Why I Love Freedom Planet 1 & 2

Well, it finally happened. After two years of waiting, Freedom Planet 2's console port has finally come out. This long-awaited sequel to one of my favorite games of all time has been one of my most anticipated games for almost a decade by now, and man, it's so good.

But before I talk about the second game, I want to talk about the first game why I hold it in so high regard. Consider this another Top 100/2024 Games fusion post. 

Freedom Planet is an indie game by GalaxyTrail, a small team primarily led by Sabrina DiDuro. It was initially an early relic from when I was first discovering indie games in 2015-2016, alongside games like Shovel Knight, Undertale, and... Portal I guess? Does Portal count as indie? Anyway, compared to those heavy-hitters, Freedom Planet was a game I initially got on a whim when it was on sale on Steam. It wasn't until I got a few stages in when it suddenly hit me just how good this game actually was, and I've been following GalaxyTrail with great interest ever since. Outside of the Freedom Planet sequel, they've also had a pretty great track record when it comes to publishing games, with Petal Crash in particular being a lovely throwback to arcade puzzlers like Panel De Pon. DiDuro herself has also since became a vtuber who does some really fascinating game design streams where she works on her next project (an action platformer starring Kronii from Hololive), and as I've always said, I love seeing more people in the industry be open about the process of game development. So yeah, definitely a cool indie team worth watching, but how's the game itself?

Freedom Planet is about a ragtag group of dysfunctional anthropomorphic animals banding together to stop an alien invasion. The main trio includes the heroic water dragon Sash Lilac, the freespirited biker wildcat Carol Tea, and a wholesome orphaned dog Milla Bassett, and they make Freedom Planet for me. Lilac, Carol, and Milla are such incredibly good characters with fantastic designs, lovable personalities, and a perfect balance of positive traits and harmful flaws that they need to work through. Lilac is self-sacrificing to a fault, Carol is impulsive, and Milla has a lot of trauma to work through that just keeps piling on as these games progress. And I think that gets to the biggest problem seem to have with Freedom Planet: Its story. Freedom Planet's narrative gets shockingly dark, and at seemingly random points too. Add in some uneven voice acting and overlong cutscenes, and I totally get how the story can just be way too much for some people. Personally, I actually really like Freedom Planet's story and it's that character work that really carries it for me. Lilac in particular is one of my favorite video game characters period for how her arc deconstructs the selfless hero archetype, and Milla isn't too far behind for how much she has to deal with throughout the game. And that's not even getting into some of the other characters, like the delightfully hammy Serpentine, the breakout police panda Neera, and the fantastic main antagonist Brevon. Brevon is cruel even by villain standards, and Xander Barriga sells his apathetic personality perfectly. While Freedom Planet's story could certainly have been delivered better, it did get me attached to this trio and that's really all I could ask for.

Gameplay-wise, Freedom Planet is often primarily compared to the Sonic games, and I mean, yeah the movement is quite similar. Regardless of who you play as, you're dealing with momentum-based physics and can reach some pretty high speeds that let you run up walls, do loop-de-loops, and the like. However, speed and momentum does feel a bit more de-emphasized in Freedom Planet in exchange for more precise platforming and a focus on combat. I'll be real here, as much as I love Sonic games, combat has always sucked. Even in the Genesis games, stopping to bop an enemy usually feels like a bit of a pace-killer. In Freedom Planet, on the other hand, you don't take contact damage (only the enemies' attacks will damage you) and each character has several attacks that they can do while moving. These changes make combat feel really fun and fast-paced, and instead of the difficulty coming from about not running into enemies, the difficulty comes from how aggressive the enemies are with their attacks. This is probably Freedom Planet's most brilliant move, it blends the fast-paced platforming of a Sonic game... with the chaotic light beat-em-up combat of a Treasure game. 

That's why I think Freedom Planet is special, because it's not just a Sonic clone. It's a throwback to Sega action platformers as a whole, particularly on the Genesis and Saturn. It's a souped up Genesis game in the same way that Shovel Knight is a souped up NES game, aiming to capture the vibe of the console it's based on through the rosiest glasses possible. Freedom Planet wears its inspirations proudly on its sleeve, but it also picks and chooses the best aspects of each, combining them to form something entirely new. The speed and multiple characters of a Sonic game, the action-packed stages and melancholic atmosphere of a Mega Man X game, the bombastic combat and wild bosses of a Treasure game, and Lilac's boost moves even bring to mind games like Ristar and Rocket Knight Adventures. There aren't many wholly original ideas for games these days, the most I could ask for is that a developer takes an idea they're passionate about and add their own spin to it.

And the level design is just so freaking good. Each of the ten stages in Freedom Planet are sprawling, dynamic, varied, and equally enjoyable. From the diverse challenges and mysterious atmosphere of Relic Maze, to the stunningly beautiful and endlessly interactable Fortune Night, to the nonstop action of Sky Battallion, to the brisk chase sequences on Jade Creek, to the bombastic war backdrop of Battle Glacier, to one of the most climactic final levels I've ever played in the four-act behemoth that is Final Dreadnought, Freedom Planet's level design has so many high points. For a game inspired by Sonic, the stages in Freedom Planet do a fantastic job of weaving together high-speed segments and platforming without messing up the pacing. There's a great sense of flow to this game, and the stages keep pushing you forward while still making you work to make it to the end. And none of this is more apparent than in the boss roster, which boasts some explosive encounters against intricate robotic machines that feel like they're straight out of a Treasure game. Hell, one of the bosses is straight-up a homage to Seven Force from Gunstar Heroes. The boss fights in Freedom Planet can be incredibly tough, especially the infamously brutal final fight against Brevon, but they're all fun and satisfying to beat.

Freedom Planet is also a pretty big game too, boasting three playable characters each with different story routes and movesets. Lilac is the easiest character to get to grips with, Carol is the Knuckles equivalent with her array of claw attacks and acrobatic jumping skills, and Milla is like Cream from Sonic Advance 2. Milla is a glass cannon whose moveset involves creating blocks and using them as projectiles, shields, and lasers that can wreck enemies and even comes with recoil that can boost Milla around the stage. It may seem a bit clunky first, but once you get to grips with her gameplay, Milla is the most fun character in the game. Beyond the three character campaigns though, there's 100 trading cards to find throughout the stages that can net you bonuses like concept art and music tracks, a training mode with Melee-esque target challenges to complete, a Time Attack Mode, a wide array of achievements to complete, a bonus (and very funny) bloopers reel, and a secret unlockable Mahjong minigame. There's a lot to do here, and so much of it is so fun that I'd genuinely recommend taking the time to 100% it. There's even a very generous difficulty system so everyone can get all the achievements without having to do anything they can't handle.

In terms of its presentation, Freedom Planet looks pretty good. Despite the game as a whole being inspired by Genesis games, Freedom Planet looks a lot more like a 32-bit game, with more detailed spritework, some absolutely gorgeous backgrounds, and sprite-scaling that wouldn't feel out of place on the GBA. I'm a big fan of DiDuro's dreamy pixelart style and it's on full display here. Another thing I'm a big fan of are the character designs, which may have started as Sonic clones but managed to evolve into something just as iconic. Lilac, Carol, and Milla (and also Neera but we'll get there) have designs that toe the line between adorable and badass really well, while also capturing their personalities perfectly. As I mentioned above, the voice acting is a bit hit-or-miss in this game, but I do have to give a shoutout to Dawn M Bennett who knocked it out of the park as Lilac. This was the game that put her onto the map in the first place, but she'll always be Lilac in my book. And just to really sweeten the deal, Freedom Planet has one of my favorite soundtracks in all of gaming, co-composed by Leila "Woofle" Wilson and Sabrina DiDuro herself. This was one of the first times I ever really took notice of how great a soundtrack was, it's bursting at the seams with energy and intensity while also having a unique style that blends ethereal chimes, Mega Man X-style synths, funk, and classical Japanese motifs. To even get into all the highlights would take me all day, so I'll just tell you to listen to the whole thing. I promise you won't regret it.

The first Freedom Planet game is an incredible showcase of what the indie scene is capable of. It's a loving fusion of Genesis action platformers with pitch-perfect control, fantastic level design, lots of replay value, lush visuals, a phenomenal soundtrack, and a somewhat flawed story carried by some of the most likable characters I've seen in any game. This is the bar, how does its sequel fare?

Freedom Planet 2 is a game that has been in the works for a long time. The first game came out in 2014, its sequel was announced a year later, and it released all the way in 2022. Add in the wait for a console port, and I finally got my hands on Freedom Planet 2 after an entire decade of anticipation. It's a far bigger and more ambitious game, boasting over double the stages, hub worlds, side modes, more characters, and a grander story, and I'd say it delivers.

To get the biggest improvement out of the way, Freedom Planet 2's story is leaps and bounds better than the first one. Even though FP1's dramatic beats did really work for me personally, this sequel's narrative is far better balanced in terms of its tone and character writing. Freedom Planet 2 goes for a more arc-driven structure, and it works surprisingly well. The game starts off somewhat episodic as Lilac's team (along with Neera who's been promoted to lead) go around the world stopping a bunch of crimes. It's not until a third of the way through when the villain, a water dragon named Merga, properly shows herself, and all the little bits of plot that have been dropped start to come together. FP2 has a whole bunch of subplots and villains, at least one for each of the main characters, but it works to maintain the series' character-driven writing. Lilac has to deal with meeting another water dragon for the first time and the revelation that her entire species was killed under her own kingdom's watch, Carol has to deal with her sister having joined Merga's cause, Milla has to deal with the return of Serpentine bringing back bad memories of the event of the first game, and Neera struggles with her already poor trust issues after a series of crushing betrayals. The interpersonal drama within the team in FP2 is really compelling, and the stuff around Merga and Lilac in particular deals with some really complex themes like genocide and moving on from the sins of the past in an impressively tactful and nuanced manner. You can really tell that the team at GalaxyTrail made genuine strides in their writing skills without losing the charm that defined the first game's story, and quite frankly, this is the best TV show I've seen all year (as sad as that sounds). But I think the biggest surprise about Freedom Planet 2's writing is how sharp and funny it is. The first game did have some nice gags, but Freedom Planet 2 straight-up left me in stitches at points, with Milla and Neera in particular getting some very funny and memorable one-liners. It's as if GalaxyTrail realized how much people loved the bloopers from the first game and just decided to inject some of that chaotic humor into the actual sequel.

As for the gameplay, the moment-to-moment action does actually feel a lot like the original game, just slightly more refined. The physics are mostly similar in terms of their feel, and the only major change is the very welcome addition of a guard system that lets you block attacks while keeping your moment, another great evolution of the combat. Certain characters are also more improved than others. Lilac plays mostly the same, but Milla can now store blocks rather than have to carry them around which gives her gameplay a faster pace while maintaining her glass cannon traits. Freedom Planet 2 also introduces equippable items that can either give you a small buff or a small per, along with potions that you can mix and match to give you even more perks, which is a neat addition that lends the game a bit more strategy in the form of creating builds. This also feeds into FP2's new ranking system, as your items and potions can increase or decrease your rank based on how helpful they are. You're intended to use the harmful potions to get an S rank and I'm... split on this. While it can be fun trying to find a build to break the system, I'll admit that I kinda prefer the time/score focused ranking system of, say, the Sonic games.

Aside from the story, I think Freedom Planet 2's biggest improvement over the original is in the level design, and that's kind of crazy to say. I literally just raved about how perfect the first game's level design, and now I'm saying FP2's stages are even better?! Well, the reasoning is down to a few positive changes. While the first game has 11 stages each with several acts, Freedom Planet 2 now has a whopping 24 stages each with a single act. This lends the game more variety, as each stage has a unique environment and set of mechanics that are all equally fun. From rolling up into a snowball in Robot Graveyard, to jumping between waterfalls in Tiger Falls, to the electricity puzzles in Lightning Tower, to modulating your temperature at high speeds in Magma Starscape, pretty much every single stage is an absolute blast. The stages are also a lot larger and vaster, with the camera zoomed out more to emphasis their scale. Your characters move a bit faster compared to the first game, but the stages are bigger and lengthier to compensate, and that sense of flow I praised about the first game is heightened tenfold as a result. As for the bosses, they're pretty much on par with FP1. They're still massive and bombastic Treasure-inspired fights that can be pretty damn tough, but are almost all fun and satisfying to learn and master. And once again, the finale is incredible. I do still think I prefer Final Dreadnought ever so slightly, but Bakunawa is still a heart-pumping climactic final act with some of the best levels, boss fights, and emotional beats in the entire game. The back-to-back encounters with Corazon and Serpentine in particular are absolutely incredible, and the final fight with Merga blows the Brevon fight completely out of the water.

As I mentioned earlier, Freedom Planet 2 is a much bigger game than its predecessor as well, at least twice the length and that's just if you're running through the game casually. As I said, there's now four characters to play as each with their own story and cutscenes, along with a whole bunch of equippable items and potions to unlock and buy. Each level has one or two collectibles hidden inside them, along with a par time to beat and the aforementioned ranking system. While I do miss the trading cards of the first game, I do think the decrease in hidden stage collectibles is probably for the best as far as pacing is concerned. There's once again a training room with a few fun minigames and sparring battles with the other playable characters, along with an entirely new challenge mode called the Battlesphere, which is absolutely massive. With 18 smaller challenge stages to beat, rematches for every boss, and a bunch of minigames including an in-universe arcade game called Fists Of Frog, you can sink hours into this mode alone. It reminds me a lot of the arenas from Ratchet & Clank actually, and you can tell that was an inspiration too because this game also has a museum you can donate gems to with an unlockable "GalaxyTrail room" filled with behind the scenes info and developer commentary. Oh, and that's still not it, because the wide array of achievements is still here and they're just as fun to go for. I still haven't managed to get 100% yet, and I'm making good progress and am absolutely determined to fully completed this game just as I did its predecessor.

As far as presentation goes, Freedom Planet 2 is almost entirely an improvement over the original. I already thought the first game looked good, but oh my god. If FP1 was halfway between a Genesis game and a Saturn game, then FP2 leans hard on that 2D PS1/Saturn era aesthetic to incredible effect. Freedom Planet 2 has some of the most lush environmental spritework I've ever seen in a video game, it's so detailed and intricate, especially whenever the camera zooms out and you can still make out all the little details. The color scheme is so pleasing and the backgrounds are even prettier this time, and Lilac and gang are more expressive than they've ever been. Speaking of the characters, Freedom Planet 2 has a ton of new one-off NPCs courtesy of its new hub system, and they all have super adorable designs that stand out despite their limited screentime. I actually really love the hubs, by the way, they lend the game so much world-building and really help the world of Avalice come to life in a way that it just couldn't in the more linear first game. The voice acting has also dramatically improved, everyone is giving their absolute A-game this time and there isn't a weak link in the cast. Neera is probably the highlight this time though, Ashley Selich does a perfect job capturing her conflicted emotional state throughout the game.

And how is that soundtrack? Well, I will say that this is one area where I think the first game is notably better. It's really hard to top FP1's soundtrack, but the music in Freedom Planet 2 is still really good. This soundtrack generally sounds a lot crisper and more experimental, with more upbeat and poppy stage themes reminiscent of Saturn era Sonic, and jazzier boss themes that give off some serious Norio Hanzawa vibes. It's not as relentlessly intense as the first game's score, but it's still got its fair share of absolute bangers, including Dragon Valley, Phoenix Highway, Shade Armory, Globe Opera 2, Magma Starscape, Vs Askal, Clockwork Arboretum, Vs Corazon, and Merga's theme.

Overall, Freedom Planet 2 is incredible, a genuinely stunning game. It's not just up there with Kirby & The Forgotten Land as one of my favorite games of the decade so far, it's an easy Top 10 contender, maybe even Top 5. It's everything I want in both a sequel to Freedom Planet and a game in general. Satisfying and rewarding platforming gameplay with a high skill ceiling, incredibly fun and dynamic level design, a engaging character-driven story, a ridiculous amount of side content, stunning art direction and incredible music, it's got it all. I have so much attachment to that first game, I didn't think anything would be able to top it, but lo and behold, Freedom Planet 2 makes it look mediocre by comparison. It's unquestionably an improvement in terms of its gameplay, level and boss design, story, scale, visual presentation, and even emotional impact. Nothing in the first game hit anywhere near as hard as the fake climax at Globe Opera, the claustrophobic Bakunawa escape in the Gravity Bubble, or the fights against Corazon, Serpentine, or Merga. I'm fully on board for whatever GalaxyTrail and DiDuro decide to make in the future, though I hope I won't have to wait two years to play it next time.

5/5 Stars

Why I Love Super Metroid Even More

 Super Metroid was one of the first games I reviewed on this blog, actually. It wasn't the first time I had played the game, but it was the first time I actually managed to beat it. At the time, I thought the game was really good but not as good as the GBA entries due to the controls feeling slightly stiffer and me not liking Maridia all that much. And yeah, I do stand by those complaints. However, as the years have gone by and I played Super more and more, I've grown to hold it up as the best 2D Metroid game until Dread. So what's changed?

First off, I wanted to start by reiterating the things in my initial review that I still agree with:

I raved about Super Metroid being able to tell a simple but effective story without any dialogue. While I think Fusion has the actual best story of any Metroid game, Super Metroid's iconic silent narrative still deserves so much praise for how many memorable moments it's able to generate solely through gameplay. The opening where Ridley steals the Baby Metroid right in front of your eyes, revisiting the iconic first few screens of Brinstar only to find it overrun with space pirates, visiting the creepy powered-off Wrecked Ship, being stuck in Norfair, and of course, the entire finale where a grown up Baby Metroid sacrifices itself to save Samus. 

I also praised Super Metroid's overall presentation and sense of atmosphere. Super Metroid is an isolating and oppressive game, set on a bizarre alien world that feels truly alien in its art direction. Samus feels well and truly alone for most of this game, I think this is the Metroid game that manages to best capture that one-man army feel that's defined the series. Kenji Yamamoto's incredible soundtrack also helps with the tone of the game, this man is an absolute legend at making atmospheric pieces that also happen a memorable and defined memory. From the groovy Overgrown Brinstar, to the intense Red Soil, to the sigh of relief that is Samus's Theme, the music in Super Metroid does so much of the heavy-lifting and adds so much to the game's atmosphere and story.

As for the controls, well they're not that bad. Certainly not as tight as the games from Zero Mission onwards, but they do their job and have a lot of nuance for those willing to learn them. Either way, this is the first game to really flood you with upgrades, which creates an addictive feeling of getting increasingly more powerful. But what I think really makes Super Metroid stick out is the level design. I did credit the level design in my initial review, but I don't think I praised it enough because Super Metroid still has the best level design in any Metroid game. There's all the obvious stuff like how open the game is to sequence breaks, how much the game conveys to you without any dialogue or tutorials, or how much it opens up once you reach Maridia, but there's even more than that. 

Super Metroid's individual rooms feel the most memorable out of any game in the series, tossing in new enemy types and environmental hazards at a breakneck pace. The infamous endgame item collection that later games suffer from isn't an issue at all here, and looking for all the optional collectibles are more fun in Super than in any other game since they're usually hidden at the end of large secret obstacle courses that rank as some of the most fun and brutal challenges in the game. The Gauntlet in particular may just be my favorite Metroid room, period, it's such a blast. In terms of pure exploration, Super Metroid is easily the standout entry in the series.

I still absolutely adore the GBA Metroid games, don't get me wrong. Zero Mission has a strong emphasis on movement with its improved controls and fun-as-hell Shinespark puzzles, but it is pretty easy and short. Fusion has the best atmosphere, story, and boss fights, but the linear progression makes item hunting an absolute slog. Super Metroid has most of these games' strengths without many of the weaknesses. It's a satisfyingly beefy 2D Metroid game with a massive and meticulously designed world that's still as fun to explore today as it was three decades ago. The sense of isolation is provides is gripping, the silent narrative it offers still holds up, and the speedrun potential allows for a ton of replayability. If the controls were just a bit tighter, Super Metroid would be a perfect game, but I guess that's what Dread is for.

Why I Love Drill Dozer

One thing I've always appreciated about Game Freak is that despite being "the Pokemon guys", they've never been averse to making some experimental titles on the side. Sure, not all of them pan out like Little Town Hero, but we've also gotten some real gems like Pulseman, Harmoknight, and Pocket Card Jockey. But their best experimental title has to be Drill Dozer, a game that I might even say is Game Freak's best-designed game period.

Drill Dozer boasts a fun story about a band of thieves trying to take back the Red Diamond that was stolen from them, all the while trying to evade the determined Detective Carrie. The leader of the gang is a girl named Jill, who pilots a giant drilling mech to perform her heists, so it's basically Sly Cooper but with a lot less stealth and a lot more demolition.

The main appeal about Drill Dozer is the fact that you'll be spending all of the game in the titular mech, meaning that they only way you can interact with stuff is through drilling. You can drill through walls, take out screws, screw in switches, turn safes, squeeze yourself through pipes, and even attach a propeller to the drill to go underwater or fly in the sky. You can even rotate in both directions using the L and R buttons, which is used for some pretty fun platforming as you can pop out of a wall by drilling in the opposite direction. It's that classic Nintendo design philosophy of creating a fun central mechanic and build the entire game around that mechanic, and Drill Dozer's mech is easily one of the best executions of this philosophy alongside games like Luigi's Mansion, only aided by the fact that the game came with a rumble pack that made the simple act of using the drill feel so damn good. The Drill Dozer is also so versatile that the game is able to pull off combat, puzzles, and platforming while having it all be fun and satisfying.

It helps that the levels are an absolute joy to play. There's only 12 main levels, but they're quite large and filled to the brim with hidden secrets and explorable areas. There's also a unique formula that makes Drill Dozer's stages stand out, which is that as you play through each stage, you get more gears that you can use to drill for a longer time and break more objects. Once you get the third gear, the music gets super energetic and you're able to blast through pretty much everything in your path, it's an absolute burst of dopamine every single time. This gear system is able to divide each stage into multiple phases that keeps them feeling varied despite their length, while also allowing for moments of navigation where you have to figure out where you need to use your powered drill. Some stages even give you the 3rd gear super early on, keeping you on your toes. The bosses in Drill Dozer are also absolutely incredible, often pitting you against mechs that are even larger than you are, as you have to systematically tear them down with your drills.

Drill Dozer also has a fantastic postgame. After the roughly five-hour campaign, you'll get a super powered drill that you can use to go back into all the previous levels to find a variety of treasures, six hidden secret stages that ratchet up the difficulty and really test your platforming skills, and a secret password room you can use to change the menu wallpaper or give Jill unique skins. And that's not even getting into the upgrades, and the unlockable sidemodes like a Hard Mode and a Full Gearbox Mode that lets you start every stage at 3rd gear. It all combines to make Drill Dozer feel like a complete and satisfying package that truly gets the most out of its premise.

As for the presentation, this is easily one of Drill Dozer's best aspects. The visuals in this game are peak GBA, from the thick borders around everything, to the crunchy environmental destruction, to the stylish menus and character designs. Every time Jill gets in the Drill Dozer, the game stops just so she can pull off a badass pose, and it's so cool every single time. I miss that rad early 2000s energy games used to have, where did that go? The soundtrack is also fantastic. It's Go Ichinose using the legendary Pokemon Emerald soundfont, but with the intensity and jazziness kicked up to eleven. I already shouted out the 3rd gear music, but with Skullker Hideout, Art Gallery, Boss Battle, Carrie's Theme, Sunken Kuru Ruins, Metal City, and Skullker Drill Missile, you have easily one of the best OSTs on the GBA.

 Drill Dozer is the kind of overlooked hidden gem I absolutely adore. It has a simple but satisfying premise executed utterly perfectly, complete with all of the magic Game Freak's games had during the GBA era. Man, am I desperate for a sequel.

2024 Games I Played: Puyo Puyo Puzzle Pop

In my review of Tamagotchi Adventure Kingdom, I said that I was optimistic about the future of Apple Arcade as the events of 2023 made it seem like Apple was committing more to gaming. Yeah, I may have been way off the mark there. Since then, it's become increasingly clear that with Apple Arcade, Apple is prioritizing crowd-pleasing children's games over all else, and with more and more indie exclusivity deals running out by the day, Apple Arcade is starting to lose more games than it gets. The only company still really committing to Apple Arcade is Sega, and they have a fanbase who wishes their games weren't on the platform. Do I think this is an unsalvageable situation? No. Besides, we usually get one really big batch of games every year, so there's totally a chance that at some point, Apple Arcade will get a metric ton of fresh new stuff. However, as it seems right now, Apple Arcade seems to be playing things safe and I'm not sure if that'll pay off for it in the long run.

I don't think anything sums up the current state of Apple Arcade better than the last two months, which only had two notably big games: a children's game called Crayola Adventures and a Sega game called Puyo Puyo Puzzle Pop. This review will mostly be about the latter, but I do want to touch on Crayola Adventures as I did play it.

Crayola Adventures: Look, I know this is very much a game for kids and I'm not at all in the target audience, but since I liked the Hello Kitty and Tamagotchi games, I thought it's still worth a shot. And almost immediately, I realized Crayola Adventures is definitely meant for babies. It's very handholdy and gentle, and the tutorials feel somewhat patronizing, so I bounced off it quickly. There's no real reason for me to judge it compared to most other games, but I can judge it compared to Hello Kitty Island Adventure and Tamagotchi Adventure Kingdom, both of which try to strike the same exact niche and do it so much better. 

Hello Kitty Island Adventure and Tamagotchi Adventure Kingdom were charming, comfy experiences because they kinda just plopped you into this likable world of likable characters and let you explore. Comparatively, Crayola Adventures feels so much more sterile and artificial in pretty much every way. From a visual standpoint, the game goes for a pop-up book style where every screen is essentially a page in a book... but that loses the vast open world magic that its contemporaries had. The main gimmick is that the story is basically Mad Libs. You can write whatever you want and the story will "change" depending, but most of the stuff you can add to the story are very superficial things so it doesn't feel like it matters all that much. It also doesn't help that the automated voice acting gives the story zero pathos whatsoever. Hello Kitty and Tamagotchi's games giving you multiple different quests you can jump between at will does a much better job at giving players and particularly kids an actual sense of freedom that feels like it matters. But I also just think Crayola Adventures was fighting a losing battle here from the start as well. People love Sanrio's characters and almost everyone can at least recognize Mametchi, but does Crayola have characters people recognize? Does Crayola have a world people would want to exist in?

Once again, I don't want to judge Crayola Adventures too harshly. I'm not its target audience, and as such, I didn't play much of it. But I can say that while I wholeheartedly believe that Hello Kitty Island Adventure and Tamagotchi Adventure Kingdom are fully appealing family games that anyone can enjoy, Crayola Adventures is a game for young children and no one else, and a worse one at that.

2/5 Stars

Puyo Puyo Puzzle Pop: Just to clarify, if you are into competitive Puyo Puyo, take my word with a grain of salt. I mostly play Puyo because I love the characters and I love the arcade puzzler genre, but I'm much more competitive with games like Tetris and Panel De Pon. Hell, Puyo Puyo n is one of my favorite games in the series, so yeah. Now with that out of the way, how is Puzzle Pop?

I'll be honest and say that I wasn't expecting much from Puyo Puyo Puzzle Pop. The trailer seemed to make it out to be a very mobile-ified version of Puyo Pop, and I was expecting it to turn out more like a Candy Crush equivalent than a mainline entry. I couldn't have been more wrong if I tried. Seriously though, Sega has been committing hard to Apple Arcade and has been releasing some of their best recent games on there. Sonic Dream Team was my favorite 3D Sonic in over a decade, and Puyo Puyo Puzzle Pop isn't half bad either. It's not on the same level as my absolute favorite entries (Tsuu, Tetris, Fever 2, 20th Anniversary), but it's a very fun and surprisingly robust title that I think will hover around a solid A tier alongside games like Sun, Fever, and N.

First off, the touch controls, how are they? Personally, I ended up adjusting to them very quickly. They feel a bit awkward in the initial tutorial, but once you're let out to start playing matches, the touch controls became very natural very quickly. But even if you really can't take the touch controls, there's still Mac and controller support, along with very robust customization options. Controls aside, Puzzle Pop really does feel like a proper mainline Puyo Puyo game and not just a watered down mobile entry. It lacks many of the annoying mobile game quirks like over-tutorialization and a lack of content, it's a beefy game that lets you loose with its surprisingly large roster of modes right from the get-go.

I'll start with the core Adventure Mode, though, because that's the main selling point. Puzzle Pop's Adventure Mode involves the main trio of Amitie, Arle, and Ringo getting trapped in a dream world and having... to find... their way out? Wait, wasn't this just the plot of Sonic Dream Team? Anyway, the story is fine. It takes a bit to get going and it's certainly not as funny or sharply written as other Puyo Puyo games, but the charm is still there in spades especially once the plot kicks in. As for gameplay, Adventure Mode is quite fun. Each of the nine current playable characters get their own chapters to complete, four of which progress the main story and the other five being side stories. Each chapter takes place on a Mario-esque map screen where you participate in battles, do side objectives to get treasure, and earn stars and other items for doing well. The main gimmick is the fact that you can get items that you can equip on yourself before a battle to give you some sort a boost, and soon enough, your opponents will start using the same items as well. I quite like this system, as none of the powerups feel too game-breaking and there's a decent amount of strategy to figuring out which items will outmatch your rivals. If you're expecting Puyo Puyo n levels of gimmickry, don't worry, this isn't the case. Overall, Puzzle Pop's Adventure Mode is a fun time. I'm not entirely sure where this ranks among the Puyo Puyo campaigns, but with nine episodes each with a bunch of levels and stuff to collect, it's certainly the beefiest.

And this holds true for all of Puzzle Pop, as even outside of the Adventure Mode, this is still an absolutely massive game. There's Solo Challenge and Battle modes each with a number of different rulesets, online battles and leaderboards, achievements and daily missions, and all the customization options and purchasable bonuses you'd expect from a current Puyo Puyo game. The alt voices, the customizable profiles, the puyo and background designs, they're all there. On top of all that, the Lessons mode basically gets its own mini-version of Adventure Mode with 50 lessons to take, and there's even an unlockable cutscene scenario maker just to sweeten the deal. I can see myself playing Puzzle Pop for days on end, there's so much to dig into. The one area where Puzzle Pop lacks, sadly, is the character roster, at least at launch. There's only nine playable characters here, which is kinda nuts considering modern Puyo Puyo games usually have around twenty. The absence of fan favorites like Sig and Draco is certainly noticeable, though thankfully it seems they'll be added in eventual updates, along with even more game modes somehow.

Presentation-wise, Puyo Puyo Puzzle Pop goes for a 3D artstyle. This was another thing that had me skeptical at first, as I love the clean 2D art of the other Sega games and Chronicle's artstyle didn't really work for me. Thankfully, Puzzle Pop is a pretty solid improvement over Chronicle in terms of how clean, appealing, and expressive the characters look. The new 3D artstyle allows for some really adorable character animations in the cutscenes, which generally look quite nice. As I mentioned earlier, you even get access to the full library of poses and animations to make your own scenarios which is very neat. I still prefer the 2D artstyle, but for Puzzle Pop, the 3D visuals work totally fine. As for the music, I mean it's another solid Puyo Puyo soundtrack by Hideki Abe, nothing new there. Surprisingly there's not anywhere near as many remixes as in prior games aside from some absolutely banging remix of Tsuu's Area B and Sun's Draco themes, it's almost all original this time. I'll still need a bit of time for the new tracks to grow on me, but they got a really dreamlike feel which fits the game's setting quite well.

Overall, Puzzle Pop is a great time, and keeps up the trend of polished mainline Puyo Puyo games in recent years. I would not say it's going to save Apple Arcade, nor would it win over anyone who may happen to not be a huge fan of Puyo Puyo's current direction. However, it's still a really fun, polished, charming, and ridiculously content-rich entry in the Puyo Puyo series with one of the more ambitious campaigns in the series and lots more potential to grow.

4/5 Stars

Zelda Dungeon Reviews: Legend Of Zelda

I've been wanting to do a series where I reviewed dungeons in the Legend Of Zelda series for a long time, so I'm finally doing it. I'll need to actually replay these games to really be able to fully dissect some of these dungeons, so expect new posts to come out pretty slowly. The Legend Of Zelda is obviously a pretty great and influential game for its time, and its overworld is obviously impeccably designed to this day. However, it's probably my least favorite mainline game and a big reason for that is the way dungeons work. Despite the impressive enemy variety (which is weirdly enough better than in the BotW duology), there's really only so much Nintendo could do with such a limited lineup of rooms, so the dungeons feel really repetitive as a result. 

On top of that, I think Zelda NES suffers from just how easy it is to optimize the fun out of it. You can get most of the overworld items at the start of the game which just leaves you to go from dungeon to dungeon with nothing to break up the monotony, and the dungeons in question have so many shortcuts and entirely optional rooms that it's almost as if the game encourages you to skip past its challenges rather than engage with the room designs are intended. Zelda 1 has an incredible first 30-60 minutes, but once you get into that dungeon grind, it starts to drag.

So, without further ado, let's at least try to start ranking the dungeons in The Legend Of Zelda:

9. Death Mountain

While I was getting a bit exhausted by Dungeons 7 & 8, Death Mountain is when I was begging for the game to end. This is a shamelessly brutal dungeon, a massive behemoth filled with tons of dead ends and some of the most annoying enemies in the game, particularly the Wizzrobes. For some, Death Mountain is an incredible and fitting final challenge. For me, it's frustrating and unfun. I like to take the time to fully explore every room of all the first eight dungeons, but Death Mountain is so large and so much of it is just superfluous busy work and copies of rooms from previous dungeons that I don't even bother. It's not all bad, I do like how you get to take different paths depending on if you have the Magical Key, and some of the new enemies like Lanmola and Patra are pretty neat, but most of Death Mountain is just a back-to-back onslaught of Zelda 1's worst excesses.

8. Dungeon 6: The Dragon

The Dragon just isn't a very fun dungeon. It feels like it's meticulously designed to be a slog to play through, right from the start. Many have talked about how the very start of the dungeon can lock you out if you don't come in with at least one key, but even after that bit of bad design, The Dragon has everything I don't want in a Zelda dungeon. It's linear, with long and straight stretches without any bends or branching paths. It's repetitive and sluggish, with countless combat rooms of some of the tankiest enemies in the game such as Like Likes and Blue Wizzrobes. It even has a number of pretty cruel dead ends, some of which will require quite a bit of backtracking to get onto the right path. I don't particularly hate The Dragon, but I can say that I felt next to nothing while playing it, and it also marks the point where the first Zelda kinda started to overstay its welcome for me.

7. Dungeon 2: The Moon

Out of all the dungeons in Zelda 1, The Moon is probably the one that suffers most from this game's more freeform approach to dungeon design. Most of The Moon is laid out pretty much like a straight line, with each room on that line being connected to a standalone room to the right. This leads to a very repetitious layout and a short dungeon since half of it is pretty much entirely skippable even without bombs. There's also an abundance of rooms filled to the brim with snakes, which can be a bit annoying. That being said, I do really like that one Moldorm room for how sudden and spontaneous it is, and the purple color scheme in general is probably my favorite in the game.

6. Dungeon 3: The Manji

Okay, let me get the elephant out of the room first. Yes, I know The Manji has a somewhat unfortunate layout, it's a buddhist symbol and it's facing the wrong direction. Either way, The Manji's pretty mid. It doesn't do anything particularly wrong, it's far more windy and twisty than dungeons like The Moon were, but most of the rooms aren't particularly memorable and the abundance of Red Darknut spam can drag down the pacing. I'm also not a fan of how you get the raft in this dungeon but never use it until you're out in the overworld, there's no check to make sure the player has this mandatory item.

5. Dungeon 7: The Demon

The Demon is a mostly fine dungeon with some good and bad elements. The combat encounters are mostly solid, with a focus on the pretty fair Goriyas. I like that the Moldorm pits return, though there's way too many Digdogger minibosses and the Aquamentus fight is a joke. The Demon is easily one of the most nonlinear dungeons with a lot of branching paths, which is nice, but there's also a lot of points where you need to bomb a random wall to move onto the next part of the dungeon. Add in the fact that there are two sets of triple Dodongos in The Demon, and you get a dungeon that feels like it's tailor made to waste all your bombs. I do like the sidequest of having to buy bait though, even if the toll check should probably have been placed at the start of the dungeon to prevent potential backtracking.

4. Dungeon 1: The Eagle

Being the first dungeon in the entire series, it's pretty obvious that The Eagle is one of the most iconic Zelda dungeons, and for good reason. What 1-1 is for Mario, The Eagle is for Zelda, a pretty fantastic tutorial to how dungeons work. It's fairly guided and linear, there's a decent room variety, most of the enemies are pretty manageable, you get your first dungeon item in the Bow, and the first boss is a (admittedly easy) dragon). The Eagle is really short, though, and it suffers a similar issue to The Manji where the Bow isn't actually necessary to get until all the way at Dungeon 6. And even if you do get the Bow early on, if you don't know that you need to get the arrows somewhere else in the overworld, you wouldn't be able to use it. This game is way too cryptic for its own good sometimes.

3. Dungeon 8: The Lion

By the time I got to The Lion, I was feeling pretty burnt out with the game, but looking back at this dungeon, I actually have a lot of good things to say about it. I like how the white floors give The Lion a regal feel befitting the name and the focus on Darknuts. At this point, you should probably be powerful enough that despite the abundance of Darknuts, they're mostly pretty manageable. The Pols Voice spam on the other hand can get really annoying, but at least they're infrequent. The bosses are definitely the highlight here. You get to refight Manhandla a bunch of times, as well as Gohma but with an actual health bar, and the proper boss is Gleeok again. I also like how much of The Lion is completely optional. It's easier to navigate than The Demon and blocks you off less often, but there's more completely out-of-the-way side rooms that lead to cool rewards like the Magical Key.

2. Dungeon 5: The Lizard

A perfectly solid if a tad unremarkable dungeon, which just makes it all the more sad that it's in second place. The Lizard is the first dungeon that starts to really open up and let you explore, with a notable early room branching off into four directions, one of which leading to the dungeon item that will let you defeat the boss. While the boss in question is incredibly underwhelming, The Lizard is notable for the first time a dungeon item is even needed to defeat the boss to begin with. Otherwise, there's some decent water (lava?) bits that make good use of the ladder, a decent amount of Darknuts that can mercifully be taken out easily with your fully upgraded sword, and a pretty BS dead end after the boss that can trap you in a room with enemies.

1. Dungeon 4: The Snake

There is a lot to love about The Snake, it has so much going for it. It's on the linear side like The Moon, but its layout is far more windy and unpredictable. The dungeon actually requires you to take its branching paths to get stuff like keys and the Ladder, which gets fully utilized in the latter half of the dungeon in a manner not unlike modern Zelda games. There's a bunch of bodies of water that you can skip over once you get the Ladder, and that's pretty cool. This dungeon also has the first hidden Rupee room, along with the introduction of some of the more fun enemies to fight like Vire and Gleeok. And on top of that, this dungeon is also the first one that you can't access at the start of the game, and is serves as an important turning point at which Zelda 1 gets a boost in complexity and difficulty. The Snake is just a fantastic dungeon in any Zelda game, it's briskly paced, filled with memorable moments, and feels particularly modern compared to most other Zelda 1 dungeons.

In addition, I thought I'd also rank the dungeon bosses since they tend to be pretty important:

7. Digdogger

What a lame boss. Digdogger barely even attacks you, he just hovers around the room and lets the statues hugging the walls do most of the dirty work. As I said earlier, it's nice that Digdogger is the first boss that demands a dungeon item, you need to use the recorder to shrink it and expose it to damage. However, once you do use the recorder, the Digdogger goes down incredibly quickly with very little effort.

6. Ganon

What is it with NES games and invisible final bosses? Mega Man 4 had it too, though even its final boss was way better than the first Ganon fight. Ganon teleports around the room and you have to hit him four times to expose him, at which point you can take him out with a single Silver Arrow. Since sword beams do nothing on Ganon, you'll have to just blindly swipe around until you hit him a few times, and it's just not fun. It's a final boss that's in the dreaded area of being both underwhelming and annoying at the same time.

5. Dodongo

As a group of enemies, Dodongo can be pretty tricky to deal with since you'll need to precisely place bombs without wasting all of them. But as a singular boss like in The Moon, Dodongo is ridiculously trivial. The hitbox for placing bombs is quite generous, and he lacks any i-frames meaning you can quickly take him out in the span of five seconds without him moving an inch.

4. Gohma

One hit. In his first boss encounter, Gohma goes down in one single hit. To be fair, at the very least he tries to put up a fight. Gohma's eye opens and shuts so you need to time your arrow shot, and he moves around the room shooting projectiles at you. However, that still doesn't really change the fact that he goes down in one hit. Thankfully, his health bar does beef up when he becomes a miniboss, but since I'm reviewing this bosses as boss fights, I can't in good conscience put Gohma any higher.

3. Aquamentus 

Aquamentus is a cool first boss in theory. The fact that the first major encounter in Zelda that you have is a dragon, usually the final boss of fantasy adventure stories like this, really sets the bar high for the kinds of boss fights Zelda 1 will have. However, in execution, Aquamentus can be absolutely trivialized with the right amount of preparation. If you come with the arrows, he can be taken out with only two bow shots, and the magical shield can negate all of his attacks. Both of these items can be acquired before even entering your first dungeon. But even if you don't know to get this equipment, by the time you face off wtih Aquamentus again in The Demon, you'll absolutely have them.

2. Manhandla

Manhandla is such a massive improvement over the first two bosses, and it's still one of the best bosses in Zelda 1. For starters, it's actually challenging! Manhandla moves around the room erratically, shooting projectiles to make things even tougher. As you take out its heads, it begins to move even faster. There are a number of methods to defeating Manhandla, with the fight being easier the more powered up Link is, but nothing is quite as satisfying as using a bomb to blow off most if not all of its heads in one fell swoop.

1. Gleeok

Gleeok is easily the best boss in the first Zelda and it's not even close. Like Aquamentus, it's a dragon, but it's an actually tough one with a pretty beefy health bar and multiple heads you need to take out. To make things even more complicated, taking out one head causes it to fly around the room and shoot even more projectiles at you basically giving the Gleeok fight multiple phases that incremently amp up the difficulty. I also love how the later Gleeoks you fight have increasingly more heads, meaning that his fights actually get more and more difficult (looking at you Aquamentus). For as much as I rag on Tears Of The Kingdom, I was so glad to see Gleeok back, he's always been a badass Zelda boss all the way back to the first game.

Ranking Pepper Grinder Levels

 Pepper Grinder is a great game, and it has some fantastic level design. Despite only having 19 main stages, each stage introduces at least one new mechanic to the table which lends the game a ton of variety. With such a strong roster, I wanted to go ahead and rank them all.

19. Breaker Pass

Out of all the levels in Pepper Grinder, Breaker Pass is the only one to kind of be a miss for me. It's uncharacteristically unfocused, trying to juggle multiple mechanics that don't really mesh with each other. The primary mechanic are missiles which you can attack to your drill and fire to break ice blocks in the way, but they're not particularly fun to use and often drag the pacing to a halt. The other main mechanic is a friendly giant who shows up to give you a lift at certain points, but he's not too different mechanically from any other moving platform. Breaker Pass also tries to end with a fake out where the giant catches you just before you fall into a bed of spikes... but it's also incredibly easy to slip off the giant's hand and fall into the spikes anyway, killing the mood. Still, I should be grateful that the worst level in Pepper Grinder is still mediocre at worst and not actively unfun to play through.

18. Wellspring Canyon

I appreciate that Pepper Grinder makes its obligatory bramble level the second stage in the game. Wellspring Canyon introduces the underwater gameplay, but it doesn't really show off the mechanic's strengths. Most of the stage takes place in shallow pools with lots of patches of sand and brambles covering the surface, meaning that you pretty much never get the opportunity to try jet-skiing on top of the water. On the other side, since most of the stage takes place in small ponds, you also don't get the terrifying claustrophobic elements that later water stages delve into. Wellspring Canyon is still a fun stage and weaving through the brambles can be really satisfying, but it definitely suffers a bit from being in the early game.

17. Icemelt Marsh

Icemelt Marsh is very much a literal transition stage, taking you from the icecaps of World 3 to the gross, swamp marshes of World 4. As a result, there really isn't too much to write home about it. There are a few memorable setpieces like a creepy underwater segment where you're dodging tentacles trying to drag you further in or a fun finale where you're drilling your way up a sinking ship, but those are brief instances in an otherwise pretty unremarkable stage.

16. Marauder Beach

Marauder Beach is the first stage where you can really let loose with the jetski mechanic. If you angle your drill right at the top of a body of water, you can start zipping across the waves super fast. It's always a blast to pull off and makes for some very fun speedruns. Most of Marauder Beach is admittedly somewhat empty, but between dealing with the sharks and the final bit with volcanos shooting rocks into the water, there's still a lot to like here.

15. Lost Claim

Lost Claim is the first level in Pepper Grinder so naturally it's going to be a lot simpler than most of the other stages. However, it's still a pretty great tutorial, quickly introducing you to how to use the drill before tossing you into some tight and tricky platforming right from the get-go. Lost Claim doesn't waste your time, it starts testing your skills right after you've learned them, but it's still generous enough that it doesn't feel like much of a difficulty spike. When I tried out Pepper Grinder's demo a few weeks ago, I stopped immediately after playing Lost Claim because it made such a good impression that I already knew I wanted to get the full game.

14. Poison Ridge

 Poison Ridge is your grapple-hook tutorial. Just like with Lost Claim, it keeps the tutorialization quick and out of the way, and by the end of the stage, you'll already be chaining together digs and hook tosses like a pro. The grapple hook in this game can admittedly be a bit tricky to get used to, Poison Ridge is probably the first real spike of this game for that reason, but once you do get the hang of it, this is a very fun speedrunning stage with a great flow.

13. Deeprot City

Deeprot City is the final level in the game, and as such, it tests you on everything you've learned. You got grapple points, cannons, tight digging bits, moving platforms, brambles, the giant robot, the gun, nearly every type of enemy, it's a full gauntlet, and most of it is quite fun. However, what keeps Deeprot City from getting any higher for me is the elevator segment at the end, which floods you with enemies for a smidge too long, on top of already being placed quite a bit away from a checkpoint. It is the final level so I can't complain too much, but I did get pretty frustrated by the end there.

12. Roboburr Pits

Roboburr Pits is one of the less memorable levels for me, but it's not even all that bad, and both of its main gimmicks are pretty solid. The giant sawblades serve as a nice obstacle that can be genuinely pretty tough to sync up with, and using water to create rock to dig through out of the lava is a clever reversal of the volcanic rocks in Marauder Beach. This stage is another notable spike in difficulty, but it's a fair one that's quite satisfying to complete.

11. Witchfire Bog

Witchfire Bog is a stage all about ooze. There's the dangerous blue ooze that you need to carefully squeeze around, and the helpful purple ooze that slings you back if you try to escape. It's that latter mechanic that really makes this level for me, the purple ooze is super creative and fun to use, and trying to find the nearest path of dirt you can use to break out is a fun platforming puzzle. However, Witchfire Bog did feel a bit too short and easy, especially for a secret level. It feels like it ended just before it could really make the absolute most out of its very cool ideas.

10. Magmaworks

Magmaworks is a fairly traditional stage about moving platforms, but man is it well-executed. Instead of making you wait for platforms, these moving platforms are on a conveyor belt, so you need to carefully land on one as you hop from dirt patch to dirt patch. Speedruns of this stage have such a fantastic sense of flow to them as you jump between the land and dirt, and the whole stage just feels great to play through.

9. Headstone Peak

 Headstone Peak is a unique change of pace as it's a vertically-driven level that's more focused on puzzle-solving. The main mechanic are these gates that you can push open with your drill that will shift other gates that they're linked to. The puzzles involving these gates starts out pretty simple, but some of the later rooms had me genuinely scratching my head. It's not all slow-paced puzzle-solving though, as there's also plenty of more fast-paced drilling sequences as you get to try vertical platforming for the first time.

8. Terminal Depths

Or as I like to call it, the Metal Slug stage. Terminal Depths is the second level where you get to wield a gun, and mow down a ton of enemies in a wrecked subway station. The dark and dingy setting is great and compliments the action well, and the sequences where you ride on a subway car as enemies pop out from the ceiling is a nice dose of adrenaline. The whole stage is just nonstop balls-to-the-walls action and it makes finally surfacing to see the sky again feel like such a relief.

7. Brittle Glacier

Brittle Glacier is just pure fun, with two equally enjoyable central mechanics. First is obviously the snowmobile which you can use to absolutely plow through everything in your path, but for most of the level, you'll also be dealing with frozen pieces of rock that crumble as you drill through them. Despite not interacting much, both the snowmobile and ice fragments force you to keep moving, giving Brittle Glacier a real sense of speed and momentum. Props for also having some of the trickiest coin spots to find in the whole game.

6. Sea Of Teeth

Sea Of Teeth rivals the abyss from Rayman Origins as one of the scariest underwater stages I've ever played. It starts off pretty unassuming. You're in an ice world, the ice will freeze you if you stay in it for too long, so the solution is simple: Stay out of the water. You can even use the jetski to make things even easier. But eventually, you start to hit giant tundras that force you to swim under them, drilling into floating chunks of ice to use as a safe zone. The second half of Sea Of Teeth forces you to go deep underwater, and it is immensely uncomfortable. The eerie music, dim lighting, and constant threat of freezing gives these bits such an oppressive and claustrophobic atmosphere. It all adds up to what is easily one of the most striking and memorable stages in the game.

5. Cannoneer's Folly

Cannoneer's Folly was the first level in Pepper Grinder to truly wow me. It's a stage that feels particularly inspired by the DKC games, between its serene atmosphere, tough difficulty, and of course, the fact that cannons are a main mechanic. The cannons in Pepper Grinder are very fun to use too, and add an interesting twist to a fairly common mechanic by forcing you to re-activate your drill before you collide with something. I also have to mention the music, Airy, an absolutely blissful piece of DnB that easily stands out as my favorite track in the game.

4. Cannon Climb

 Cannon Climb is basically Cannoneer's Folly but vertical and even more atmospheric. As you can probably tell from then name, Cannon Climb is all about using the cannons to scale a giant mountain. The platforming is already a ton of fun, with plenty of solid timing challenges and tricky jumps as you bounce between using the cannons and digging upwards. But what really elevates Cannon Climb for me is the mood it creates. The sparse landscape, lack of enemies, and framing that often shoves you to the left or right of the screen does so much to create a feeling of loneliness.

3. Giant's Kitchen

 Giant's Kitchen is the first gun level, and it was an incredibly pleasant surprise. Going from having to poke around enemies for a weakpoint to blasting away at everything in your path is such a fun powertrip, though the enemy count is numerous enough that this stage doesn't feel like a cakewalk either. However, what elevates Giant's Kitchen even more is the setting. A cave filled with giant food and pots you can swim around inside is easily one of the most inventive locations in the game, and really solidifies Giant's Kitchen as one of my favorite levels.

2. Sunken City Limits

 Sunken City Limits is a stage all about destroying buildings. The first half is mostly about digging through the supports that hold up buildings, and then escaping as they collapse around you. It's a fun concept used in some very inventive platforming sequences. However, once you think you have this stage figured out, you come across a giant mech that you get to pilot, and destroy all of the buildings and enemies in your way. Like with the gun, it's an incredibly fun powertrip that ends Sunken City Limits on a very high note.

1. Crystal Falls

Crystal Falls has one of my favorite tropes in platformers, climbing up a waterfall. The main gimmick is that you have to drill up these giant ice chunks that are falling. They spawn somewhat randomly so you have to be on your toes, but they're also big enough that the stage doesn't feel too unfair or unpredictable. Eventually, bombs get tossed into the mix which makes things even more complicated. While I'd still call this one of the easier stages in the game, it has such a fantastic flow to it, on top of a comfy atmosphere to it between the soft colors and bouncy music. Out of all of Pepper Grinder's fantastic stages, Crystal Falls is the one I had the most fun with.