I Played Mario Pinball Land And... Umm

 Mario Pinball Land has long been one of the most perplexing entries in the Mario canon. It's not the first Nintendo series to get a pinball-themed spinoff, but between its weird prerendered visuals, strange MIDI soundtrack, abundance of SM64 asset reuse, and wild difficulty swerves, it stood out as bizarrely unpolished by Nintendo's standards. It's hard not to wonder why it was even made. What did Nintendo see in Mario Pinball Land specifically?

Well, just recently, I decided to look into it myself by actually trying to play through Mario Pinball Land. I did try the game a bunch as a kid, but I never got more than a few stars because of how difficult it was, so I decided to use rewind to ensure that I actually made it to the end this time. Getting 100% only took me about two hours, but I left with a lot of thoughts.

Conceptually, Mario Pinball Land is very strange. The intro cutscene has Mario and Peach attend a fair with a ride that turns them into bouncy balls and shoots them at a target. As Peach is doing the ride, a bunch of Goombas hijack the cannon and turn it towards Bowser's Castle, shooting her at it. So Mario heads off to save her, and the only way he can do that is... turning himself into a ball too? Why can't he just run to Bowser's Castle normally? And what's with the ride? It feels really unsafe! Why wasn't there any security around it, the Goombas were able to just walk up to the cannon in broad daylight. Nothing in Mario Pinball Land's set-up makes sense, and the game only gets weirder from there.

Taken in a vacuum, I actually think that Mario Pinball Land controls impressively well. The pinball physics are pretty damn accurate and Mario feels great to move around the board. There's even an element of vertical depth here, Mario isn't solely tied to the ground like in most 2D pinball games. You can launch Mario off of certain ramps, certain enemies will make Mario dizzy and cause him to spin around with entirely different physics, and coolest of all, Mario will float when he's underwater. All this time, I thought Pinball Land's prerendered visuals were just for show, but the devs at Fuse Games actually managed to make a psuedo 3D engine work on the Game Boy Advance, and that's genuinely impressive. After doing a bit of research, I can confirm that Nintendo actually felt the same. Fuse Games showed Nintendo a demo of Mario Pinball Land and they were so impressed that they gave the go-ahead to make it an actual game. And yeah, I can see it. Mario Pinball Land's engine is incredibly cool, there's no denying that.

However, where Mario Pinball Land falters is in what it chooses to do with this engine. Pinball games tend to struggle with doing a proper Story Mode because it's hard for your average player to do execute precise actions in a pinball game. The only game I can think of that pulls off a platforming/pinball blend is Yoku's Island Express, and that game had to make a lot of concessions to not be too frustrating. Mario Pinball Land had the incredibly ambitious idea of being a Super Mario 64-inspired collectathon, and when it works, it does have some pretty neat moments. There are a lot of creative setpieces and fun Stars to collect, like shrinking Mario down with a mini mushroom to enter a beehive or igloo, to pinballing your way through a ghost house, to the aforementioned underwater segments which were probably my favorite part of the game.

However, for every moment of brilliance Mario Pinball Land has, there's at least three incredibly frustrating ideas as well. Mario Pinball Land asks for so much precision from the player, and yet there's so little room for error. Some enemies or objects need to be repeatedly pushed in a very specific direction, one particularly irritating Star tasked you with launching Mario off a ramp at some flying Kleptos, and some of the later bosses like Tutankoopa and Bowser get ridiculously frustrating with how much they ask of you at once. In the fight with Tutankoopa, for example, you need to hit Mario at a column to make him large and then hit him at Tutankoopa at the perfect time, while also dodging the homing attacks that Tutankoopa sends out at the same time. It's just too much. And what's even worse is just how punishing it is. It's so easy for Mario to accidentally fall out of a room and reset the mission, whether it's from him slipping through the flippers, or you accidentally hitting him into an open door, or you accidentally hitting him into a Toad Shop even though you had no intention of getting anything!

To be fair, there are some concessions made here. There are a lot of items you can buy, some of which are pretty gamebreaking. If you're having trouble killing a group of enemies, you can buy a Lightning and wipe them all out with zero effort. If you keep falling out of a boss arena, you can bring in a Blue Pipe to give you more of a buffer. And the coins you need to buy these things aren't too hard to get. On top of that, you only need 15 of the 35 Stars to fight Bowser, which is very generous by Mario standards (usually it's 70/120 Stars). However, even this can't fully fix Mario Pinball Land's biggest flaw, which is that even in many of its easiest missions, it's still requiring precision out of the player that just isn't possible in a pinball game. Even if it had the best pinball physics known to man, Mario Pinball Land would never work because its level design does not feel like it's built around the capabilities of a pinball game.

The overall presentation of Mario Pinball Land is also pretty strange. It uses a lot of prerendered visuals ala Mario Vs Donkey Kong, and at its best, it can look really good. As I said, the 3D effects in this game are impressively convincing, and there are a lot of cute little details from the enemy animations to even some of the backgrounds. I like this one bit where Mario jumps out of the haunted house onto a rollercoaster, rides it around the amusement park, and then gets launched back into the haunted house from another entrance. However, Pinball Land's overall look keeps getting held back by these weird moments of cheapness. There are a lot of asset flips from Super Mario 64, from the font to the coins to the Stars, the cutscenes look crusty and awkward, and some of Bowser's animations feel erratic and random. Even the soundtrack has this same dichotomy. A lot of it has this really tinny MIDI sound to it, but many of the melodies are actually kinda groovy? Like, Under The Sea and the Pufferfish theme are genuinely great despite their cheap-sounding soundfont.

When taken as a whole, Mario Pinball Land is unfortunately not a great game. While technically impressive, the fundamental game design just does not work, it's too frustrating and too punishing. I don't even think I could've beaten it without using rewind! However, I do want to give Fuse Games the credit they deserve because they did do something really impressive here. They made quite possibly the best pinball engine on the GBA, they managed to show a demo to Nintendo and get it approved, and they managed to create one of the most visually-impressive games on the console, all in their first game as a team of only five people. That's indisputably a really impressive achievement, even if I still don't think the game turned out all that great.

And the best part? Fuse Games did manage to redeem themselves. They got to make a second game for Nintendo in Metroid Prime Pinball, which got far more critical praise and is generally considered to be Nintendo's best pinball game. The team at Fuse Games kept the difficulty criticisms in mind and did a great job of making a more fair and balanced pinball game, while carrying over a lot of Mario Pinball Land's strengths like the physics engine and prerendered visuals. I'm glad I dug a bit more into this weird GBA spinoff because learning about the development of Mario Pinball Land puts so much of its weirdness into a new, interesting context, and it gave me way more appreciation for the game itself. I used to think Mario Pinball Land was just a cheap cash grab solely commissioned to desperately extend the life of the GBA, but that couldn't be further from the truth. It was a labor of love from a new studio that really wanted to make a splash with their first game

A year ago, I would've given this game one star no questions asked. But now, I think Mario Pinball Land deserves a bit more than that. It's a flawed, messy game, but its heart is in the right place.

2/5 Stars

Top 10 Least Favorite Video Game Bosses

I've already done rankings of some of my favorite levels and bosses in all of gaming, but what about my least favorite bosses? At their best, boss fights can be an exhilirating highlight, but at their worst, they can feel like a roadblock that drags down the entire experience. From my experience, here are some of the worst culprits:

10. Gnasty Gnorc (Spyro The Dragon)

The first Spyro The Dragon is pretty infamous for its lame boss fights, which usually require you to flame a boss, chase them to the next arena, and repeat the process two more times. The final fight with Gnasty Gnorc does change the formula a bit... albeit for the worse. Before you can even fight Gnasty, you need to chase down a few thieves to get some keys to lower a gate. Once you do, he immediately darts off and you have to chase him across a narrow track and flame him. After landing a hit, he runs off again and you need to do tight platforming over lava to land one last hit that finishes the fight. So when taken as a whole, Gnasty does down in two hits and spends the entire fight running away from the player. And yet, despite how utterly underwhelming that sounds, this fight is actually kinda frustrating, especially on the Reignited trilogy where you having stiffer turning when charging. It's really easy to fall off the narrow track or mess up in that final platforming section, and since there are zero checkpoints, dying will force you to re-do the entire fight, egg thieves included. As a result, Gnasty Gnorc is simultaneously a really irritating boss fight and a really underwhelming finale, the worst combination that a final boss could be.

9. Eely Mouth (Super Mario Sunshine)

I love Super Mario Sunshine, but it has some of the worst swimming controls I've ever had the displeasure of using. You use the FLUDD to propel yourself around, but since Mario is always positioned upright, you can only ever boost yourself directly upwards. Swimming in any other direction is usually going to be pretty slow. So I'm sure you can imagine how fun an underwater boss fight in this game would be, right? To give him credit, the fight against Eely Mouth does have a funny concept that in theory should work around Mario Sunshine's weird swimming controls. You need to float down to Eely Mouth's mouth, dodging the bubbles that he shoots out, and use the FLUDD to clean his teeth, boosting out of the way before he can eat you. However, what really kills the fight is the oxygen meter. Even with the fact that his teeth can give you a small oxygen boost, it's very hard to beat Eely Mouth without running out of air so you'll need to slowly float all the way to the sidelines of the arena to get more coins for air, which ruins the pacing of the fight. And even beyond that, so many of Eely Mouth's attacks seem specifically designed to waste your time and your air, causing the fight to drag on even longer. Neat concept, but an absolute slog in execution.

8. Fatty Whale (Kirby Super Star)

 Kirby tends to have a really great track record when it comes to his boss fights, even in the earlier games, so a boss like Fatty Whale seems like such a weird anomoly. Fatty Whale feels like an attempt to push the SNES by being a boss that solely fights you from the background. He splashes around, shoots geysers out of his blowhole, and can even cause waves. However, in execution, it makes for a fight that's really hard to properly gauge. Fatty Whale and his attacks take up so much of the screen, but the weird background shenanigans means it's super hard to tell what's actually going to hurt you, which makes for a shockingly difficult fight for so early on in the Great Cave Offensive campaign. The best strategy is to either guard or use Stone to cheese through Fatty Whale's attacks entirely, and your helpers are most likely going to get wiped out because they're not programmed to properly handle him. That's not a sign of a well-designed boss, and the fact that this is in a Kirby game of all things feels especially insulting.

7. Yawn (Resident Evil)

Keep in mind that I've only played the first four Resident Evil games as of right now, so there may be worse fights out there, but Yawn is the only one so far that I've truly despised. You encounter Yawn two times in Resident Evil 1, and the second encounter honestly isn't too bad since you have a lot of space. The first encounter, on the other hand, is a massive difficulty spike regardless of the version you play. You're stuck in a small, cramped room with a giant snake with an absolutely ridiculous bite hitbox. You have to run around and repeatedly turn around to shoot Yawn, but it's so hard to find the proper timing when it's so easy to get bitten and poisoned, and that's not even considering the fact that he can also constrict you if you're not careful. While you can not fight Yawn and leave the room in the remake, actually getting to the door and out of the room without being bitten is so hard that it almost feels like a lost cause. And in the original version? Yeah, you're screwed, sorry. Resident Evil was my first RE game and I loved it, but that also meant Yawn was my first RE boss fight and he left a truly awful taste in my mouth.

6. Bubble Man (Mega Man Battle Network 3)

I love Mega Man Battle Network 3, it's my favorite game in the series! But I hate Bubble Man, and I mean hate. He's the reason I made this list to begin with! Even as a character, he sucks. Bubble Man's entire scenario consists of him running off as you chase him around the Internet, he doesn't even get his own dungeon! And when you finally do catch him, what are you rewarded with? The worst-designed boss fight in the entire series, that's what. Bubble Man stays in the back row and a hole in the middle of his arena shoots out a relentless series of projectile blocking bubbles. There's also a rock infuriatingly placed right above that hole just to make Bubble Man even harder to hit without piercing weapons. But even if you do have piercing weapons, the screen gets so filled with bubbles, projectiles, and other crap that actually letting out an attack without getting hit by something becomes borderline impossible. Oh yeah, and then in the final phase, Bubble Man gives himself a bubble shield, giving you yet another wall to break before you can hurt the damn NetNavi. And then his harder versions make the bubbles spawn even faster, and he won't even fight you unless your health is in the red! Everything about Bubble Man just screams cowardly, and that just makes him all the more hateable.

5. Hades' Hand (Rayman Legends)

Rayman Legends has an incredible boss lineup, pitting you against these titanic figures like a dragon, a luchador, and a mechanical monstrosity in these large-scale multi-phase boss fights. At this rate, there's no way the final boss can be underwhelming... right? Wrong. Rayman Legends's final boss has you face off against a dark cloud called Hades' Hand. Sounds intimidating, but Hades' Hand never actually attacks you. It just floats around the arena as you need to painfully and tediously pick off all of the little clouds that comprise it to move onto the next phase. Each phase makes Hades' Hand increasingly larger, and by the final phase, you'll have to slowly disassemble a giant black cloud that takes up half the screen while hopping across tiny platforms over a bottomless pit. So of course, on top of everything else, one mistake means you're starting the phase again. Like with Gnasty Gnorc, Hades' Hand is that special kind of bad final boss that manages to be both disappointing and frustrating at the same time. And coming off of what has otherwise been a fantastic set of boss fights, Hades' Hand feels all the more underwhelming.

4. King Arthur (Sonic & The Black Knight)

In theory, the King Arthur fight should be one of the highlights of the game. It's one of that chase Sonic fights, where you're running after the boss, dodging their attacks, and closing in to get a hit in. And the parts where you're just chasing after King Arthur are actually quite fun. However, when you finally catch up to King Arthur, the fight immediately falls off a cliff since the game forces you to do a series of incredibly precise quick time events... with motion controls. Look, I like motion controls, but there's some things that they're not equipped for, and twitch reactions are a perfect example. You have such a short window to input those slashes that you often need to start shaking the remote before the input pops up. And even then, some of the slashes are offset from one another, so you can't just rely on a familiar rhythm either. I wasted so much time on the second QTE in the King Arthur fight, I genuinely didn't think I was going to able to do it! The worst bosses feel like roadblocks that stop you from seeing the rest of the cool stuff the game has to offer, and King Arthur is probably the best example of that, an unfair difficulty spike that isn't designed with its own controls in mind.

3. Yoshika (Touhou 13: Ten Desires)

I've complained about Yoshika before, I often cite her fight as my biggest with Ten Desires, but in reality, she's a symptom of a larger issue with the game itself. Ten Desires has this mechanic where you shooting an enemy or boss generates spirits that you can pick up to fill your trance gauge, but the spirits don't fall down like most pickups in a shmup would. You have to go to the upper half of the screen and put yourself at risk to pick up the spirits. I think this is a pretty poorly-designed system but the game is so easy that I usually just ignore the spirits. But then there's Yoshika, who uses the spirits to heal herself, which means that to clear her spellcards, you need to go up close to her to pick up her spirits, usually while bullet patterns are being formed. It's so easy to accidentally die to a bullet you can't see coming when picking up the spirits, so for a lot of novice players like myself, the easiest strategy is to just wait out the spell card. Which, as you can see, epitomizes Ten Desire's spirit system as a whole. Yoshika is a boss that is so poor in its conception that the optimal strategy is to just not engage with her, and if you do actually try to beat her the proper way, prepare for a lot of BS.

2. Smog (Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Ages)

I love Oracle Of Ages, but I was genuinely at a loss for how horribly designed and unpolished this boss is. Smog tries to be a puzzle boss that utilizes the game's cane item, which can be used to place boxes wherever you want. In each phase, Smog splits himself into a bunch of small clouds that move along a wall. You need to place boxes to unite the clouds so you can land a hit. You can only have one box out at a time and if a Smog cloud is left without a wall to attach itself to, it will poof and respawn on the wall it started at. Eventually, you'll have to start making bridges by slowly placing blocks, and it is incredibly easy for a Smog cloud to just not sense the block and disappear, resetting all your progress. As a whole, this fight just feels really finicky and unreliable, and it can be quite easy to accidentally offset the clouds from each other making it even more difficult to get them to collide. It's really the kind of fight you need to place yourself to realize how bad it is, it's so uncharacteristically clunky for a Nintendo game, and especially a Zelda game, that I'm almost in disbelief that it actually exists.

1. Boobeam Trap (Mega Man 2)

Boobeam Trap is probably the worst-designed thing in any game I've played. It's so fundamentally flawed on pretty much every level conceivable. It's conceptually flawed because a boss that forces you to use a limited resource that you can't fill before the fight is a bad idea to begin with. The Boobeam Trap can only be destroyed with the Crash Bomb. If you don't have enough Crash Bomb, you have no choice but to die. What makes it worse is that there are also walls in the way that can also only be blown up by Crash Bombs, and the amount of walls and Boobeam Traps combined are greater than the maximum capacity of Crash Bombs you can hold. So you also need to know that some walls should not be blown up, which is pretty much beginner's trap incarnate. And if all that still isn't enough, every Boobeam Trap sensor shoots a super fast projectile at you. You can jump over these projectiles, but the fight is such a flickery mess that it feels almost impossible, so in practice, most players will also have their health slowly whittle down as the fight goes on. There are a lot of reasons why Mega Man 2 is one of my least favorite classic games, but the Boobeam Trap is probably the biggest reason. I don't use this term lightly, but this is objectively one of the worst-designed bosses in all of gaming. From the games I've played, nothing else compares.

Top 10 Favorite Water Levels

 Water levels in video games are not good. You know that, I know that, it's pretty much common knowledge at this point. They're often slow, clunky to control, and at worst, frustrating to play. But what if they were good? As a matter of fact, there are plenty of genuinely fun water stages that take advantage of the liquid's best qualities. From currents that push you forward, to serene or eerie vistas, to entire shifts in tone, let's talk about some of the best water levels that prove they don't all have to be bad.

10. Hydrus (Shadow Of The Colossus)

I was a bit unsure about putting a Shadow Of The Colossus boss on here because, well, it's a boss, not a level. However, I have seen this exact fight on several other "best water levels lists" so I'm counting it. Hydrus is the seventh colossus you fight in Shadow Of The Colossus, and he's easily one of my favorites. Where most colossi in this game are a vertical climb, Hydrus stands out by being a long sea serpent that you have to run across horizontally to hit all his weakpoints. Hydrus is constantly moving and will repeatedly try to dive underwater as you perilously cling on for dear life. It's not one of the harder SotC fights out there, but it's absolutely one of the most exhilirating and memorable for how unique and kinetic it feels compared to all the others. I feel like water stages have a tendency to slow the player down, so it's noteworthy how Shadow Of The Colossus makes its water-based boss one of the fastest in the game.

9. The Iron Whale (Shovel Knight)

 Mega Man has one of the better approaches to water levels, using water to augment your abilities rather than limit them. When you're underwater, you can jump as high as you want, but there are often spikes on the ceiling to punish you for abusing your newfound power. However, even with how many great water levels there are in Mega Man, I still think Shovel Knight's crack at the concept surpasses all of them. The Iron Whale takes place inside a submarine and throws in everything but the kitchen sink when it comes to game mechanics. Unstable platforms that sink when you step on them, spikes that stop you from floating up too high, tentacles that pop out of walls, a giant angler fish that chases you, missiles that you can ride on to reach far-away platforms, dropping anchors to jump across, the works. Add in one of the best music tracks in the game by Mega Man legend Manami Matsumae and a fantastic grapple-hook-heavy boss fight against Treasure Knight and you get what is easily one of my favorite Shovel Knight stages, as well as arguably the perfection of Mega Man's approach to water levels.

8. Water Land (Kirby's Epic Yarn)

 Kirby's water levels tend to not be too half bad since they often use currents to propel you along, with Onion Ocean 3, Planet Misteen, and Fast-Flowing Waterworks being notable highlights. However, if I were to talk about my favorite water level in all of Kirby, I'd be remiss not to mention how Epic Yarn handles them. Epic Yarn introduces several transformations for Kirby, but one of my personal favorites is the Dolphin transformation which is used for the bulk of this game's water levels. And oh my god, the Dolphin form feels so good to control. You have an incredible level of precision to your movement and you swim so fast! You can even leap out of the water and juggle balls on your nose, it's amazing! Kirby's Epic Yarn has an entire world full of water stages checking off all the usual boxes like a beach level, a coral reef level, a deep sea trench level, and a pirate ship level, but the incredible controls and abundance of charm make Water Land feel like a highlight of the game rather than a low point.

7. Irate Eight (Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze)

Donkey Kong games are also pretty well-known for having solid underwater stages, even if I've personally still never been a fan. The controls never really had the speed that I wanted, they still felt somewhat sluggish. That being said, there is a big exception in the form of Irate Eight. Irate Eight is a followup stage to an iconic level in DKC Returns where you get chased around by a giant squid, though in that game, there wasn't any swimming. This time around, the squid is back, fiercer than ever, and has cornered you underwater. Water levels and fast-paced chasing sequences mesh incredibly well and Irate Eight is a great example of that, offering a tense, brutally difficult, and fast-paced level that pushes the game's swimming mechanics to their absolute limit. And I didn't even get into the phenomenal score which contains an absolutely godly remix of Lockjaw's Saga from DKC2. I always found Tropical Freeze's water world to be by far the weakest one, but Irate Eight is so good that it stands out as one of my favorite levels in the entire game.

6. Slimy Spring Galaxy (Super Mario Galaxy)

From a gameplay standpoint, Slimy Spring Galaxy isn't too much to write home about. It's a solid water level that takes advantage of Galaxy's fun Koopa Shell mechanics to offer a propulsive underwater obstacle course that never slows down. It might actually be one of the harder Mario water stages since it's the only one that actually forces you to really manage your oxygen, with few moments to surface for air. But what really elevates Slimy Spring Galaxy is the presentation. Slimy Spring Galaxy takes place in an underwater grotto, and it looks and sounds incredibly atmospheric. There's overgrown moss everywhere, water ripple patterns on all the walls and platforms, and fog in the air. The soundtrack is minimal and droning, it's equal parts soothing and tense. But then there's the ending, after a long gauntlet with little air to breath, you finally come out the other side and see one of the prettiest sunsets I've ever seen in a videogame, all as the music cuts out to let you appreciate it. Slimy Spring Galaxy, despite the silly name, is quite possibly the most artistic level in all of Mario, a testament to the beauty and serenity of water. One of countless examples of why the Galaxy games are perfect.

5. Frigate Orpheon Crash Site (Metroid Prime)

Speaking of serene water levels, the Frigate Orpheon Crash Site sticks out as one of the most striking moments in all of Metroid. Metroid Prime generally has a pretty smooth difficulty curve, with the intensity slowly ratcheting up as the game goes on. By the midway point, you're already being flooded with enemies at nearly every turn, it's constant action. But then you enter that massive shipwreck on the Tallon Overworld, and that action just... stops. This very brief but incredibly memorable water stage serves as a much-needed respite in the middle of Metroid Prime, a place for you to catch your breath and reflect on what you've been through so far. There aren't many enemies here, you already have the Gravity Suit so movement feels totally normal, and all you need to deal with is some pretty basic platforming, but it's perfectly placed to feel like a breath of fresh air. And I didn't even get into the visual storytelling, as it slowly dawns on you that the wrecked ship you're in is in fact the ship from the game's opening, only for that reality to punch you in the gut when you see a bunch of dead Space Pirate bodies float up to the surface. All the while one of the most calming and reflective pieces of video game music plays in the background. It all adds up to what I feel is one of the most hauntingly beautiful areas in any video game.

4. Swimming With Stars (Rayman Origins)

The water levels in the UbiArt Rayman games are incredibly good, mostly due to how well they control. Rayman and his friends swim impressively fast and they have a tight turning radius meaning underwater traversal doesn't feel like a downgrade at all. Rayman Legends probably has my favorite overall water world in any game, 20,000 Lums Under The Sea, a beautiful fusion of water and stealth mechanics with an awesome spy theming that culminates in a chase sequence that puts Irate Eight to shame. However, if I had to pick a single level, Rayman Origins' Swimming With Stars is what really stands out the most. The stage starts off as a pretty standard water stage, but early on, you enter what the soundtrack refers to as "The Abyss", a deep dark trench that marks a shocking change in tone into pure horror. The music becomes eerie, and the previously upbeat singing Lums sound far more menacing now. The stage revolves around you finding and clinging onto whichever light sources you can find, not just to help you navigate, but because if you stay in the dark, these creepy thorned hands will start reaching out to grab you. It's a shockingly tense and oppressive stage in what's otherwise a pretty upbeat game, but that just makes Swimming With Stars all the more striking and memorable. No other water stage does as good a job at highlighting the horrors that lie beneath the surface, and I wouldn't be surprised if it triggered thalassophobia in a lot of the kids who played it.

3. The Entire Starfy Series

It should be pretty obvious by now that water levels do not have the best reputation, which only makes it all the more impressive that TOSE decided to make an entire series centered around underwater traversal. The Legendary Starfy series is often referred to as marine platformers, mostly focused around you swimming around in the ocean. Despite this, you have full eight-directional movement and a very fun spin move that lets you dash around super quickly, so moving Starfy or Starly around never feels like a slog. As a matter of fact, I might even argue that I like the underwater controls in the Starfy games more than the more standard above water controls! Beyond just the gameplay though, I love how well the underwater theming is integrated into Starfy. You get to explore tons of different water-themed locals from coral reefs to icecaps to underwater temples to dark grottos, and the music consistently has this ethereal, flowing, and  echoey vibe to it that just screams water. If there's any game series that proves that water levels don't have to suck, Starfy is absolutely that series.

2. Hydrocity Zone (Sonic 3 & Knuckles)

Sonic is often the number one culprit when it comes to water levels that suck, and yeah, it's not hard to see why. Strict oxygen mechanics, labyrinthine level design, and slow movement in a game that's supposed to be fast-paced, it's a cavalcade of bad design decisions that serve as a perfect example of how not to make a water level. However, Hydrocity Zone is a rare instance where Sonic Team actually learned their lesson and made one of the fastest-paced water levels in all of gaming. Waterslides and currents are all over the place constantly pushing you forward, you can run on top of the water, and a skilled player can often avoid water for most of the stage. And on top of that, it's all accentuated by one of the smoothest, catchiest, boppiest music tracks in the entire franchise, a track so good that the Mania remix barely changed a thing. Hydrocity Zone is an iconic Sonic stage for a reason, it's definitely one of my personal favorites.

1. Water Temple (Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time)

Zelda has an incredibly strong track record when it comes to water mechanics. Yes, I'm being serious here, I love Zelda's water dungeons. They often focus on being complex puzzle-boxes that require a ton of spatial reasoning to figure out, my favorite types of dungeons. And Skyward Sword in particular has some of my favorite underwater controls in any game period, it feels so fast and fluid. However, if I had to pick my favorite water dungeon in Zelda, there's no way it wouldn't be the Water Temple. I've always been an ardent Water Temple defender, it's far and away my favorite part of Ocarina and one of my favorite dungeons in the entire franchise. It's the puzzle-boxiest puzzle-box in the series, with a big central hub, a ton of different paths to visit right from the start, and a lot of tough spatial reasoning puzzles as you try to figure out where to raise the water level. It's certainly a brain-teasing dungeon, but a very satisfying one at that, and the calming atmosphere and pretty visuals always keep me at easy whenever I play it. But that's not to say the Water Temple is all pensive puzzles, it actually has a bunch of fun water-related setpieces from currents to whirlpools to Longshotting up a waterfall, just to spice things up every once in a while. The only complaint about the dungeon I agree with is the Iron Boots equipping, but the 3DS remake fixes that regardless (though it also removes some of the challenge so I still prefer the 64 version). Regardless, I think the immaculate design of Water Temple far outweighs the negatives. For my tastes personally, the Water Temple epitomizes everything I love about the Zelda dungeon format, and it stands out as easily the water level I remember the most fondly.

Top 15 Most Anticipated 2024 Games

2024 is looking to be yet another incredible year for gaming, but especially for indie games. There are so many upcoming releases that I'm very excited for, so I thought I'd make a post highlighting all of them. I'll mostly be sticking to games that are either slated to come out in 2024 or are getting a console port in 2024, since there are plenty of great-looking games that I just haven't been able to access yet. I'll also be prioritizing games that are coming to Switch since that's my go-to console of choice.

15. Toree Saturn

The Toree games have been some of the most pleasant surprises of the last few years. Short but incredibly fun and polished Sonic-inspired 3D platformers with a clean PS1-era aesthetic and banging soundtracks all for $1 a pop. As of recently, a new Toree game called Toree Saturn has been announced, and it looks just as great. The footage we've gotten so far teases a drop dash and homing attack, and the aesthetic seems to take more after Y2K stylings which is always welcome. Definitely worth keeping an eye out for this one, it looks like a blast!

14. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door

After decades, the classic Paper Mario fans are finally being satiated with a remake of the most beloved game in the series. I haven't kept it much of a secret that I am not the biggest TTYD diehard out there, but it's hard not to get swept up in the excitement around this remake. It definitely helps that the footage we've seen looks visually stunning, blending the glossy puppet look of the original game and the handcrafted look of the more modern games together into hands down the prettiest artstyle in a Paper Mario game to date. What we've seen of the TTYD remake looks quite uncompromised so it's probably guaranteed to be a blast, but I'm particularly excited to see what quality of life improvements Intelligent Systems makes to really polish up some of TTYD's rougher spots.

13. Mystia's Izakaya for Switch

There are a lot of great Touhou fangames out there, but Mystia's Izakaya in particular has gotten quite a lot of popularity lately, ranking right up with Luna Nights and Lost Word as a notable entry point into the series. It's a restaraunt management game where you control Mystia and explore Gensokyo to gather ingredients in the day and frenetically try to run your Izakaya at night. Mystia is one of my favorite Touhou characters so it's really cool to see her get a fangame focused around her, the prospect of exploring Gensokyo and chatting with the other cast members looks really cool, and the spritework is absolutely gorgeous. Mystia's Izakaya has gotten a lot of praise from Touhou fans and newcomers alike, but unfortunately, I haven't gotten around to playing it yet as it's only available on Steam. Thankfully, it's coming to Switch in a few months and I plan to get it first thing!

12. Earthblade

Celeste is my favorite indie game ever made, so it should not come as much of a surprise that I'd be eagerly awaiting the next game by Extremely OK Games, which is slated to come out in 2024! We've only gotten a teaser trailer so far, but Earthblade seems to be a super ambitious metroidvania that carries over the same smooth pixel art and melancholic Lena Raine music that helped make Celeste stand out so much. Very, very excited to hear more about this one.

11. Double Shake

Double Shake is an indie game I've been excitedly following for years now, and it's also planned to come on in 2024. It's a love letter to that weird niche of 2.5D platformers from the late 90s including games like Klonoa, Tomba, Mischief Makers, and Kirby 64, which is awesome because I am a sucker for those kinds of platformers. It looks absolutely adorable and nails that chunky PS1 aesthetic, and I'm very excited to see how it expands on this very weird but very cool subgenre.

10. Mina The Hollower

Mina The Hollower is the next game by Shovel Knight devs, Yacht Club Games, and it once again looks fantastic. It seems to be a blend between Castlevania and Link's Awakening, even boasting a lovely visual style inspired by the Game Boy Color, which I'm always a sucker for. It's already been getting a ton of positive press, and considering it was supposed to come out this year, I can only hope that its release isn't too far off.

9. Hollow Knight Silksong

Yeah, this one was a given. I loved Hollow Knight and I've been waiting with bated breath for Silksong, like everyone else has. It looks like it amplies everything I loved about the original, with an even more striking ashy aesthetic, a focus on my favorite Hollow Knight character, and movement and combat that looks even faster. To be perfectly honest, I don't know if Silksong will be coming out in 2024. I don't even know if it'll be coming out at all. But with how long we've been waiting, I don't think a 2024 release is too far off the mark. Or maybe I'm just coping, who knows?

8. Psuedoregalia for Switch

Psuedoregalia is a 3D platformer/metroidvania with what looks to be some of the most fluid and versatile movement in the genre, and some very appealing N64-style visuals. Like with Mystia's Izakaya, it's only out on PC right now, so I haven't been able to play it. However, the developer has since stated that they're working on a Switch release, and I can't wait to get my hands on it.

7. Princess Peach Showtime

All these remakes Nintendo has planned are great and all, but there's nothing quite like something entirely original, and Princess Peach Showtime looks very original. It's already great to get another Peach-focused game after so many years, but the trailer really sold me on Showtime in a way I didn't expect, pitching what looks like a blend between LittleBigPlanet-style platforming and a neat costume system ripped straight out of Ape Escape 3. That first teaser peaked my curiosity, but now, Princess Peach Showtime has my full attention.

6. The Plucky Squire

The Plucky Squire is an upcoming game by Pokemon artist James Turner, and it looks super original and exciting. The main premise is that you play as a Link-esque hero in a top down adventure book reminiscent of Zelda, but you can pop out of these books into the real world. The trailer already shows some pretty clever interplay between the 2D and 3D landscapes, and as a whole, The Plucky Squire looks like it's taking the main concept of Link Between Worlds and running all the way with it.

5. Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution

The Game Boy Advance is one of my favorite consoles ever, so the fact that we're getting a new GBA game in the year 2024 is just incredible to me. The fact that it also happens to be an unreleased Shantae game only sweetens the deal. Risky Revolution looks great. The plane-shifting mechanic looks very creative and unique, and I think it definitely has a shot at being one of my favorite games in the series. It's coming out both on consoles and on the original Game Boy Advance, which is always very cool to see.

4. Pepper Grinder

I remember seeing Pepper Grinder in a Nintendo Direct and it was love at first sight. It's a fast-paced drill-based platformer that looks like Drill Dozer on crack, with crunchy pixelart, high energy music, and a lot of explosions. Like Mina The Hollower and The Plucky Squire, Pepper Grinder got delayed from 2023 to 2024, but I really hope we get to see more of it soon because it just looks so damn good.

3. Antonblast

Antonblast is one of two Wario Land-inspired indie games to surface recently. While Pizza Tower focuses more on the weirdness and speedrunning elements of Wario Land 4 specifically, Antonblast seems to focus more on exploration and high-scoring, and feels like a blend between the approaches of Wario Land 4 and Virtual Boy Wario Land. The spritework looks super crunchy and stylish, and the demoes we've gotten so far look like an absolute blast (no pun intended).

2. Freedom Planet 2 for Switch

Freedom Planet is one of my favorite games of all time, and I am desperate to play the sequel, but sadly, its console release is currently still in the works. I did play the demo which was fantastic, and I've been hearing nothing but praise about FP2, with the general consensus being that it somehow manages to surpass the original! That just only makes me more excited...

1. Penny's Big Breakaway

Out of all the amazing games in the works, Penny's Big Breakaway is easily the one that I am the most excited for. A colorful original 3D platformer developed by the Sonic Mania team focused around fluid movement with a Saturn-esque aeshetic and a soundtrack by Tee Lopes? Shut up and take my money! Everything I see about this game makes me even more excited, from the cool-looking nonviolent boss fights, to the massive world count, to the phenomenal music samples we've gotten so far. It looks polished, fresh, and right up my alley on pretty much every level.

Why I Love Super Mario 3D World & Bowser's Fury

As I said in my post about Mario Odyssey, I tend to prefer the more linear 3D Mario games. The collecathons can be fun, but the more linear obstacle courses feel more distinctly Mario. There's a stronger emphasis on focused platforming, but Nintendo often makes sure to cram in a ton of hidden secrets within the bounds of these more limited levels. Super Mario 3D World epitomizes all of the strengths of the format by offering a cavalcade of some of the most inventive and thoughtfully-designed stages in Mario history, but then it went and got a Switch port that fixed all of its few lingering issues and got an entire second game stuffed in, only solidifying itself as one of the best Mario packages you could possibly ask for.

I can't even begin to express the amount of nostalgia I have for Super Mario 3D World. I still remember the hype train for 3D World and getting both it and its similarly fantastic Captain Toad centric spinoff for their respective holiday seasons, I played the hell out of them. Since then, 3D World has become one of my favorite winter holiday games, which I guess makes this the perfect time for me to gush about it. It's almost a Super Mario Galaxy 3 to me, it has that same kind of magic, possibly due to the linear design, countless Galaxy references, and returning lead composer. It's hard to really pin down what makes 3D Mario games in particular feel so fun and satisfying to interact with, but 3D World shows that it's because of how playful they feel. Each level feels like a tactile toybox solely crafted to elicit as much fun and joy from the player as possible, and it works on me every single time. 3D World is just one of those games that still makes me incredibly happy even thinking about it.

Like with most Mario games, Super Mario 3D World does not have the most complicated set-up. Bowser kidnaps all the fairies of the Sprixie Kingdom, and Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad (harkening back to SMB2) jump in to save them. Beyond the novelty of being able to play as Peach again, the core loop remains to go through a bunch of weird and wacky levels to stop Bowser. And man, are those levels wacky. The level design in 3D World is probably still the best in any Mario game, at least on a pure design level. It's so good that it popularized the concept of "four-step level design", introducing your central mechanic, fleshing it out, and tossing it out by the end of the stage. It almost feels too obvious to praise 3D World's level design at this point, but it really is that good. Every single stage in 3D World is memorable, they all do something unique and fun, and they all manage to get the most out of their ideas without overstaying their welcome. The pacing at which new concepts get tossed your way is brisk, but the game never feels rushed or underdeveloped. Switch Scramble Circus, Shadow Play Alley, Double Cherry Pass, Mount Must Dash, Spike's Lost City, Sunshine Seaside, Sprawling Savanna, Hands On Hail, Fuzzy Time Mine, Red Hot Run, Trick Trap Tower, Cookie Cogworks, The Great Goal Pole, Honeycomb Starway, need I go on? The amount of now iconic Mario stages in 3D World is staggering.

But for as focused as 3D World's stages are, they also manage to be incredibly fun to explore. 3D World's levels are crammed with hidden coin trails, secret nooks and crannies, character-sensitive switches, and countless invisible blocks you need the touchscreen to find. Despite how linear 3D World is, I still feel like I'm discovering new secrets every time I play through it, and I've played through it a lot. 3D World has a fair amount of collectibles too, between the Green Stars and Stamps, really incentivizing you to look around, and there's even a best score counter for each level for good measure. It's not just the levels that have strong exploration, though. Even the hubs are filled with some ridiculously cool secrets. For the first time, you can freely run around the world map and Nintendo actually does a lot with this new mechanic. There are hidden pipes and Toad House entrances all over the place, and of course, I can't not mention the hidden Golden Express that floods you with coins if you can find it. There's so much cool side content in 3D World, ranging from the unlockable Rosalina, to the secret minigame Luigi Bros, to the brilliant Captain Toad stages that are so good they got their own game (which I desperately want a sequel to), to the several bonus worlds culminating in hands down my favorite true final level in all of Mario.

And on top of all that, Super Mario 3D World is my favorite speedrunning game of all time. Sure, it may not have the freeform movement or wild glitches of its collectathon siblings, but for what 3D World lacks, it makes up for with pure speed. This game is the fastest Mario has ever moved, 3D World's movement is incredibly quick and snappy. Add in the lack of glitches, and you get a speedrun that is based entirely on raw skill, just how I like it. Part of why I got into speedrunning 3D World is because of how easy Nintendo made it too. You can pop in and out of levels super quickly, and the game keeps track of your best times and even lets you race against ghosts of other players online, encouraging you to keep bettering your time. And then the Switch port went even further by speeding up the characters even more and giving you a dive, making speedruns even more fun than they already were in the Wii U version.

Speaking of the multiplayer, though, man is 3D World's multiplayer absolutely incredible. Super Mario 3D World carries over the chaotic energy of New Super Mario Bros Wii's multiplayer. You can bump into your allies and carry each other around, but it feels more balanced with that added third dimension. The game even expands on NSMBWii's chaos factor by introducing a score contest. The player with the highest score at the end of a level gets a crown that gives them extra points in the next level. However, the other players can steal that crown to get the points for themselves. I've had play sessions with friends completely devolve into us fighting over the crown, and I wouldn't have it any other way. 3D World didn't need to compromise the stage design to account for the extra players, and while certain parts of the game may be easier in multiplayer(Double Cherry stages, character-specific buttons), 3D World feels equally fun no matter how you play it. But it's not just local multiplayer that excels. 3D World really took advantage of Miiverse in all the best ways. From the aforementioned ghosts you could race against, to all the message boards and the ability to run into other players in hub in the Wii U version, to the introduction of the Miiverse Stamps, a mainstay of the console's library.

But if all that still wasn't incredible enough, the Switch port came with an entire second Mario game in Bowser's Fury. To be clear, I'm not in the camp of people who think Bowser's Fury stands up on its own merits as some amazing 3D Mario game, it's too short and easy for that. What it is, though, is an incredibly fun and unique experimental title that tries to make a truly open world Mario game, while throwing in some engaging time management for good measure. Lake Lapcat is a ton of fun to explore and is just as stuffed with neat hidden secrets as the original 3D World, and the kaiju boss fights against Fury Bowser are some of my favorites in the franchise. But my favorite thing about Bowser's Fury is, once again, its speedrun potential. Pulling off my first "under an hour" run of the game, planning out which shines to get and which order I'd visit each island felt so incredibly satisfying. As I said, I don't think Bowser's Fury is as good as base 3D World, but it complements it perfectly. Combined, they form a package with both linear and collecathon Mario with just enough in common in terms of aesthetic, level design philosophy, and speedrunning potential that they really coalesce.

And speaking of aesthetic, Super Mario 3D World and Bowser's Fury both look incredible. At the time, 3D World was the first time we got to see 3D Mario in HD, and it was a real sight to behold. The grass looked so crisp, the blocks looked so shiny, everything looked so colorful and bright. Even in 2013, 3D World just looked so crisp, and the resolution bump in the Switch version really solidified just how well it's aged visually. Bowser's Fury also looks great, with some particularly stellar lighting effects from both the sun and Fury Bowser's own flames. And then there's the music. Super Mario 3D World's soundtrack is legendary, as it should be. It was, after all, headed by the lead composer of Super Mario Galaxy, Mahito Yokota. Unlike that game's more orchestral style, 3D World's soundtrack has a heavy emphasis on jazz, and it's... perfect. I love Mario Galaxy's score to pieces, but jazz music is the perfect fit for Mario as a character, and it shows that many of his games since then had very jazz-heavy scores. There's a lot of standout tracks here, but some of the many highlights include World Bowser, The Bullet Bill Express, Chain-Link Charge, Double Cherry Pass, Simmering Lava Lake, World Mushroom/Flower, Sunshine Seaside, and Hisstocrat.

Super Mario 3D World feels like the definitive Mario game to me, it sums up everything I love about the series. It's exudes constant creativity, playfulness, and pure fun. From the phenomenal level design, to the perfect balance of both speedrunning and completionist appeals, to the top-notch multiplayer offerings, to the beautiful visuals and incredible music, 3D World already offers a lot, but the Switch port only perfects the game, doubling-down on the speedrunning and introducing a fantastic original campaign that complements 3D World perfectly. I will always cherish Super Mario 3D World for the sheer amount of fun it has managed to provide me over the years, and I think I'll still keep coming back to it over and over again for even more years to come.

Why I Love Shantae: Half-Genie Hero

As far as independent dev teams go, Wayforward stands out as one of, if not my absolute favorite of the bunch. Alongside the also great Inti Creates and Shin'en, Wayforward is a team with some real history behind it, already making a name for themselves with their technically impressive GBC games before really coming into the spotlight with their stellar DSiWare catalog. From River City Girls to Mighty Switch Force to Xtreme Sports to Sigma Star Saga to Ducktales Remastered to Contra 4 to the Boy And His Blob remake, Wayforward has made countless incredible games, but their Shantae series in particular deserves the most credit. Rock solid metroidvanias with a lovable and colorful cast of characters, inventive transformation-based gameplay mechanics, incredible dungeon design, charming and at times cheeky writing that feels straight out of a Nippon Ichi game, and banging music by Jake Kaufman, Shantae games are almost always a great time, but my favorite has to be the fourth entry, Half-Genie Hero.

 Shantae: Half-Genie Hero has the unfortunate role of serving as a sort of soft reboot of the series. After the far more dramatic and story-driven Pirate's Curse, Half-Genie Hero was a lighter, brisker, crowd-funded game meant to re-establish the cast and go back to basics a bit. As a result, it's actually the most divisive Shantae game, and I can definitely see why. The narrative is more episodic like a Saturday Morning Cartoon, dropping any plot threads that Pirate's Curse left hanging, and the progression has shifted from a full-on metroidvania to a more linear game with metroidvania-adjacent backtracking. So with this in mind, why is Half-Genie Hero my favorite in the series?

Well, let's start with that story. Half-Genie Hero has a pretty basic plot about Shantae doing odd jobs as her town's genie while helping her uncle Mimic build a mysterious machine, which ends up being hijacked and turned into the final boss. In face value, yeah, it's pretty lame. But the appeal of Half-Genie Hero's narrative for me is the aforementioned Saturday Morning Cartoon feel. Each stage has its own standalone story arc, almost like an episode in a TV show or a chapter in a Paper Mario game, and they're all so fun and creative. From getting fired and replaced by another half genie to participating in a magic carpet race, Shantae gets into countless memorable situations throughout the course of Half-Genie Hero, bolstered by Wayforward's typically charming and breezy writing. On top of that, the series' fantastic side cast, particularly Sky, Bolo, and Rottytops also get their times to shine in a variety of similarly fun subplots, and they even get their own exclusive campaign that focuses entirely on them. The characters in Shantae overall are just so fun to watch bounce off each other, even some of the villains like Ammo Baron, Risky Boots, and especially Squid Baron are fantastic. Half-Genie Hero doesn't quite have the drama that its predecessors have, but I think it works as the perfect introduction to Shantae's great world and characters. I should know since it was my first Shantae game, after all.

 Gameplay-wise, Half-Genie Hero doesn't do anything particularly ground-breaking by action platformer standards, but it feels inventive and unique enough in its execution that I don't really mind. Shantae controls incredibly precisely, her hair is very satisfying to use as a weapon, and managing your subweapons is always a fun time. One of Shantae's claims to fame is the transformation system where you can do a dance to turn Shantae into an animal with its own unique moveset. It's a great concept, but having to do an entire dance can feel a bit slow in earlier games. In Half-Genie Hero, transforming is sped up dramatically, especially if you get an early-game speed upgrade that lets you switch forms in the blink of an eye. Shantae has a lot of forms in Half-Genie Hero ranging from the consistently fun animal forms with their own fully fleshed-out movesets to the sillier context sensitive forms that can still be quite useful depending on the circumstances, which leads to what feels like the most fully-realized iteration of the concept to date. While I don't blame people from preferring the more fluid classical upgrades of Pirate's Curse, I think the transformations in Shantae is a big part of that series' appeal and playing around with all the different forms in HGH is an absolute blast.

But where Half-Genie Hero really solidifies itself as my favorite Shantae game is in the level design. Most Shantae games are open metroidvanias and they're generally quite well-designed, particularly the puzzle box dungeons that come incredibly close to scratching that classic Zelda itch, but Half Genie Hero's more linear structure allows for far more setpieces and dynamic environments, leading to an absolutely incredible lineup of stages. There is not a single lame level in the entire game, so why don't we run through all of them? 

Main Street is the typical burning town stage that kicks off most Shantae games. It's got just enough collapsing platforms, cannon-fire, and general spectacle to keep things exciting while still doing its job as a tutorial perfectly.

Mermaid Falls is where the game really kicks into high gear, a primarily vertical stage starting out in a Grecian temple populated by actual mermaids before you enter a weird factory where girls are fitted with fake mermaid tails for profit, which is just one of the most bonkers ideas for a level I have ever seen in a video game. And it's not just aesthetics too, much of the factory's machines are actually used within the level design. The stage ends on a high note with a very fun slide section and a surprisingly tough and large-scale boss fight against the Giga Mermaid.

Tassel Town starts out your average desert level before you enter a tower and begin being chased by a giant sand worm who you proceed to fight in the boss battle. Not as wild as the mermaid factory, but still one of the most memorable setpieces in the game.

Cape Crustacean is just straight-up one of my favorite levels in any game, period. This is where Shantae enters the magic carpet race, and the first half of the stage has you hop from carpet to carpet before entering Ammo Baron's ship and taking it down from the inside. For a game like Shantae with such heavy Arabian theming, the pure concept of a magic carpet race is simply genius, and it's executed phenomenally. It's the kind of stage so setpiece-heavy that it can't be done in a metroidvania, and in my opinion, it justifies the entirety of Half-Genie Hero.

Hypno Baron's Castle is probably my least favorite level, but it's still a fun time. It's a cute haunted house castle with tons of secret rooms and spooky monster enemies, culminating in one of the trickiest platforming gauntlets in the game.

And then there's Risky's Hideout, a strong final level that has you swapping between most of the major transformations to really test you on all of them, complete with one last slide section for good measure.

Half-Genie Hero isn't purely linear though. It does have some pretty heavy backtracking, both for story purposes and for the countless hidden collectibles ranging from heart increases to form upgrades. This is another make-or-break element of HGH, but I don't really mind it in this case. The levels usually get a few changes when you revisit them, some of the side quests you have to do can be quite fun, you get a warp dance that lets you leave an area whenever you want, and I simply like exploring and fully mapping out all these stages. I think it was overall a good choice on Wayforward to keep the series's metroidvania spirit while still allowing the levels to be as inventive as they are. The boss fights are also quite enjoyable, though often easy, with a really strong variety ranging from smaller-scale brawls against characters like Ammo Baron and Risky Boots, to larger battles against the Tinkerslug and Giga Mermaid, to full-on shifts into Klonoa-esque circular arenas for the fights against the aforementioned sandworm and final boss. As a whole, Half-Genie Hero isn't the longest game, but it's just pure, simple fun from start to finish. And the abundance of extra campaigns you can unlock make it super replayable.

 In terms of presentation, Half-Genie Hero is also incredible, as per the usual for Wayforward. While I do love the pixel art used in the previous games, Half Genie Hero's blend of clean 2D lineart for the characters and 3D-esque depth for the stages and backgrounds looks so incredibly good. Every single character and enemy animates so smoothly and even have cute idle animations where they bop to the music, there's tons of silly background animations for those who pay attention (Bolo getting stuck in the mermaid factory is a 10/10 sight gag), and even the UI took a massive bump in style compared to the ugly Final Fantasy-esque textboxes of Pirate's Curse. Overall, it's easily the definitive artstyle for the series in my opinion. Shantae does have a bit of a reputation for sexualized characters and, while it doesn't do anything for me personally, I can't deny that it's hard not to notice. Even Half-Genie Hero has the Giga Mermaid and the countless monster girls in Hypno Baron's Castle. However, HGH does tone down that aspect of the series quite a bit with its cutesier, more chibi-ish artstyle, which really lets you appreciate how colorful, cute, and varied Shantae's characters are, with Rottytops and Squid Baron being notable highlights. And of course, there is the incredible music. Shantae's soundtracks have been primarily composed by indie scene legend Jake Kaufman, and Half Genie Hero might just have some of his best work. Kaufman's unique blend of dance and Arabic music that defined the Shantae series feels pretty much perfected her, with the biggest highlights being The Sky Bridge, Mermaid Falls, Counterfeit Mermaids, Neo Burning Town, and Cape Crustacean. Though I'd also be remiss not to mention the game's fantastic vocal theme sang by Shantae's voice actress herself, Cristina Vee. Vee has always been one of my favorite voice actresses for a number of reasons, but Shantae is always the first of her roles to come to my mind, she embues the character with so much energy and vibrancy.

And before I finish this post, I do want to bring up a weird fact I discovered. My two favorite Shantae games, Pirate's Curse and Half-Genie Hero, were co-developed by Inti Creates, who made the Mega Man Zero/ZX/9-10, Blaster Master Zero, and Azure Striker Gunvolt games. Considering these guys are modern action platformer legends as far as I'm concerned, that does a lot to explain why I found Half-Genie Hero so great.

I'm pretty well-aware that compared to many of the other games on this list, Shantae: Half-Genie Hero may seem a bit tame. It's not anything particularly ground-breaking or impactful, it's just one of the most consistently fun platformers I've had the luxury of playing. With tight controls, ridiculously inventive level design, an enjoyably freeform transformation system, engaging exploration, a lovable cast of characters, stunning hand-drawn visuals, and a banging Kaufman soundtrack, Half-Genie Hero just checks all the boxes for me. It's a game that exudes so much joyous energy that it's hard for me to not have a big smile on my face while playing, and if that doesn't earn it a spot on my Top 100 list, I don't know what would.

Why I Love Pokemon HeartGold & SoulSilver (And Johto In General)

I have a history with Pokemon HeartGold & SoulSilver. While the first Pokemon game I ever beat was Emerald and the first Pokemon game I picked a starter in was Black/White, HGSS was the first Pokemon game I played. A kid in my elementary school had the game and let me play for a bit, and while it took a while for me to actually get into the franchise as a whole, it still makes HGSS a pretty important game for me. It only helps that it happened to be one of the best and most beloved games in the series.

Pokemon HeartGold & SoulSilver is arguably the sacred cow of the Pokemon series, a legendarily good remake that improved every aspect of the original game with better graphics and music, a larger Pokedex, a beefier postgame, QoL improvements carrying over from Gens 3 & 4, and most importantly, the ability to have your Pokemon walk behind you. And yeah, I absolutely agree. HeartGold & SoulSilver takes a fantastic Pokemon game and makes it better in pretty much every way. The spritework is absolutely gorgeous, the redesigned gyms are way more fun, the Kanto postgame that may have been a bit undercooked on the Game Boy Color feels far more fleshed-out, the Battle Frontier is back and just as good as ever, the Pokeathlon minigames are addictive as hell, and Pokemon walking behind you is the greatest addition ever made to a Pokemon game, prove me wrong. However, I actually don't have too much else to say about HeartGold & SoulSilver beyond that, it kind of comes with the territory of gushing about the remake. Sure, this is an incredible remake, but it's not a transformative one. It doesn't fix a game that was bad or flawed, it builds on the already fantastic foundation that is Pokemon Gold, Silver, and especially Crystal. As a result, this post is going to be a bit different than usual, as it's not really about HeartGold & SoulSilver. Instead, I'm really going to be talking about why I love Pokemon Crystal and by extension, Johto as a whole.

Pokemon Crystal is an incredibly ambitious game, even by the standards of the Game Boy Color which is full of ambitious games. It not only took the solid foundation that Pokemon RBY laid out and improved on it with countless additions ranging from breeding to shinies to a playable female trainer to trainer rematches, but it went further by really pushing the handheld's hardware in impressive ways. There was a full 24-hour day/night cycle that would not only change the time of day in game but would even trigger different events, there was a massive postgame that took the entirety of Kanto and crammed it into the same cart, and even included online capabilities in the Japanese version thanks to Nintendo's online adaptor. It is genuinely incredible how much Game Freak and Nintendo managed to cram into a single Game Boy Color cartridge, and it's just as much of a miracle that it all manages to hold together as well as it does. While I find Gen I a bit rudamentary and hilariously unbalanced (though still fun!), I could absolutely go back and play the original Pokemon Crystal whenever I wanted and still have a great time. It really feels like this is the first game where Pokemon truly realizes its potential of giving the player a large virtual world to explore with tons of activities to do and loads of Pokemon to catch.

In terms of its overworld design, Johto also takes a pretty massive step up from its predecessor. The routes in Kanto are pretty basic, at least until the very last few, with not too much to explore beyond the occasional maze. The routes in Johto, on the other hand, feel quite a bit more involved. Split paths and fun activities placed in the middle of routes feel increasingly common, and we start to get some real behemoth routes in Routes 32, 45, and 47 (a HGSS exclusive, actually!). But where Johto really excels is in its towns, which I still think stand out as some of the best in the series. From Violet, to Goldenrod, to Ecruteak, Olivine, Mahogany, and Blackthorn, the towns in Johto are consistently memorable, visually varied, and jam-packed with fun stuff to do. Many towns even have a very fun mini dungeon for you to do like Violet's Sprout Tower, Ecruteak's Burned Tower, and Mahogany's Just A Souvenir Shop. And this is an aspect where I think HGSS absolutely surpasses the original. HeartGold & SoulSilver does so much extra work to make the different towns stand out all the more. Violet City's purple theming gets more of a focus, Goldenrod City looks busier and more cramped, and Ecruteak in particular is transformed by the addition of a bright orange autumn backdrop.

Another area where I think the Johto games excel is in the story. Pokemon is not known for its strong narratives and I would by no means rank Gen 2's narrative up with the likes of Black & White, Sun & Moon, or Scarlet & Violet, but it does do a few things particularly well. For starters, I like how involved Johto's narrative is without being handholdy about it. While Johto mostly has the same hands off approach that many games prior to Gen 6 have, you will find yourself constantly going on missions to stop Team Rocket's plans, and they're always a blast and a fun change of pace. But my favorite thing about Johto's story is its rival. Silver is the best Pokemon rival, hands down, no contest. Right from the get-go, you get the sense that Silver is more dangerous than your first rival, Blue, was. He stole his starter Pokemon, is often seen abusing them, and focuses on making as strong a team. Silver is an unrepentant jerk for most of the game, but in a way that makes him really endearing and fun to run into. He also has quite the solid character arc as you learn he was neglected by his father, who happens to be the head of Team Rocket, and ends up repeatedly learning to be nicer to his Pokemon and to stop his futile search for strength and revenge. But it doesn't happen instantaneously, Silver has a slow and gradual growth throughout the game that makes his eventual change of heart feel rewarding.

In terms of its presentation, Pokemon Crystal was already a pretty good-looking game for the console with clean Pokemon designs, a charming art style, and well-placed splashes of color, but as I implied earlier, HeartGold & SoulSilver goes so much further with it. The DS Pokemon games had this lovely 2D/3D artstyle that still stands out as my favorite in the franchise, and the added detail and color helps to fully realize Johto in a way the Game Boy Color just wasn't able to. And I hate to keep harping on it, but the sheer amount of work Game Freak put into the very silly unimportant system of Pokemon walking behind you deserves so much praise. Every single Pokemon has its own unique set of sprites and walking animation, they have a bunch of emotions they can express based on the environment, and even the shiny forms are kept shiny in the overworld. In terms of its music, Johto also has one of my favorite Pokemon soundtracks, though I do admittedly prefer the chiptune version a bit. There's a fair share of strong battle themes and solid route themes, but the town themes in particular shine incredibly brightly in Johto. They are so cozy and nostalgic, even for someone like me who never really grew up with these games. I could list all the town themes and call it a day, but the highlights in particular include Azalea Town, Goldenrod City, Violet City, National Park, Ecruteak City, and the Game Corner.

So yeah, Pokemon Crystal is a game I have a lot of love for. Between all the massive improvements its made to its mechanics and combat, to the phenomenal towns and environments, to the top-tier rival, to one of the coolest postgames ever, to the lovely score, to just how much it pushes its hardware. But what makes HeartGold & SoulSilver so great is that it keeps all of that and escalates it even more. The gameplay was further improved upon, the environments were made even more varied, the postgame was expanded upon in several directions, the overall presentation was more polished, and it managed to push the DS's hardware just as much with its many ambitious new additions such as the walking Pokemon, commemorative photos, increased dex size, and ridiculously large amount of content. Pokemon Crystal was already one of my favorite Pokemon games, but the countless fantastic additions HGSS managed to lift it up to a very respectable second.