being an original character were not only quite funny and charming, but gives the episode a lot of interesting subtext.

Hex: Was this the funniest episode of Smallville? Hex starts off as a pretty standard body swap where Chloe ends up in Lois's body, but it really comes alive when Clark accidentally wishes to be a normal reporter. Tom Welling's performance as "skeptic Clark" was absolutely hysterical, and made for a nice bit of levity just as the season was starting to get a bit darker again, almost reminiscent of Buffy's seminal Tabula Rasa. Also, Zatanna showing up was nice, she's always a fun presence. 

Doomsday: Doomsday is often considered the worst finale, and one of the worst episodes, of the series for a number of reasons, and I... didn't hate it? Pacing-wise, it is an absolute mess and tries to cram so much into its short runtime, not properly conveying a lot that happened. Just to cover everything, you have the returning Legion, the introduction of the Watchtower, the Justice League vs Clark, Clark vs Doomsday, Davis and Jimmy killing each other, the reveal that Jimmy has a younger brother also named Jimmy, Tess summoning Zod, and Lois traveling through time. It's a lot and naturally not everything is as well-executed as it could've been, particularly the Doomsday fight which felt really short and cheap since Clark couldn't actually fight Doomsday this early. However, the central conflict at play with Clark warring with the Justice League over his belief Davis could be saved, only to have his faith in humanity shattered when he realizes Davis was always a monster is a genuinely compelling one. Jimmy was also at his most likable for the entire season, and the thing he left behind being the Watchtower itself is pretty cool. And of course, the Zod cliffhanger was very exciting. There is a lot here to like, it just could've been a bit more refined.

Overall, Season 8 is very much a transition season, an attempt to bring the show in a new direction while also pruning all the elements of prior seasons that weren't working. While the process was at times awkward and frustrating, it's hard to deny that this season was a massive breath of fresh air, with more thoughtful and engaging writing, a great tonal balance, and a far stronger core in the lovable relationship between Lois and Clark. If Smallville can keep up this pace and smoother over those rougher edges, we might be in for the best arc of the entire show.

3/5 Stars

Light Crusader

As I've said quite a lot, Treasure is one of my favorite game developers of all time, but Light Crusader was always my least favorite game from them. I remember trying it when it popped up on NSO and quickly bouncing off of it. Treasure's bread and butter has always been wacky, cartoony action platformers with creative and surreal imagery, hardware-pushing visual effects, and complex, diverse, ever-changing gameplay. So to see them put out what seemed like a drab, realistic-looking isometric action adventure game felt like such a weird step away from what makes Treasure so special. But I decided to revisit the game recently to give it another shot after finding out that it's actually quite well-respected, and little did I know that it actually does manage to have a lot of that Treasure magic, just hidden a bit deeper under the surface.

Light Crusader's unskippable opening is as unassuming as it gets. You play as a knight named Sir David who arrives at a town only to discover that the townsfolk have been disappearing, and you are tasked to investigate. It seems like your standard fantasy fare, maybe even a bit too cliché for the brilliant minds at Treasure. But once the intro ends and the game actually gives you control, I was immediately surprised by how... smooth movement felt? It manages to dodge the common mistake that many isometric games make where pressing up moves you up-right, essentially skewing the directional inputs to match the perspective. It's a control style I could never get used to, so I'm glad Light Crusader keeps things simple. Up makes you go north, just as it should be. Your movement speed is fast and your jumps are floaty, so I found it really easy to make precise movements with confidence, quite the impressive feat for a game with this perspective. Talking to NPCs will also reveal that dialogue boxes display in real-time in this game, meaning you can start a conversation and then just continue walking around. This combined with the fast movement speed means that once you take control of David, Light Crusader really never stops moving, keeping up a brisk, frenetic pace throughout its entire playtime.

Another thing you'll notice right away is the absolutely wacky NPC interactions. Walk up to the several other characters around the castle you're in and you'll discover that you can just kinda push them around, even down the stairs. As a matter of fact, Light Crusader actually has an entire physics engine built for it, and many in-game objects from enemies to items to chests can all be physically pushed around. And this is a pivotal part of the game, more than even being an adventure or action game, Light Crusader is a physics-based puzzle game. The first task the game has you do is go to the graveyard, find the interactable grave, and push it to the side to unveil the entrance to a large dungeon underneath the town, which shows you that looking for context clues is important and that you should try to push around everything you see. This is the first area where the sheer Treasure-ness of Light Crusader really becomes apparent. Designing a full, working physics engine for a Sega Genesis game and allowing you to use it on pretty much everything in the game is just the kind of goofy ambitiousness that always seemed to define Treasure.

Once you enter the dungeon, the true gameplay loop of Light Crusader reveals itself. This is a dungeon crawler through and through, and you have to work your way through six varied dungeon floors to find the evil dude responsible for all the disappearances. I actually really like games that take place entirely within a dungeon, like Ys Origin or Swordcraft Story, it's like I can get the fun puzzle-solving action-exploration of a Zelda dungeon but stretched out across an entire game. And as far as the core exploration goes, Light Crusader is pretty damn great. Right from the get-go, the dungeon sprawls into a number of different rooms and directions, and you have a simple map to help you keep track of which doors you haven't checked out yet. There's a solid amount of collectibles from health upgrades to equipment, and there's even a few secret areas the map doesn't tell you about that tend to hide easter eggs and optional, powerful items like a fast travel sextant and a dedicated cat room. This is honestly a perfect balance for exploration in an adventure game like this. While by no means trivial, I was able to beat the game with max health and equipment relatively guideless, but I also probably missed a lot of those hidden rooms. This can also really increase replay value since players will be likely to notice things on a second or third playthrough they haven't the first time around.

As I said earlier, the bread and butter of Light Crusader are the physics puzzles. Many rooms will have you pushing a variety of objects to accomplish certain tasks. There's standard blocks, statues that shoot out lasers, explosive bombs and barrels you can use to blow open doors, and boulders that you can roll around. The game gets an impressive amount of mileage out of all of these objects and puzzles will have you utilizing switches, elevators, wind, or even other physics objects to get them to where they need to go. Later floors will even have you start juggling multiple different types of physics objects and trying to figure out which does what. But with all that said, is the physics engine even... good? I mean, it is still a Genesis game and to be fair, yeah, it is a bit janky. Pushing certain objects around can even be a bit overly sensitive making it frustratingly easy to accidentally push something into a corner and force a reset. However, I still found it not only impressive but fun to mess around with. Most of the puzzles are still quite well-crafted around the engine's limitations, and for the ones that aren't, reseting is as easy as leaving the room and trying again. On top of that, the freeform nature of physics in general meant that I honestly feel like I was able to solve a few rooms with completely unintentional methods which did genuinely make me feel pretty clever.

Of course, there's also a fair amount of enemies to fight, and this is probably where Light Crusader is at its weakest. Combat is as basic as going up to an enemy and swinging your sword. You can attack in mid-air to do a dive attack but that's pretty much it, and between your stubby sword and the depth perception, it's pretty easy to whiff your attacks. On top of that, this game doesn't give you gold for fighting enemies. Instead, you can either get gold as a rare pick-up, find it in a few hidden chests, or grind for it in a few random spots across the game. This means that I often found myself unable to buy anything in the game's shops. And yet, on the other hand, despite all these combat issues, Light Crusader is actually kind of a cakewalk. This game absolutely showers you with health restoring items, pretty much every enemy drops one and you have a massive inventory. On top of that, there's an auto heal function so you don't even need to think about healing yourself, meaning that most enemies and bosses can be easily taken out by standing right in front of them and spamming attack. I'll be honest and say that I'd rather a game be broken but easy than broken but annoyingly hard, but the item drop rate doesn't fix the fact that combat isn't especially fun, it's just a bandaid on the greater issue.

That being said, there are a few combat-related aspects of Light Crusader that I did genuinely really like, and of course, they're the most Treasure-esque parts of the whole system. The magic system seems pretty standard in that you have a number of spell types based on elements like fire and earth, but you'll quickly realize that you can actually combine the element types to create different kinds of spells, almost like Threads Of Fate's similarly fantastic magic system. With four elements, there's a total of 15 spells you can use, which adds a ton of fun experimentation. Not every spell is especially useless, but if you take the time to mess around with the system, you'll probably find a few favorites. This is a very Treasure take on a tried-and-true system, imbuing it with a lot more player freedom. The boss fights are also generally really fun, as you'd expect from Treasure. They're all big, varied, visually-impressive, and at times very creative. I especially love the floating armor fight as you'll need to hit the shadow of the person manipulating the armor to take it down. On a smaller note, I also love how you can deflect certain projectiles with a well-timed sword press, such a cool little feature that didn't need to be there.

As I said, the dungeon spans six floors, and each one is different from the last in terms of structure. Floor 1 is a fairly simple introduction to Light Crusader's gameplay loop. Floor 2 is probably the one you'll need a notepad for the most, as you need to find codes you can use to unseal four orbs scattered on the far reaches of the map. From a puzzle standpoint, this was definitely one of the high points of the game for me. Floor 3 has a huge orc village in the center, which you can infiltrate using an orc disguise (which can also help you skip a few combat encounters). Floor 4 is more platforming-focused as it has a ton of icy floors to deal with. And Floor 6, being the final floor, has the most devious puzzles in the game along with the vast majority of the disappeared townsfolk you need to rescue. This variety helps keep the game fresh despite taking place almost entirely within a dungeon, and really helps keep the pacing up throughout. But if you've played Light Crusader, though, you probably already know that Floor 5 is the highlight. You'll stumble upon eight teleporters each taking you to a small mini-dungeon you need to complete to recruit one of the eight wizards. These mini-dungeons take place pretty much all over the world, from a western town, to an active warzore, to the far future, and more. You'll be fighting a giant tank, fast-moving ninjas, and even the elements themselves, it's so much fun. And in what's otherwise a fairly standard fantasy setting, this sudden shift to a random genre roulette feels so wonderfully Treasure.

As for the presentation, Light Crusader does genuinely look pretty impressive. Not only are the characters and isometric environments quite detailed, but Treasure manages to squeeze a lot of cool effects into this thing. Floating platforms along with the player have dropshadows which helps to make platforming a cinch, the dialogue boxes are formed seamlessly with wireframes, many of the bosses utilize multiple sprites like in many of Treasure's action games, and doors, effects, and several in-game objects are fully 3D rendered. And the game manages to do pretty much all of these with zero performance issues, it all runs super smoothly. That being said, I can't deny that the artstyle itself can feel a bit generic by Treasure standards. The color scheme is fairly drab and Koichi Kimura's distinct visual style that defined games like Dynamite Headdy and Silhouette Mirage feels entirely absent here. Similarly, the soundtrack is more ambient and baroque-inspired than you'd expect from Treasure, but honestly, it's not too bad overall. The boss themes feel a bit twangy, but most of the floor themes are quite catchy, with the more energetic ones sounding like they came right out of a Castlevania game.

Overall, Light Crusader was honestly a pleasant surprise. It's by no means a perfect game, the combat system is not especially great, some of the physics puzzles can be pretty finicky, and the game probably could've gone a bit weirder in spots. However, it's honestly a really pleasant and enjoyable dungeon crawler with fun movement that dodges pretty much all of the pitfalls that come with isometric gameplay, engaging exploration, brisk pacing, an impressive physics engine that's fun to mess around with, and a lot of charming, little quirks that only a company like Treasure could've thought up. As far as top-down Genesis adventure games go, it easily surpasses stuff like Landstalker and Beyond Oasis for the sheer fluidity of play alone. I don't think this is Treasure's worst game anymore, it's not even their worst Genesis game. I'd easily play this again over their McDonalds game, that's for sure. It might seem unassuming under the surface but if you give Light Crusader time to show its true colors, you'll find a unique, fresh, and well-thought out adventure game.

3.5/5 Stars

Kirby's Dream Land 2: A Deep Dive

Kirby is a series known for not having a bad game, and I generally still think that's true. When the generally regarded worst Kirby games include a perfectly fine game with microtransactions, a reskin of Puyo Puyo, and a pinball game for the Game Boy, all of which are spinoffs, your series is in pretty good hands. But even with how consistently strong the mainline games are, there's gotta be a worst, and for me, Kirby's Dream Land 2 is the worst mainline Kirby game. And it really hurts to call it that, because it's not a bad game. It's honestly one of the Game Boy's most impressive platformers, and makes some pretty big improvements over its predecessor. On top of that, it kickstarts my beloved Dark Matter trilogy and paves the way to two of my favorite games in the series. So what's the problem? Well, let's talk about it.

Sonic X Shadow Generations Stage & Boss Ranking

Now that I've played both Sonic Generations and its new counterpart, Shadow Generations, I wanted to rank the stages and bosses across both of the games to see how they compared. Let's start with the stages:

16. Casino Night
Yeah, I'm counting Casino Night because why not? This was a DLC stage that came bundled with Sonic X Shadow for free, and it's mostly just a pinball table that you can play to rack up points. It's not a bad pinball table, it's actually quite good. The physics are genuinely some of the most polished pinball physics in a Sonic game (not that it's much of a competition), and there's a lot of hidden offshoots to discover which help give the stage some replay value. That being said, it is still a basic score-chasing pinball game so obviously it doesn't stack up to any of the other zones.

15. Green Hill
I'm bored of Green Hill Zone. While most of Generations' stages still feel remarkably fresh for me despite how much its assets have been reused in later games, Green Hill Zone has been completely and utterly played out by this point. This is the most problematic in the Classic act which isn't even bad but is still easily my least favorite in the game because I just don't see any reason to go back to it when there are so many other Green Hill interpretations I find more fun (cough Mania cough). The Modern act fares a lot better as it manages to expand on Green Hill as a setting in some really neat ways like the interior cave section and being able to break through a bridge, but its short length and abundance of long straightways also gives it a pretty low skill ceiling compared to the other stages. Green Hill Zone is a fine starter area and it doesn't necessarily do anything wrong, but it's just not remarkable anymore.

14. Sunset Heights
Sonic Forces is arguably the most undercooked Sonic game of all time, filled to the brim with fantastic ideas but shows a staunch refusal to expand on any of them. The story could've been really fun, but it feels too slight and flippant to sell its threat. Most of the stage concepts seem really cool, I just wish they were longer. I love the idea of the weapon-based avatar stages, I just wish they flowed with your movement better. And while the soundtrack is one of my favorites in the series, I hate that there's so much of it you can't hear in-game. So seeing a stage from Forces recreated in the Generations style is something I've always wanted to see, and Sunset Heights is a pretty solid pick. To put it simply, I've had really high hopes for this stage and while it's still a pretty fun time, I hate to admit that it's still probably the weakest stage in Shadow Generations. 

Act 1 fleshes out the original stage in some neat ways with cool cutscenes involving the Death Egg Robots, an entire section in the sewers, and a few branching paths, but it still pretty constrictive and linear with rarely any space to move around. When compared to another city stage in Generations like Rooftop Run, with its open town squares and more zig-zaggy level design, it only makes Sunset Heights feel more like a straight line. It also doesn't help that this stage has easily the longest of the Black Doom segments and while it does have some cool moments where he curls buildings and roads into a Lost World-esque tube for you to traverse, it drags on particularly long and feels like it steals most of the screentime from the Sonic Forces part. Act 2 is a bit more interesting, fleshing out the sewer area with some really fun waterslides and having segments where you're actively dodging the Death Egg Robots' attacks, but I really wish the 3D act had this same level of complexity.

13. Planet Wisp
Don't get the wrong idea, me putting Planet Wisp so low does not mean I harbor any ill will towards the stage. As a matter of fact, I'll defend Planet Wisp in a heartbeat. Despite its focus on slower-paced platforming and the abundance of 2D in Modern's stage, it still feels like a satisfying final gauntlet thanks to how it utilizes all of both Sonic's movesets, its abundance of genuinely tricky hazards like the buzzsaws and missiles, and its setting of an Eggman factory. As someone who loves Colors and the Wisps, I think it's really cool that Sonic Team brought them back just for this stage, and they allow for the kind of complex routing and explorative level design that makes Colors so great. There's plenty of shortcuts to find as per the usual, but there's also a lot of potential shortcuts the players can make on their own due to how freeform the Spike and Rocket Wisps are. If you are willing to put up with the 2D, Planet Wisp's skill ceiling is absolutely massive. On top of that, the setting and music of Planet Wisp is predictably gorgeous, though I will concede that I really wish we got to spend more time in the exterior areas. My only other real gripe with Planet Wisp in Generations is mostly that it can feel pretty crushingly long compared to other stages in the game, especially since the Modern stage basically demands you play it at least twice to get all the collectibles, but that's really it. It's far from bad, and I will always stand by Sonic games needing more platforming-focused stages to balance out the constant speed.

 12. City Escape
City Escape is a stage I always found a bit overrated. Like yeah, it's obviously iconic and cool from a presentation standpoint but the few bits of genuinely fun core Sonic gameplay are practically bookended by two autoscrollers and that issue is kept pretty much completely intact in Generations' rendition of the stage. City Escape Modern fleshes out pretty much everything about the original. The boarding is more involved and has multiple paths to add replayability, the park section is far more open, and the truck has a few more tricks up its sleeve to make the final chase more goofy and exciting. However, the autoscroller issue remains, and is arguably even worse considering how it also has some of the most infuriating Red Star Rings in the entire game. Personally, I find the Classic version a lot more interesting since the truck is a more active threat, and the skateboard is now an item that you have to try to hang onto. It's also quite the massive difficulty spike as it's very easy to fall behind and get yourself rammed by the truck, maybe even a bit too easy since it feels like the stage is designed mostly for players who are able to hang onto the skateboard first and everyone else second. I do still think both of City Escape's stages are fun and have some very memorable setpieces, there's just a lot of other stages that I would rather play for some reason or another. Really just a testament to how great Generations' stages are that this isn't higher.

11. Space Colony ARK
The first act of Space Colony ARK is a great first level, probably one of the series' best. Despite still being a tutorial, it's got enough branching paths, interesting mechanics, and cool bits of fanservice to help it stay pretty replayable. That wide open interior area near the end of the stage is a particularly memorable bit of level design that really demands you replay the level multiple times to see everything there. It also has probably my favorite of the three Black Doom segments mostly because for the novelty. The first time you see the stage seamlessly shift to Radical Highway, it's incredibly sick especially if you're liked me and stunned at how your console can even handle it. The next few times, it feels like it's stealing the spotlight from the more interesting and novel stage themes. But yeah, everyone loves Act 1, it's not controversial for me to say it's one of the better acts in Shadow Gens. 

Sadly, I think Space Colony Ark's second act is probably my least favorite in the game solely for how unremarkable it is. Aside from serving as a tutorial for the Chaos Spear and Doom Wings, the level design feels pretty basic even compared to the other 2D stages and spamming X to open a bunch of doors is not compelling level design. As I mentioned in my review, I also think the mechanical look and abundance of repeated platforms make this one of the less visually-appealing stages in Shadow Generations despite how iconic of a location it is. Still, despite my issues, Space Colony ARK is a good start to the game and easily a better intro stage than Green Hill.

10. Rail Canyon
For as much as I like Sonic Heroes, Rail Canyon was definitely one of those stages that needed redemption solely with better rail grinding controls and that's exactly what we got. Act 1 really just feels like a more thoroughly fleshed-out version of the Sonic Heroes stage, requiring you to hop between rails a lot more often than in its inspiration and making those trams both a more active threat and a more interesting mechanic since they're affected by Chaos Control. The constant rail-grinding can get a bit repetitive though, and the Black Doom segment is easily the least memorable out of the three, though I like how it's the only one to not mark the immediate end of the stage. Act 2 is a rare case where I vastly prefer the 2D stage, though. The rail-grinding here plays out more like it did in Sonic Lost World, almost akin to a minecart stage in a Donkey Kong Country game. You have bomb cars trying to shoot off parts of the track, some pretty sick camera shifts, and an intense final section where you're being chased by a furious train, all set to a great remix of Bullet Station. Both this stage and Space Colony ARK are pretty close together in my eyes, but Rail Canyon having two good-great acts compared to Space Colony ARK having one great act and one mid act makes it slightly win out for me.

9. Seaside Hill
Seaside Hill has one of the biggest divides in quality between two acts out of any stage in either game. The Classic act is one of my least favorites in Sonic Generations mostly because it's the most water-heavy stage in the game. It's still better than most water stages in Sonic games since it brings back those fun currents from Hydrocity Zone and you can avoid a decent chunk of the water with skilled play, but it's cramped enough that it still probably feels like the slowest stage in the game. Seaside Hill Modern, on the other hand, is absolutely fantastic. It's probably the most open and sprawling stage in the game, completely riddled with branching and intersecting paths and boasting barely any 2D segments to speak of. It combines both Seaside Hill and Ocean Palace too, bringing in both the kart mechanic (but having it control well) and the sea turtles carrying platforms on their backs. And then there's just the presentation, which is all around incredible. I adore Seaside Hill as a setting, it's so bright and colorful, and both the water and the sky look absolutely gorgeous. And the music is probably the happiest theme in the entire series, always putting a smile on my face and elevating even the weaker first act. 

8. Radical Highway
With how much this stage gets shoved in your face earlier on in the game, I wasn't expecting much from Radical Highway being the final stage. And for Act 1, I was mostly right, it doesn't really offer much that you haven't already seen and being able to use the Doom Wings would be a lot cooler if you didn't already get to use them in Space Colony ARK Act 2. It's not a bad level, it's probably the most faithful to the original stage and I like how both acts are fully 3D, but it is a bit underwhelming. Act 2, on the other hand, absolutely rocks. It brings back all of Black Doom's tricks from the prior stages along with even new ones like giant minibosses to fight, massive tornadoes to dodge, having to carefully shimmy along the sides of tilted platforms, and even parts where Black Doom just starts flinging large chunks of the road at you. It's a surprisingly tough difficulty spike making for a rewarding final platforming gauntlet that puts all of your skills to the test, and for as much as I am a Planet Wisp defender, this is easily the better final stage. Maybe even one of the best final stages in any 3D Sonic game.

7. Sky Sanctuary
Sky Sanctuary is a case where both the Classic and Modern acts are both generally pretty great in their own ways. Classic Sky Sanctuary is noteworthy for how many different paths it has, and for the unique gimmick of needing to take all of them at least once to get all the Red Star Rings. I'll admit that I'm not a huge fan of the spinning disks, which feel a bit sluggish to move around, but at least they're kept on the lower path so them being slower makes sense. Modern Sky Sanctuary ranks alongside Seaside Hill as one of the more sprawling stages in the game with so many split paths, some of which feel incredibly satisfying to pull off. The only thing preventing it from being a truly top-tier act for me is that some of the platforming across spinning platforms can be a bit annoying, and that ending with the crumbling platform feels poorly telegraphed for new players, but otherwise, it's still a really strong stage with an immense amount of replay value. On top of that, once again the presentation here is incredible. I always felt like Sky Sanctuary was a cool concept held back by its singular act, so seeing this far more fleshed-out version of the setting with more distinct environmental design, far more interesting gimmicks, and truly godly remixes makes this the definitive version of Sky Sanctuary in my eyes.

6. Chemical Plant
Chemical Plant was the stage that really sold me on Generations, for both styles. I was so worried that Classic Sonic's stage would just be a recreation of the original Act 1 complete with annoying underwater block segment but nope, the entire level is completely redone, any water segments can be completely avoided, and the stage even adds some new gimmicks like waterslides. It's a bit on the short side, but it's still quite fun. Act 2, on the other hand, is absolutely fantastic. Despite how much its level assets have been reused in later games, I'm frankly stunned at how fresh this interpretation of Chemical Plant feels to this day. The dark and hellish background coupled with the more menacing music makes this probably my favorite version of this iconic local. The level design is also stellar, chock full of creative hidden shortcuts and relentlessly paced. You go from the iconic split path to drifting to rail grinding to quickstepping to a waterslide to skydiving in the span of like a minute and it just keeps going. Once again, pretty much all the water sections can be completely avoided with some really precise platforming, and pulling off a perfect run in this stage in particular feels especially rewarding.

5. Chaos Island
Out of every stage in Shadow Generations, Chaos Island was the one I was expecting to like the least. It has everything going against it. It's based on the worst area in a game I'm immensely bitter towards, it's so blatantly an asset reuse that doesn't even relate to Shadow in any way, and it's built around probably the hardest-to-control Doom Power in the Doom Morph, it should have been the easy low point. And yet, it's not. Act 2 is generally fine. It's got some cool moments like the Donkey Kong reference and those platforms that shift with your weight along with some neat visuals, but it's way too short and underdeveloped which is a real shame. Act 1, on the other hand? Absolute peak.

Chaos Island Act 1 is one of my favorite Sonic levels in recent memory. It's one of the longer stages in Shadow Generations but it never slows down, constantly tossing new environments and level types at you. There's open areas and linear areas, exterior sections and interior sections, challenging platforming and moments to breath. Even the Doom Morph works here since most of the trickiest manuevers are kept to optional shortcuts, rewarding players who mastered its movement but not punishing players who are still learning. It doesn't even need to resort to Black Doom to keep things interesting, it manages to do so by squeezing potential out of pretty much every environmental trope Frontiers had. But the most impressive part is how shockingly good it looks. Like, Sonic Team is obviously reusing assets here, but they all feel more thoughtfully-placed. The scaffoldings scattered around showing how Eggman was mining the crystals here, the striking interior shots that display the infamous foreign symbol peppered around frontiers, and the way you're constantly shown the volcano as you slowly inch closer to it over the course of the act all help to give Chaos Island a real sense of place. The stronger lighting, bolder colors, and focused cinematic framing does so much to elevate Chaos Island as a setting. It doesn't feel like a Unity asset flip, it feels like an actual location, and it baffles me that Shadow Generations has better visual storytelling for the Starfall Islands than anything in Frontiers. I even liked the divisive music, the somber piano blends the frenetic EDM really nicely in my opinion. This is the Crisis City of Shadow Generations, the stage that shows just how good Frontiers could've been.

4. Speed Highway
Sonic Adventure is my favorite Sonic game, and Speed Highway is my favorite stage in that game, so it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that its Generations rendition ranks pretty highly. The Classic Sonic act is novel for being the first one based on a non-Genesis game, so it's really cool to see Speed Highway translated into a 2D level. It has you going in an elaborate hotel complete with a parking lot area for those who fall to the lower path, and often shoves you onto the street to dodge cars, it's great stuff. The Modern version feels more like a souped-up version of the already incredible original stage, with more branching paths, wider roads that make great use of drifting, even more interior sections, and all the most iconic setpieces from the original like the helicopter and Goin' Down sequences brought back in full force. The improved visuals also really help Speed Highway, making it feel like more of a bustling city and really leaning in on the spotlights that made the original stage look so striking. There's also just a ton of cute little references in all the various posters you can spot, such as the return of Chao In Space. Speed Highway is flashy, fast-paced, slightly challenging, and an absolute joy to perfect your run in, definitely a highlight within Generations and one of the most replayable 3D Sonic stages out there.

3. Kingdom Valley
Kingdom Valley being my favorite stage in Shadow Generations is a no-brainer. It really didn't even need to change much, and it didn't outside of adding some fun Doom Surf sequences. It was always the most full-realized stage in Sonic 06, large, dynamic, full of branching paths, and boasting an incredibly striking and memorable medieval aesthetic. All of that still applies to Shadow Generations' rendition and then some, it's as endlessly replayable as ever and fleshes out all of its mechanics wonderfully, even bringing back the iconic split waterfall for the end of the stage. Even the music didn't change much, because it was already incredible, though it's a shame it doesn't adapt to the part of the level you're in like in 06. Chaos Island was definitely the most impressive glowup, but Kingdom Valley Act 1 just has everything anyone could ever want from a Sonic stage. Act 2 obviously isn't as strong, though it's still a pretty good time as it's far lengthier than many of the other Act 2s and spends a decent chunk of itself inside the castle which helps it really stand out from both Act 1 and the original game. Both stages have so many branching paths and moving parts that I feel like I could play them over and over again and they'd never get old.

2. Crisis City
Yeah, two Sonic 06 recreations in the Top 3! For all that game's issues, it's got some pretty sick locals, and Crisis City in particular has one of my favorite settings... in any game ever, honestly? The concept of an entire city being burned and melted down, flooded with molten lava, and being endlessly hit by hellish fire tornadoes is such a cool setting and is the perfect place to set arguably Generations' hardest stage. If you want a good challenge and feel Planet Wisp is too slow-paced, Crisis City is the stage for you. It's filled to the brim with tough Iblis enemies and punishing lava pits, but it manages to keep up the pace and dodging the variety of obstacles this stage has at its disposal at top speed is incredibly fun regardless of the act. Modern Sonic has a nice variety of paths in its first third, a fun stomp-heavy mechanic in the second third with the geysers, and end with a intense quick-step section where you're running towards the fire tornado. Classic Sonic's stage might be even better thanks to all the collapsing platforms and the second half which takes you right into the eye of the fire tornado hopping across floating debris as you chase after the goal post. It's a rare stage where I think both acts are equally phenomenal.

 1. Rooftop Run
I've heard a lot of good things about Rooftop Run, but I was not prepared for just how exhilirating this stage would be, both acts. Classic Sonic's version starts pretty assuming but really gets good once you enter the wine cellar and start dodging rolling barrels, only for the stage to take you right up to Spagonia's iconic clock tower and has you climb all the way up to the top only to use its face to cause a blimp crash. The sheer escalation is just wonderful. That being said, Modern Sonic's act is easily the star of the show here, probably the best boost stage ever made. It's constantly tossing you from setpiece to setpiece, briskly hopping between sprawling rooftops to tense chases against a variety of different robots. And that midsection where you run up the rooftop only to grind back down is jaw-dropping. The sheer amount of detail in Spagonia is also incredible, there's a whole bunch of meticulously rendered interiors to burst into, and the decision to set the stage during a festival not only makes it feel more lively but allows Sonic Team to show off even more and add even more details like the flags of all the other countries in Unleashed. Add in one of the best tracks in any video game, and yeah, I totally get the hype behind Rooftop Run. It's an incredible stage, and it only makes me want to play the game it came from even more.

And here's my ranking of all the bosses:

11. Death Egg Robot
The Death Egg Robot's first phase is a solid conversion of the original boss fight, but the second phase gets pretty annoying. Having to guide the robot's arms to hit one of the mines while also staying far away enough from the mine to not get blown up yourself is really hard to gauge, and I feel like I only manage to not get hit out of sheer luck.

10. Shadow The Hedgehog
I wish I liked this fight more because it is a cool concept, but Shadow's speed seems so inconsistent that it almost feels like he has rubberbanding which really brings down the fight. I also love the little dodging minigames in concept, but once I hit every asteroid and still couldn't land a hit on Shadow. And on top of that, the fact that he goes down in a single hit makes the fight also feel kinda underwhelming.

9. Time Eater
Yeah, I don't think the Time Eater is the worst boss. It's got more going for it than people think, like the creepy and menacing atmosphere, the cool dimension switching mechanic, and how utterly satisfying it feels to land a hit on him. The worst thing about this fight is that it doesn't properly explain its mechanics at all, but once you understand how the charge works, how to properly damage, when to switch dimensions, how to regain your rings, and most importantly, that staying to the center of the Time Eater is what allows you to catch up to him, it's a fine final fight. At this point, the actual biggest problem is that it's too easy and short, but it feels climactic enough that it didn't leave me with a sour taste in my mouth by the end.

8. Metal Sonic
Metal Sonic's fights are always a lot of fun, and this is a really solid first boss fight for Generations. It plays out more like a fight at top speed rather than a race, but Metal Sonic has a nice variety of attacks to keep things fresh. Sadly, it's also over way too short and if you play perfectly, you'll only get to see each attack once in a fight.

7. Mephiles The Dark
Conceptually, this is one of the coolest fights in the game. I love the idea that Mephiles is trying to force himself back into the timeline after 06's events got wiped away, and his utter desperation in the face of a hilariously uncaring Shadow made for a really neat conflict. He's got some cool attacks too, from dropping columns on you to turning into a giant monster by the end. The only problem is that this fight was too easy, Mephiles barely does anything to defend himself for the first half and even when he turns into a monster, it's not hard to break through his defenses.

6. Biolizard
The Biolizard in Sonic Adventure 2 has one of my favorite fights in the series, and the Shadow Generations version of the fight does improve in some aspects. It's a bit flashier, it lacks the jank SA2's fight has, and it's got a few more phases where the Biolizard sprouts arms and later jumps onto the ceiling. The only problem is that it's predictably quite easy since it's now the first boss in the game, compared to the original fight which I found memorable primarily because it was a satisfying challenge to conquer.

5. Egg Dragoon
The Egg Dragoon is an almost perfect fight held back by a few issues. I love the intense atmosphere and dark environment, and many of Eggman's attacks are quite fun to dodge, particularly the wall jump. It's also easily the hardest fight in the game, but not too hard that it's not still satisfying to take down. However, in the 3D segments, I feel like I'm barely able to move left and right without quickstepping, and having to survive an entire phase with the game's slippery skydiving controls is also a bit annoying. Both of these issues can be worked around, but it does add a level of unpolish that sticks out quite a bit in an otherwise really well put together game.

4. Devil Doom
As a final boss, Devil Doom definitely gets the job done. This fight tests you on your skills in using the Doom Surf, Doom Morph, and the Doom Wings, and like with the best fights in Shadow Gens, it's all very player-driven in how damage is dealt. The final phase with the Doom Wings is especially visually stunning as you fly all around Radical Highway as Devil Doom tosses everything he can at you, though it goes down quite a lot quicker than the first phase. Once again, definitely a better final boss than Sonic's.

3. Perfect Chaos
Perfect Chaos is another one of my favorite Sonic bosses, and while this version feels more like a platforming stage than an actual boss fight like the original, it's still a damn fun platforming stage. The level design slowly gets crazier and crazier as the city gets more flooded all the while Perfect Chaos starts flinging increasingly more attacks at you, culminating in a tense final phase suspended in mid-air.

 2. Silver The Hedgehog
Silver The Hedgehog is the most fully-realized boss in Sonic Generations, a fast-paced and frenetic fight that uses Silver's telekinesis to its absolute fullest. The way the fight slowly amps up in scale as Silver starts using more and more cars against you, culminating in that wild final phase where he tosses an entire ball of cars at you makes for a memorably chaotic encounter, and it helps that it all plays incredibly well.

1. Metal Overlord
Metal Overlord's fight in Shadow Generations had me skeptical at first. Turning one of the series' best Super Sonic fights into a showcase of the Doom Surf seemed like a noticeable downgrade, but I was stunned at how fun this fight is. It's incredibly fast-paced and propulsive, with Metal Overlord slinging a ton of attacks at you from launching missiles to swiping you with his tail. The length of the fight is solely determined by how fast you're able to deal damage to him, which makes the encounter feel particularly replayable. So many moments in this fight made me giggle like a madman, from that hilariously extra finisher to "Trying to use Chaos Control? Ha! That power already belongs to me!"

2024 Games I Played: Sonic X Shadow Generations

Despite being a massive Sonic fan, there are two really important games I've sadly never gotten the chance to play, Sonic Unleashed and Sonic Generations. Unleashed getting re-released is pretty much a pipe dream at this point, but Sonic Generations just got a port complete with an entire second campaign focused around Shadow. I actually really like Shadow The Hedgehog, the game, so seeing him get another spinoff is really cool, and since I haven't even played the original Sonic Generations, this package is basically going to be two new Sonic games for me. Will Sonic Generations live up to all the hype? Will Shadow Generations be better than the last few 3D Sonic games we got? And most importantly, will it all run well on Switch?

Sonic Generations came out in a renaissance era for the Sonic series, when it finally seemed like the games were starting to "get good" again with the release of Sonic Colors. Of course, nowadays, games like Black Knight, Unleashed, and to a lesser extent Shadow 05 are being held up in a greater light challenging the whole concept of "Sonic's dark ages", but Colors and Generations really were the games we needed at the time. Polished, smartly designed, and focused experiences that proved Sonic Team knew what they were fucking doing. I still love Sonic Colors to bits, despite how divisive it's gotten lately, so I felt primed to like Sonic Generations and I'm glad to say that it still managed to surpass my expectations. That being said, let's quickly get the weakest aspect of both games out of the way. Because yes, the story is pretty weak. It can be a bit cute in the way it subtly references the series without doing a straight-up reference, but its minimal approach to dialogue and characterization also stops it from being a true celebration of Sonic as a series like the rest of the game is. This remake does actually include rewritten and re-recorded dialogue that tries to flesh out the narrative in whichever ways it can, but since they kept the animations the same, the bad lipsync only ended up taking me out of the story more. It would've been nice if Sonic Team bothered to at least add an option for the original cutscenes so I can experience the game as it was intended, but as Sonic Colors Ultimate indicated, I guess they're afraid of customization in their remakes.

But hey, not every Sonic game needs a great story. I'd take a Sonic game with a weak story but great gameplay over the reverse any day of the week, and I'm pleased to say Sonic Generations has absolutely incredible gameplay. Generations has you visit nine areas from the series' past and play through them both as a boost-style Modern Sonic and a Genesis-style Classic Sonic. I went in expecting the Classic Sonic bits to be the easy lesser half and... well, that's not exactly wrong, but I was surprised at how much I enjoyed these parts regardless. Classic Sonic's gameplay in Generations is not a pixel-perfect translation of the way the Genesis games played, but that's not something that necessarily bothers me, I love the Advance games after all. Instead, Classic Sonic's gameplay is mostly focused on the spin dash, which lets you go a lot faster than in most other 2D Sonic games. You're told very early that you can spin dash up ramps to gain some serious height, and it's not very long until you're actively required to use this move. It lets you take shortcuts, completely break certain stages, and it's generally really fun to do. The game even adds a dedicated spin dash button so you don't even have to crouch to pull off this move off. Sonic X Shadow Generations also adds the drop dash, and I don't think there's another Sonic game better suited to this addition.

That being said, Modern Sonic is easily the highlight here. Most of my experience with boost gameplay has been with Colors and Frontiers, so I'm used to having a double jump, automated drift and quick step sections, and needing to collect capsules to boost. It was a bit of a learning curve at first, particularly the lack of a double jump, but after playing for a bit, I really clicked with this gameplay style. Modern Sonic controls incredibly well in Generations, he's tight, responsive, and handles impressively well at high speeds. It's a joy to get better at his stages, and learning when and how to use every move in his toolkit. The drift in particular is shockingly easy to control in Generations considering how much of a reputation this move tends to have for being really slippery and over-sensitive. I have seen a fair amount of criticism towards the controls here, some saying that it compares negatively to Shadow and that the game is "poorly aged". First off, can Sonic fans stop turning against the most beloved games just as I play them for the first time? It happened with Colors too and I'm still not over the sudden switch-up on that game. But beyond that, I guess I'm just not someone who tends to think of games as "poorly aged" a lot of the time. If a game was well-received or even beloved when it came out, it was obviously liked for some reason, and maybe I need to take the game on its own terms to find that reason rather than expect it to show up the moment I press start. Like I said, Sonic Generations has a learning curve, like most Sonic games. Once you get past that curve, it feels incredibly natural.

That being said, I do kinda see where people are coming from, Sonic doesn't have the same freedom of movement as Shadow in his campaign, but that's because they're two different gameplay styles. Shadow's gameplay is primarily derivative of Frontiers, and as such has to accomodate both an open environment and linear level design. Sonic's gameplay is purely focused on linear obstacle courses, so it's more focused on allowing you to quickly react to the stage. The levels in Sonic Generations are designed with Sonic's controls in mind, so Sonic controlling differently than Shadow in a vacuum doesn't really matter to me. You know, with as much as I've raved about the Adventure era games, you'd think I'm not huge on the boost formula but that couldn't be further from the truth. I actually really like the boost gameplay, at least in concept. It's this unique blend of platforming and racing game that feels unlike most other platformers on the market. At its best, it blends this really visceral sense of speed and spectacle with that classic Sonic depth of slowly mastering a level and learning its layout, and it fits the character really well. Of course, this all depends on the execution. Forces has all the spectacle but none of the depth because of its linear level design, and Frontiers has more sprawling levels but a pitiful sense of speed. But when done well, there is a lot of merit to this approach to game design. And thankfully, Sonic Generations is an example of a game that executes on this formula very well.

Sonic Generations's level design is absolutely stellar. Dare I say, it has some of the best designed Sonic levels I've ever seen. Like, for starters, they're incredibly dynamic and well-paced. Each stage flows from each memorable setpiece to the next impressively fluidly, and it helps them all feel like real tangible places. Classic Sonic's stages implement a lot of fun 2.5D elements from skewed camera angles to multiple layers, and Modern Sonic's stages do an incredible job at taking iconic stages from series past and realizing them to their absolute greatest potential. There really aren't many weak stages in the game, I can think of so many standouts across both Sonics. Chemical Plant Modern gives a much darker edge to an tried-and-true stage, both versions of Speed Highway extend one of Adventure's best stages in some really creative ways, the City Escape stages play around with the iconic truck setpiece in some very silly ways,  Crisis City's stages perfectly blend speed and challenge, and Rooftop Run is just... perfect. There's no other way to put it, these are perfect Sonic stages in terms of their layout, pacing, and joyous atmosphere. But on top of that, Generations' stages are absolutely sprawling. Each stage is filled to the brim with shortcuts and alternate routes, even the 3D ones. The brilliance of this game is that the first run of each stage is probably going to be pretty rough, but you'll be constantly seeing other routes that you missed out on taking. You decide to play the stage again trying to take those routes, only to find even more alternate routes. The cycle goes on and on, you start to realize how every enemy is perfectly placed to help you gain some speed, you notice the way all the different paths intertwine, and you find all the various collectibles hidden around until finally, you've mapped out the perfect route through each level out of pure curiosity. No other Sonic game I've played feels so meticulously designed to encourage the player to speedrun, and Generations had me replaying stages over and over again solely to get a better time. It's the perfect balance between the twitch-based platforming and the complex routing that boost style Sonic games should ideally be built upon.

The only element of Generations that has me a bit unsure are the boss fights, as per the usual. Sonic games don't tend to have the best boss fights in general, and to give this game credit, it's got one of the better lineups out there. Generations' boss fights are flashy and dynamic, often having multiple phases and cool, unique mechanics exclusive to each fight. At their best, you get fights like the revamped Perfect Chaos fight and the frenetic encounter against Silver. However, I feel like most of Generations' boss fights also have something preventing them from being truly incredible. The Death Egg Robot has a great first phase but getting its arms to hit the mines without blowing yourself up in the second phase feels pretty finicky, Shadow's fight has a cool concept but his inconsistent speed just screams of rubberbanding, and Egg Dragoon is mostly an incredibly fun and challenging fight except for the fact that you don't seem to be able to turn properly. And then there's the Time Eater. Frankly, it seems Generations' endgame as a whole is the most criticized part of the game but I really don't think it's that bad. Planet Wisp is one of the weaker stages for its length and lack of 3D, but it's still as well-designed of a stage as all the others and a solid final challenge. If it's the lowpoint of Generations, it just shows how stellar the rest of the game is. And the Time Eater, while way too short and boasting some unclear attacks, honestly can be pretty fun if you know what you're doing. Emphasis on if because the biggest issue with this fight is that Generations doesn't bother explaining at all how the Super Sonic mechanics in this game work, I had to look up a guide to actually have a shot at beating the guy.

Another criticism people have with Sonic Generations is that it's fairly short and yeah, that's also true. With only 18 stages and seven bosses, you can easily blitz through this game in 2-3 hours if you want to. That being said, Sonic Generations also has a solid amount of side content that pretty much tripled that playtime for me, and a lot of it is genuinely worth doing. As usually for the Boost games, there is a bunch of collectibles like the Red Star Rings that encourage you to replay stages and try out different paths. This port adds in another collectible in the Chao who are also fun to seek out. The real meat in terms of the side content, though, are the challenge acts. Each area has 10 meaning there's a total of 90 challenge acts, and a vast majority of them are really fun. Many of them have entirely unique level arrangements which helps them feel fresh, and there's a few varied mission types like races and tutorials for certain skills. But my favorite missions easily are the character missions, which have you partner up with one of Sonic's friends and use their abilities. It's not the same as actually playing as them, but hey, it's still fun to have characters like Rouge, Blaze, and Espio hang around for a stage. Beyond that, my other favorite bit of side content is the unlockable library of music tracks from across the series that you can play in pretty much any stage, almost like in the Smash Bros games. It's such a fun addition and being able to swap to a different music track helps to make repeat attempts at perfecting a stage feel a lot more tolerable.

So yeah, I absolutely adored Sonic Generations. It quickly became one of my favorite 3D Sonic games of all time, probably second place to the first Sonic Adventure. It has a level of polish in both its design and its presentation that feels pretty unparalleled within the series, and it left a high bar for Shadow Generations to beat. I'll be honest and say that I was a bit skeptical for Shadow Generations, even with all the genuinely promising footage that was being shown, it all just felt a bit too much like Sonic Frontiers, which was a game I didn't particularly love. And yeah, mechanically, Shadow Generations is very much more of a sequel to Sonic Frontiers than a sequel to Sonic Generations. That being said, it's also a far better game and a genuinely great 3D Sonic entry in its own right. It definitely surpasses the original Shadow 05, that goes without saying, but does it top Sonic Generations? I'm not too sure.

But once again, let's start with the story which is obviously and handily better than the ones in Sonic Generations. Like with Sonic, Shadow gets wrapped up in the Time Eater's shenanigans and has to relive his own past, and meeting with choice characters that didn't show up in the original game like Omega or Big. Of course, Gerald and Maria also show up here which gives Shadow the perfect opportunity to finally reckon with his past. And on top of that, Black Doom has returned and is trying to train Shadow to become his weapon. It's a darker and more emotional story than Sonic's and is generally a lot better written, and while I have a few gripes like the fact that Shadow dealing with his past isn't an especially original plot at this point, but the Time Eater/Generations connection still helps it feel pretty fresh. The real highlight story-wise though is easily Shadow himself, whose characterization is on-point. Kirk Thorton gave easily his best performance as the character so far, bringing back a lot of his best character traits from SA2 that kinda got lost in the shuffle, like his more pensive and collected side and his more cocky and competitive side which really shows when he starts relentlessly trashtalking every boss he faces.

As far as core gameplay goes, Shadow does control pretty much exactly like how Sonic did in Frontiers, but a lot more refined. I guess the best way to describe it is that it feels a lot faster, tighter, and looser, especially compared to Cyberspace Sonic who almost controlled like a tank. There's no artificial limitations, no sudden halts in momentum, no absurdly wide jump arc, I always feel completely in control especially at top speeds. And these are the default settings, none of that "you make the physics" bullshit that Frontiers had. The addition of a vastly better quickstep is also great, and what's even better is that you can essentially go a goofy wavedash with them that lets you go faster. I do have a few minor gripes here, though. Like in Frontiers, I do kinda get the sense that Shadow controls slightly differently in the levels than in the overworld. This is most apparent when moving slowly as it feels like in the stages, your acceleration is extremely low which can make tight platforming a bit annoying. On top of that, the air boost is kinda pitiful compared to how it is in Sonic Generations, it can't take you really far which is a bit of a shame. Otherwise, though, yeah, Shadow controls pretty great and all the additional movement options you get from the Doom Powers only add to it. The Chaos Control letting you stop time is an especially fun addition as the stages get a lot of mileage out of it, the Chaos Spear is a solid long range attack that's also the center of arguably the game's greatest exploit, the Doom Blast is a more situational move that similarly boasts a lot of speedrunning potential, and the Doom Surf, Morph, and Wings all do a solid job of keeping the gameplay varied without slowing things down.

Being based on Sonic Frontiers means Shadow Generations has a dedicated overworld in the form of its own White Space, and to my complete and utter surprise, it's actually really good. It's smaller than the open zones in Frontiers but it's also a lot more densely-packed, filled with hidden nooks and crannies, structures to climb, and optional challenges. It also actually feels like a more fully-realized place, all the platforming is built into the geometry of the area and as a result, the floating platforms don't stick out like a sore thumb. The rampant pop-in that plagued Frontiers is also completely gone here, even on the Switch. It's just a fun overworld to explore and get familiar with. And on top of that, even the progression is better here. You're not randomly running around doing basic fetch quests, you scout the overworld to find levels, beat the levels to unlock more moves, and use those moves to explore more of the overworld almost like a metroidvania. This is how you do an open zone structure, and while I wouldn't say this game redeems Frontiers, it does justify its existence a bit more. I feel more comfortable believing that game was a step in the right direction when Sonic Team actually took the right lessons from it to make this more polished iteration of the formula.

That being said, I have one pretty major gripe with the overworld and it's probably my biggest issue with the entire game. So instead of red star rings, you find these collection keys that you can use to unlock the many chests scattered around the overworld. There are a few collectibles you can find without the keys like the Machine Parts, but for the vast majority of them, you need these keys. And I think that's really stupid, because it feels like I'm being discouraged from exploring unless I have enough keys to. There were so many cases where I do a tricky platforming sequence only to run into a chest I can't open, so I groan because I know I'll have to do the platforming sequence again. Finding the chest should be enough of a reward, and I'd much rather be able to explore when I want on my own terms. I get that Sonic Team probably wanted to slowly dole out collectibles rather than allow the player to get a ton of them at once, but the progression of how the Doom Powers open up more of the overworld already solves this issue, we didn't need the keys on top of that. It's not enough of an issue to really drag down the game for me since it is all optional content, but it did make the opening hours feel a bit slow going in terms of the overworld exploration.

Sonic Generations left a pretty high bar in terms of the level design, but I'm pleased to say that Shadow Generations almost manages to meet that bar. Everything I said about Sonic's stages pretty much apply here. They're dynamic, lengthy, and manage to flesh out iconic locations like Rail Canyon and Kingdom Valley in interesting ways. Barely any of the stages are bad, with even the entirely 2D Act 2s being generally pretty fun, and the stages brought back from the weaker games like Sunset Heights and especially Chaos Island are done some serious justice here. The occassional segments where Black Doom comes into to drag you to a warped Radical Highway are also really fun and chaotic, boasting some seriously trippy visuals and fun setpieces, even if it is a little weird that he only ever sends you to Radical Highway for whatever reason. These stages are also quite sprawling and are filled to the brim with shortcuts and alternate paths that encourage replaying, even if their increased length makes them a bit less replayable than Sonic's stages in my opinion. Once again, I'm very pleased to say that these are some of the more well-designed 3D Sonic stages I've played in quite some time. My only gripe is that you can see a bit of the blocky, floating platform syndrome that plagued Frontiers and Forces occasionally, though this very much depends on the stage. The more naturalistic stages like Kingdom Valley and Chaos Island can definitely stack up with the Sonic Gens stages visually, but the more mechanical ones like Space Colony ARK, Radical Highway, and some of the Act 2s can definitely feel a bit copy-paste.

As for the bosses, there's sadly only four of them, but they are all absolutely incredible, combining the inventive and readable attacks of a Sonic Generations boss with all the style and flair that Sonic Frontiers tried to introduce to its boss fights. With the large scale of these fights, you can tell Sonic Team was using what they learned while making the Titan fights, but unlike those, these fights actually feel challenging, well-telegraphed, and visually polished. The addition of a dedicated health bar along with numerous ways to attack most bosses really helps to add replay value to them as well, striking a perfect balance between allowing the player's skill to dictate how quickly the fight goes while still allowing for multiple phases, fun gameplay shifts, and flashy finishers. Pretty much every fight in Shadow Gens is fantastic, though the highlight for me is definitely the propulsive on-water fight against the Metal Overlord (I freaked out when he used my own Chaos Control against me). And while I liked the Time Eater more than most, yeah, there's no denying that Shadow's final boss is a lot more satisfying and well-designed. Outside of that, most of the side content is actually kept fairly similar to Sonic's campaign. There's once again a collection room to fill out as well as a number of challenge acts which are just as fun if not even better. There are less challenge acts per zone here, but they're also a lot more varied so it feels like Sonic Team took a quality over quantity approach here.

Now, time to talk about the presentation. My biggest concern with this collection was whether or not it would run on the Switch. Sonic Generations is still one of the prettiest and most colorful games in the series and hits some pretty blisteringly fast speeds, and Shadow Generations even manages to up one its predecessor in some ways. Shadow Generations is the first Hedgehog Engine 2 game that I actually think looks genuinely really good, everything looks super crisp and some of the Black Doom segments where he's messing with the environment make for some of the most visually trippy scenery I've seen in a Sonic game. I was so unsure the Switch could even run it considering how rough the Switch ports were for Sonic Colors Ultimate, Sonic Frontiers, and even Sonic Superstars which did manage to hit 60fps but had some pretty rough texture downgrade. Thankfully, and miraculously, I'm pleased to say that this is an incredible Switch port. Both games are locked to 30fps, but they run incredibly consistently, and while the resolution is obviously worse than on the other consoles, both games still look really sharp and the textures don't seem downgraded at all. The only compromise I noticed is a weird motion blur filter at points but it's never been bad enough to bother me. Compared to the rampant pop-in, blurry textures, muddy visuals, uneven framerate, and possibly jankier physics of Frontiers' Switch port, this is a gargantuan improvement. Even the aforementioned Black Doom transitions look completely seamless on the Switch which stunned me because Sonic Team somehow managed to get the console to load in entirely new areas with barely any wait-time. Sonic X Shadow Generations is the first time in over a decade that a new 3D Sonic game felt like a truly next gen experience, and the fact that Sonic Team managed to get it running as well as it did on the Switch is very impressive.

As for the soundtracks, well, it's Sonic, what did you expect? Being a seventh generation Sonic game and following three of my all-time favorite soundtracks in the series (06, Unleashed, Colors), Sonic Generations's OST manages to keep up that momentum with a fantastic selection of remixes that either vastly surpass the original (Sky Sanctuary Modern, Seaside Hill Modern Crisis City Modern) or bring something new and exciting to the table (Chemical Plant Modern, Rooftop Run Classic, Door Into Summer). Shadow Generations' soundtrack isn't quite as stellar, though that's mostly because Sonic's half is such a high bar musically. Most of the remixes here are good and they're of really great tracks, but there aren't many I can shout out that manage to stand out compared to the original. Space Colony ARK Act 1, Radical Highway Act 1, the Supporting Me remix, and Chaos Island Act 1 (yes, seriously) are probably the highlights and even then, they don't quite blow me away like Sonic's best remixes. I also feel like we have the same issue with Superstars' soundtrack where Sega has amassed way too many composers and it leaves the OST feeling less cohesive. As cool as it has to see people I recognize like TORIENA or RichaadEB working on official Sonic soundtracks, and as good a job as they did, I'd much rather have a soundtrack with like 2-3 composers max if it meant it would be more focused overall. Still, though, even with these criticisms, Shadow Generation still has a pretty solid soundtrack regardless.

Overall, Sonic X Shadow Generations is absolutely incredible. It's the first time in so damn long where a 3D Sonic felt polished, thoughtful in its design, and professionally produced. It's just a good-ass game, a game that I could wholeheartedly recommend to others with zero qualms or caveats, just as I've always wanted from Sonic. Sonic Generations somehow managed to surpass my lofty expectations thanks to its stunning spectacle, refined boost controls, impeccable level design, and addictive speedrun-focused replayability. And Shadow Generations is really great too, easily the best 3D Sonic since... well... Sonic Generations. It's got one of the best Sonic stories in years, solid movement, strong level and boss design that can actually stand up to the high bar that Sonic Generations set, and it manages to improve on Frontiers's formula in all the best ways. I'm not sure how well it stands as its own game, it feels like the Bowser's Fury to Sonic Generations' 3D World, but it's still an incredibly fun experience that, when combined with Sonic's campaign, makes for some of the best 3D Sonic I've ever played and one of my favorite experiences from this year.

5/5 Stars

I don't think I've ever ranked the 3D Sonic games I've played but here's my list as of right now:

1. Sonic Adventure
2. Sonic (X Shadow) Generations
3. Sonic Adventure 2
4. Shadow Generations
   
5. Sonic Colors
6. Sonic Heroes
7. Sonic Dream Team
8. Shadow The Hedgehog
9. Sonic & The Black Knight
10. Sonic Lost World
11. Sonic Unleashed Wii
    
12. Sonic Frontiers
13. Sonic Lost World 3DS
    
14. Sonic 3D Blast
    
15. Sonic Forces
16. Sonic Frontiers: The Final Horizon
    
17. Sonic & The Secret Rings
18. Sonic Boom: Rise Of Lyric
    

This obviously isn't set in stone, I'm still not especially sure if I like Shadow Gens or Colors more, and I feel I still need to play a bit more of UnWiished and Lost World 3DS to really cement my opinions on each. But for now, just assume that everything from UnWiished and above are games that I consider at the very least good (though I actually really like 3D Blast's director cut mod, we're just talking about the originals here). But yeah, all I really have left to play out of the 3D Sonic games is HD Unleashed and... 06. I have no idea how I'll be able to play them now, but I'm sure I'll be able to eventually.