2024 Games I Played: Bakeru

Continuing this trend of finally being able to play games I previously couldn't this year, GoodFeel's Japan-exclusive Goemon-inspired 3D platformer, Mameda No Bakeru, has gotten a surprise release in the west as Bakeru. I like GoodFeel, I like Goemon, and I like 3D platformers, so I knew this was definitely a game that I wanted to get my hands on once it came. And while I think it has some issues, overall, it's a really fun time.

When Bakeru was first announced, pretty much everyone clocked it as a spiritual successor to the Goemon series, especially considering that a lot of the developers at GoodFeel are ex-Konami, some having even worked on Goemon before. While GoodFeel themselves claimed they weren't directly inspired by it, the similarities are very much there. The main character, Bakeru, has a similar color scheme and design to Goemon. The music has that same energetic Japanese-influenced pop feel to it, the levels are set in real life locations in Japan, and of course, there are mech battles. However, upon really playing Bakeru myself, I will say that a lot of the comparisons are pretty surface level. Goemon always had a bit of adventure game DNA, with some entries even being obviously based on the Zelda series, but Bakeru is a pretty straight-forward linear platformer. Goemon kept the combat simple and breezy, but Bakeru aims to flesh the combat out more. And even on a story level, the cast isn't made of ninjas. Rather, Bakeru is a tanuki and his partner Sun is an inchling. So I wouldn't really say that Bakeru scratched that Goemon itch exactly, though that's not really a bad thing either.

As far as purely gameplay goes, Bakeru is a fairly standard 3D action-platformer, though it executes the tropes of the genre quite well. Bakeru's movement is very polished and reliable, and you get a good amount of optional moves you can pull off like a vault or a side flip. I do wish the game let me map buttons myself since neither layout really felt ideal, but I did eventually become pretty comfortable with the control setup after a few stages. The combat feels like it took a lot of influence from beat-em-ups, you can beat down foes with your drumsticks and have a number of charged moves and even a few temporary moveset transformations to speed up the process. To say that the combat is the weakest part of Bakeru would be a bit harsh since it's not even bad platformer combat. Similarly to the movement, it feels really responsive and polished, and the strong sound design makes whacking enemies feel incredibly satisfying. And those mech battles I mentioned are really, really fun. Dare I say, even better than the ones in Goemon since they let you move around the battlefield in third person rather than stick you in the cockpit. However, I do think that my biggest issue with Bakeru is that there is too much combat with little variation. Enemies are peppered all throughout pretty much every stage and most of them go down in multiple hits, so getting involved in combat often feels like it drags the pace to a halt and makes the game as a whole feel more repetitive. It got to the point that I was running past enemies because I just did not want to waste time engaging with them.

And that's a real shame because Bakeru's greatest strength is definitely the level design. This is one massive platformer clocking in at over 60 stages, but it also manages to keep tossing fun new mechanics and ideas at you until the end, from a level that takes place entirely on a cruise ship, to an autoscroll stage on a parade, to a memorably surreal stage with rotating houses, to an enemy gauntlet atop a rollercoaster, to a Fall Guys-esque obstacle course built into a town. These stages rarely ever challenge you, but they're fun and creative enough that the low difficulty never really became an issue for me. And that's not even getting into the pretty fun vehicle stages, which amp up the variety even further. Despite Bakeru being a generally linear game overall, the main stages are also quite lengthy and sprawling, filled with hidden nooks and crannies, side paths, and eight tucked-away collectibles each. I ended up sinking upwards of a half hour into fully exploring some of these stages, and as a whole, fully completing Bakeru took me a solid 15-20 hours which is really impressive considering the asking price of $40. That being said, I will say I think it went on a bit long by the end. Between the slow combat pace, the long level length, and just how many there were, I did great pretty worn at by the last batch of levels.

Bakeru also has a pretty stellar presentation, which is to be expected from GoodFeel. The 3D visuals are super clean, the characters animate quite expressively, and the colors are bright and eyecatching. But most of all, I love the character designs, they're super cartoony and cute. Even when the game isn't being made out of arts and crafts, GoodFeel remains the masters of games that are just aggressively adorable. My one issue with the visuals in Bakeru is definitely the performance, which dips at a pretty frequent rate. From what I can tell, it seems Bakeru runs at an uncapped 60fps which I generally think is a bad idea. Unless you can ensure that your game mostly runs smoothly, I always prefer a stable 30 over an unstable 60. Thankfully, the dips are never aggressive enough that it ruins the experience, especially with how easy the game is. A pivotal aspect of the Goemon series has always been the soundtracks, which usually blend traditional Japanese music with upbeat pop to incredible effect, and I'm glad to say Bakeru definitely lives up to the legacy in this aspect. I was surprised to find the lead composers this time were actually ND Cube's go-to Mario Party composers for the last few games, and they did a pretty great job here at emulating the Goemon feel with tracks like Tokushima, Kanagawa, and Nara.

Overall, Bakeru is a fun, polished, and surprisingly content-rich platformer that does boast a lot of similarities to the Goemon series, but doesn't quite recapture the same exact feel. While I wish the combat was given a bit less emphasis and the pacing was a bit brisker, the polished controls, consistently inventive and original level design, engaging exploration, and charming presentation still made for a really enjoyable 3D platformer. I wouldn't say this is one of my favorite GoodFeel games, but it's another strong showing from a studio that's never really steered me wrong yet. And between this and the incredibly slept-on Princess Peach Showtime, I've never been more excited to see what they have in store next.

4/5 Stars

Why I Love Bayonetta Origins

As I've stated, Bayonetta Origins was my favorite original game of 2023, but I wasn't sure if it would be an all-timer yet. I think this was one of those games that I needed to sit on for a bit, see how I'd look back on it after about a year. Recently, the official soundtrack for the game finally released and I decided to give it a listen, and before I knew, all the memories suddenly came flooded back. The stunning visuals, the incredible bosses, the countless memorable moments, the powerful emotional payoff that was the final act. Yeah, Bayonetta Origins is an all-timer.

Bayonetta Origins is honestly one of the most interesting enigmas of a game I've seen lately, to the point where I'm still a bit surprised that it even exists. Of course, this is a Bayonetta game that replaces the sex, gore, and constant flashy action that the series is known for with slow-paced puzzle adventure, celtic fairytale whimsy, and light-hearted visuals. But on a larger scale, it also marks Platinum Games going outside their comfort zone that making a far more experimental adventure title than the character action games they usually make, the likes of which we haven't seen from them since Okami. I wouldn't say that Bayonetta Origins shouldn't work, but I will say that it felt like a game that many people just ignored. It's a niche game within an already niche series, who is Bayonetta Origins even for?

Well, me. I'm who it's for. I'm someone who doesn't shy away when expressing if a spinoff happens to do more for me than the main entries. Crystal Chronicles is my favorite Final Fantasy, I like the Mystery Dungeon games more than mainline Pokemon, and while I do really enjoy character action games, Bayonetta Origins clicks with me on a level that the main trilogy just doesn't. I love Zelda-style adventure games, I love unconventional dual-stick control schemes, I love ethereal naturalistic landscapes and uniquely stylistic artstyles, and most of all, I love when relatively notable studios like Platinum Games go outside of their comfort zone and take a huge chance. We really don't get many games like Bayonetta Origins anymore, it really feels like one of those experimental AA PS2 titles, you know? Like Ribbit King, or Stretch Panic, or Chulip, or Robot Alchemic Drive, or of course God Hand and Okami.

Bayonetta Origins immediately sticks out for its beautiful watercolor artstyle that gives off the impression that you're playing through a coloring book. It's a frankly timeless look that plays to the Switch's strengths, with bold and vivid coloring that look especially stunning on the OLED, and using the console's distinctive aliasing to create a soft and fuzzy look to everything. Frankly, the entire presentation is immaculate, from how all the menus are these dripping watercolor paintings, to the surreal Tir Na Nogs and how they shatter so convincingly, to the dynamic camerawork that knows when to put you right in Cereza's shoes and when to zoom out and let you focus on the game. And of course, the soundtrack is absolutely gorgeous. I did not give it enough credit at first, but Bayonetta Origins' OST is incredible. Most of it keeps things fairly light-hearted with lush orchestral pieces (A New Adventure Awaits, Reach For The Moon), but it always makes sure to take things up a notch for the phenomenal battle music (Tussle With The Tricksy Faeries, The Circus Of Horror, How To Slay A Dragon). And pretty much the entire final act is just wall-to-wall incredible, emotional powerful tracks (Clash Of Wills: Unbound, A New Witch Is Born), culminating in the hauntingly beautiful lyrical ending theme, Together In The Moonlit Forest. The only other ending theme to catch me this off-guard was that of Ico, which is insanely high praise.

Bayonetta Origins has a fairly simple story, all things considered. It's a coming of age story about a young Cereza who ventures into a dangerous forest to prove herself as a witch, only to accidentally turn her stuffed animal into a familiar forcing them to get a lot. You already know that by the end, Cereza and her new familiar Cheshire will get along, and Cereza will become the powerful Umbra witch we all know and love, but it's the way Origins goes about executing this arc that makes all the difference. This game makes sure that Cereza and Cheshire earn their development by the end, and it does so by putting them in a number of memorable conflicts that push their relationship in different directions. It's a real emotional rollercoaster of a game. It starts light-hearted enough as you get to enjoy the very entertaining banter between Cereza and Cheshire, then you get the satisfaction of seeing them finally work together to defeat the Jabberwock, but then they have a nasty falling out that I'd say works as one of the more effective third-act breakups I've seen, but then Cereza saves Cheshire all on her own in quite the tense stealth mission, leading to an absolutely glorious final act that has the two working in tandem to take down Cereza's evil teacher, Morgana. It says a lot that I'm able to so easily recap most of Origins' major story beats almost a year after playing it, it's all just so well delivered.

Man, all that and I haven't even talked about the gameplay yet. Well, don't worry, Bayonetta Origins plays wonderfully. The main hook of Origins is that you play as Cereza and Cheshire at the same time, controlling the former with the left side of the Switch and the latter with the right side of the Switch. Cereza can cast certain spells and walk through areas that Cheshire can't navigate, while Cheshire can get around easier and actually attack enemies. Both the game's platforming puzzles and combat will require you to master using both characters in tandem with each other, and while there's certainly a bit of a learning curve to it, it feels really good being able to master controlling both of them at the same time. Though, of course, you could always have a friend join and make this a co-op game too, it works just as well. The adventure side of Origins is generally pretty stellar, it's always fun to try and get both characters to your destination, and there's a number of fun traversal moves like a sling that lets you fling yourself across platforms. The combat, on the other hand, does take a bit to really get going since you start out with fairly little moves. However, once you start gaining more elemental abilities and working your way up the skill tree, Origins' combat system does develop a lot of depth and a satisfying sense of flow that definitely lives up to Platinum Games' legacy of fantastic combat systems.

In terms of its overworld, Bayonetta Origins has a metroidvania/Zelda sort of approach to it where you learn more abilities over the course of the game that you can use to access areas you've previously missed, and there's a lot of optional collectibles for those who want to explore and backtrack. A highlight for me are definitely the Tir Na Nogs, these challenge rooms that remind me a lot of the Shrines from Zelda, though without any of the filler. Though while the exploration is great, Origins is also able to pull off some really memorable linear segments too. The Fairieland Tower is an early highlight for being this veritable jungle gym with trains to dodge and fun vertical navigation, but there's also the aforementioned rescue mission where you play solely as Cereza. If you're just going from start to finish, Bayonetta Origins is an incredibly tight experience that constantly tosses new visuals and environments for you to explore. But if you want to go for full completion, there's also a lot to dig into, especially if you're also delving into the time trials, costumes, and the postgame Jeanne chapter.

But then, there's the icing on the cake. This is a Platinum Game after all, even Origins has some of the coolest bosses I've fought in years. The boss fights in Bayonetta Origins aren't especially frequent, but they are easily the biggest highlights of the game, perfectly toeing the line between being exhilirating linear spectacles and genuine skill checks. The Jabberwock is an early highlight for how you spend so much of the fight on the backfoot, it's a real difficulty spike that really complements how in over their heads Cereza and Cheshire are at this point. Puca & Affinity stand out for the fun chase sequences that really test your ability to control Cereza & Cheshire at the same time. Lukaon is easily my favorite fight in the game for how he uses all the elemental powers you've learned against you, the utterly bonkers Cereza-only setpieces in the first half, and the incredible face-to-face fight that has you getting back your abilities one by one Okami-style. In any other game, this would be one of the greatest final bosses ever made, but of course, Platinum still wasn't done. The final encounter with Morgana is a bit more spectacle-driven, but between the heart-pumping chase sequences at the start, the trippy antigravity arenas, and the final phase itself which finally gives you Witch Time and lets you go all out as if it was an actual mainline Bayonetta game, it still stands out as an incredibly satisfying and thrilling finale.

Bayonetta Origins was a game I had fallen head over heels for the moment I gave its demo a shot, and I grew to adore it increasingly more on the game went on. On the surface, it's a wonderful adventure game with inventive gameplay, show-stopping bosses, a ton of content, a charming and well-written story, and a beautiful presentation. But even more than that, it's an experimental shot in the dark that fully paid off, taking an established series in a radically different series and executing the shift pretty much flawlessly. Bayonetta Origins is the definition of a sleeper hit, it's an absurdly niche title that came out with pretty much zero fanfare, but it somehow managed to stick with more than any other game I've played last year.

2024 Games I Played: Pizza Tower

Well... this is awkward.

So I've shouted out Pizza Tower a few times by now, and it's always been in somewhat of a negative light. The developer had previously voiced his intention to not release the game on Switch, and as someone who doesn't own a PC, I'll admit it did make me a tad bitter (the Cocoon incident definitely didn't help either). But as it turns out, they must've changed their mind because as of a recent direct, Pizza Tower is now on Switch! So, like with Spark 3, I finally get the chance to play a game I never thought I would play. Did it live up to the hype?

Of course it did, it's freaking Pizza Tower.

Pizza Tower And Its Inspiration

As a fan of the Wario Land series, I don't think I ever really anticipated the sheer rise in popularity the fourth entry would have these last few years. When I was growing up, everyone seemed to like 3 the best. Wario Land 4 was a really singular platformer for a long time. No prior Wario Land game was quite like it, particularly in terms of the added focus on speed and movement mechanics. While the fantastic Shake It did take a lot of inspiration from its gameplay loop, it had the cost of not being as distinctly weird, surreal, and unhinged in terms of its visuals. The only thing that really held WL4 back was that there just wasn't enough of it, so it probably shouldn't have come as much of a surprise that we'd start getting a bunch of indie games that attempted to build off of the groundwork it laid.

Of course, Pizza Tower and Antonblast are the two most notable ones, and it makes me really excited that I'm able to experience both this year. For as much as those two games get compared, I actually find it interesting to see just how different their approaches really are. Antonblast, from my experience with the demo, leaned more into the exploration side of Wario Land 4. There are an absolute metric ton of collectibles, and it leans heavily on the simple joy of breaking stuff to rack up a high score. Pizza Tower, on the other hand, focuses more on the speed side of Wario Land 4, taking those iconic escape sequences that defined the original and stretching that philosophy across the entire game. It's a great demonstration of how different people can have different takeaways from the same piece of media.

The Obvious Artstyle Praise

So let's get the obvious out of the way, once again, Pizza Tower's visuals are something to behold. The game goes for an absolutely unhinged sketchy style that looks equal parts amateurish and incredibly impressive, with fluid animations that have zero concept of "on model", frequent easter eggs and gags being tossed at you every minute, and nonstop moving NPCs, enemies, and level assets giving a feel of constant motion and action. There are so many little animations and details, from enemies screaming just as you're about to hit them, to Peppino's many anxiety-induced split-second expressions. Pizza Tower had me hooked solely just to see what visual gags would await me in the next level. The music is also pretty great, full of variety and quirkiness. I love how many of the instruments sound compressed, almost like they're coming out of a GBA. I'll elaborate more on some of my favorite tracks as I go through the game, but just know that the whole OST is pure quality.

The Unassuming Tutorial And Its Potential

Pizza Tower starts things off fairly slowly with a tutorial and a fairly easy first level in John Gutter. I'll be honest and say that neither of the stages really hooked me just yet. The tutorial does have a very funny remix of Spider Man 2's memetic pizza song, Funiculi Funicula, and John Gutter does offer a safe place to mess around with the controls, but neither stage really blew me away. The tutorial stage had zero collectibles or ranks to go for, unlike Wario Land 4's tutorial stage, the Hall Of Hieroglyphics. And John Gutter is just kind of boring, with a fairly dull city look that gets drastically overshadowed by a later stage and barely any exclusive gimmicks to speak of. These levels aren't bad, they're perfectly solid introductions to the game, but they definitely don't show off Pizza Tower at its best.

That being said, one thing that these two stages definitely show off is how good the movement is. Peppino's base movement isn't too dissimilar from Wario in 4. You can do a dash/bash move, grab and toss stuff, roll down slopes, but all these moves are expanded upon as well. You can use the dash to enter a Metroid-esque super jump, attack in the air to dive to the ground or gain extra height, and most of your moves never stop your momentum, they all transition between each other incredibly fluidly. This means that you can really enter a sort of flow state where you just start dashing through a stage at high speeds without running into anything, and while that's not something I'm especially good at myself, it feels fantastic to pull off in those rare moments.

Pizzascape, Ancient Cheese, & The Collectibles

The next two levels amp up the complexity quite nicely. Ancient Cheese is one of the less remarkable stages in terms of theming, but it amps up the platforming by having you traverse a bunch of dissipating cheese platforms. Pizzascape is where it's really at though, it might even be the Pizza Tower stage. It's got a unique medieval theme, some banger music, and introduces the game's first transformation. Yep, just like in Wario Land, Peppino gets a whole bunch of situational transformations from interacting with certain enemies, and they usually feel great. 

The Knight in Pizzascape is a highlight though, as it allows you to slide down a slope and dash forward, breaking certain barriers in your path. The platforming puzzles this mechanic creates where you need to find the slope facing in the right direct feel incredibly Wario Land, showing an innate understanding of the level design philosophy behind those levels. And using the Knight to find some of the stage's collectibles felt like serious ah-ha moments. While Pizza Tower is more focused on speed, there is no shortage of stuff to find like the Toppins, a hidden treasure ala Virtual Boy Wario Land, and a bunch of secret rooms hidden in obscure areas, and Pizzascape has some of the better collectible placement in the game so far.

Bloodsauce Dungeon & Speedrun Level Design

Bloodsauce Dungeon seems to be a fairly overlooked stage among the fandom, but I found it to be the point where Pizza Tower really had me sold. This stage lacks many exclusive gimmicks, but it makes up for that with its unique vertical design. You spend the stage running downwards before breaking the Pillar John and dashing all the way back up, and it was this point where the controls finally clicked for me. Just a little bit into that escape sequence, something clicked in me and I was able to dash up an entire room without bumping into anything. This was the first time I entered that aforementioned flow state in Pizza Tower, and it felt really nice. 

However, this stage also shows off just how speedrun-focused Pizza Tower is. Despite the collectibles, Pizza Tower's levels still feel very much designed with speedrunning in mind. They're quite a bit more linear than Wario Land 4's stages, often containing a lot of tight straightaways purely designed for you to run through. Of course, Pizza Tower even has combo and ranking systems that reward you for killing enemies in quick succession. Sadly, I couldn't really get into speedrunning Pizza Tower like I did with some other games. Levels in this game can be quite long and while the movement does feel really good in general, I found myself often misinputting at high speeds with how many options you have. I did not bother going for any higher ranks and honestly, that didn't really impact my opinion on Pizza Tower that much, I still really liked it. However, it did also hit me at points that I felt like I was missing something, I was worried that these levels were made to be run through and I just wasn't engaging with it on that level.

The First Two Bosses: Pepperman & The Vigilante

Pizza Tower's bosses are a bit interesting. I am a bit mixed on them, not because I specifically had bad experiences with them, but because I can see that happening for others. While most of Pizza Tower gives you invincibility like in Wario Land 2-3, the bosses give you an actual health bar. On top of that, they have multiple phases, can be quite lengthy, and you'll have to restart the entire thing if you die. I've played more than my share of games with these kinds of boss fights, though Tropical Freeze stands out the most in this area. It can make the bosses feel like massive impenetrable walls that block off the rest of the game for you, and after dying right at the end of the second phase of my first attempt at the Pepperman fight, I was worried this would happen to me.

Thankfully, that didn't, and I'm glad too because Pizza Tower's fights are really fun. The fight with Pepperman is easily the weakest of the bunch, with the titular character having a fairly basic attack pattern and most of the difficulty coming from the final stretch just flooding you with projectiles that pin you into a corner. But out of anxiety, I tried to play the next fight as early as I could just to make sure I wouldn't get blocked only to find that The Vigilante is one of the most fun boss fights I've played in quite a bit. A Meta Knight-inspired western-tinged duel where you get a gun and are let loose to spam attacks at this fast-moving boss, all the attack patterns being entirely readable and satisfying to dodge, and the fight ending with a quick draw section just as icing on the cake?! All my doubts towards Pizza Tower's boss design were completely erased thanks to The Vigilante, this is a fantastic fight and I immediately became excited to check out the rest.

World 2, Keeping Things Consistent

The first two stages of World 2 don't do much to really push the envelope, but they're still quite fun. Oregano Desert is the longest stage so far and packs in a solid variety of biomes and mechanics, from a desert setting, to small pizza gas stations you hop into to rescue Toppins, to mines with explosive TNT, to a brief section in a UFO. The highlight of this stage though is the fact that it's the first stage to have an its escape sequence in an almost entirely original section of the level, marking a solid difficulty spike. Wasteyard is one of the less memorable levels for me due to its more muted color palette and tone, but it also has a few moments of brilliance like a fun if a tad unwieldly ghost transformation and the escape sequence having you deal with a ghost relentlessly chasing you down as well. It's not until the third stage when I felt Pizza Tower really started to kick it up a notch in terms of level design.

Fun Farm was the stage I was most excited for and it did not disappoint. I knew ahead of time that Pizza Tower would have a cameo from Mort The Chicken, the protagonist of a failed PS1 3D platformer by Ed Annunziata, the guy behind all sorts of quirky projects like Ecco The Dolphin, Mr Bones, and Tiny Tank. The sheer randomness of this cameo is funny on its own, but I guess Pizza Tower had the last laugh because Mort is also an incredibly fun mechanic. He latches himself on your head and you can use him to doublejump, peck at obstacles, and fling yourself off of hooks like a sort of grapple mechanic. He feels incredibly good to use, and as per the usual, grapple mechanics are always a ton of fun in games. The last stage of World 2 is Fast Food Saloon, and while not as showy as Funny Farm, it's pretty fun and frenetic, with a solid amount of mechanics forcing you to go fast like having to beat a rocking horse to some of the Toppins.

Crust Cove And My Own Personal P-Rank

The first level of Floor 3, Crust Cove, may end up being the level I remember the most when all's said and done. It's an incredible stage, all the different elements that make Pizza Tower what it is coalesce into a wonderful whole. It's a lush and vibrant beach stage with a wide variety of environments, fairly open areas ripe for exploration, fun speed-focused mechanics like running on water and the barrel transformation, some of the best music in the game, and exciting chase sequences that have you shot at by a cannon in the foreground. It's easily one of the best stages in the game, maybe even a Top 3 contender. It also drove me up the freaking wall. 

One of the Secret Eyes in this stage is right before a point of no return, tasking you with pulling off a clean run or else you've be launched up and miss it, forcing you to restart the level. I had to restart this stage several times attempting to get this Secret Eye, and it's not early on, it's around the midpoint of the level. And when I was repeatedly playing Crust Cove, I ended up pretty much mastering that first half so I could get to the Secret Eye faster. I even managed to pull off a nearly unbroken combo just after a few tries, and it felt really satisfying. So even though I wasn't aiming to go for a rank, I get it. It feels really good to master a stage in Pizza Tower, and while I don't really have the time to invest in going for S or even P ranks, I can see why others find it so addicting. At this point in the game, some of these collectibles really start to be tied to speed and mastery of the level design, and not just exploration. So I think I may have been wrong earlier, even if you don't go for the ranks and solely focus on collectible hunting, I think Pizza Tower might actually be just as fulfilling.

The Noise Is Cool

Once again, I decided to play the boss early just to make sure I wouldn't be walled off by a difficulty spike, and thankfully, I still wasn't. However, The Noise was a solid bump in difficulty yet again, both due to his random attack patterns and just how busy the screen could be. I had to really focus as to not lose track of everything, and got pretty overwhelmed by the end. I was so scared there'd be a third phase when The Noise pulled out a gun, but thank goodness his girlfriend showed up. While I don't think The Noise's boss fight is quite as original and exciting as The Vigilante's, it more than makes up for that with just how oozing with personality it is. The Noise is such a goofy little dude of a character, from his distinctly cheeky grin, to his erratic attacks, to the giant Noise balloon covering up the background in the second phase. No wonder people wanted to play as him, he's so silly.

Another Moveset?!

Gnome Forest tosses another wild curveball at you by having you briefly play as Peppino's friend Gustavo and his pet rat Brick. It's not just a gimmick though, Gustavo has a fully fleshed out moveset that's almost on par with Peppino's in terms of fluidity and versatility. You could build an entire unique game around Gustavo & Brick, and yet you only play as them like twice in the entire campaign. The novelty of playing as a new character really carries Gnome Forest because the level itself is nothing too special. There's some annoying enemies that are even more irritating to deal with as the somewhat more vulnerable Gustavo, and the sheer length of the stage must definitely make going for a high rank a pain, but otherwise, I thought it was a lot of fun being able to mess around with an entirely new moveset.

The other Gustavo & Brick level, The Pig City, shows up pretty early on in Floor 4, and honestly I think it's a better showcase of what they're capable of despite having less of them. The Pig City is already a fairly fun city level that amps up the griminess that John Gutter only hinted at, while also packing in some pretty hilarious comedic moments and fun gimmicks like grind rails. Halfway through the stage, Peppino gets arrested and you need to play as Gustavo & Brick to save him. The brilliant thing about this part is the fact that Gustavo & Brick utilize the stage's mechanics entirely differently from how Peppino does. Peppino grinds on rails, but Gustavo hangs on them. Peppino uses the balloons to float up, while Brick swallows the balloons to use as an air boost. The police rats try to grab onto Peppino, but they ignore Gustavo in favor of capturing Brick. It's such an unnecessary extra detail and I love it.

Floor 3 Is The Gift That Keeps On Giving

I think Floor 3 might actually be my favorite floor in Pizza Tower, the level quality really took a massive bump. Crust Cove and Gnome Forest were already a ton of fun, but Deep Dish 9 and GOLF are also serious standouts. Deep Dish 9 is a fairly traditional stage with a cool space theming that has you hopping across planets, but its two mechanics in the rockets and bubbles are not only incredibly fun and satisfying to use, but they play off each other really well and has you hopping between both modes by the end. The entire stage just has an incredible flow to it, more than most other Pizza Tower stages even. GOLF, on the other hand, feels like Pizza Tower's Pinball Zone. It's fairly gimmicky and asks you to take things a bit slower and play golf. I was worried this stage would be too gimmicky, but honestly, it's surprisingly fun. The golf mechanics are simple enough to be able to execute at high speeds, pars are pretty generous and getting under par is only needed for a high score, and having to play on unfamiliar courses under pressure during Pizza Time was really tense and exhilirating. Definitely another highlight for me.

Fake Peppino: The Walliest Boss

As usual, I fought the next and penultimate boss the first chance I got. I already knew about Fake Peppino going in, but as always, he's a fairly decent fight with some fun well-telegraphed attacks that slowly amp up in complexity as it goes on. The chase at the end, while easy, was also a pretty nice scare. However, this was also the boss that gave me the most trouble so far, even being the first one to take me more than a single attempt. The second phase has a lot of overlapping attacks that can get quite overwhelming, and while it was satisfying to take down, I think this of all the fights is the one most likely to wall people and that's mostly because of how long the first phase. In between each hit, Fake Peppino sends a bunch of clones to attack you, and you kinda just have to wait for him to show up again. All three of the previous bosses rarely make you wait that long to get in a hit, so it leaves Fake Peppino's fight feeling like a bit of a drop in quality (though I'll admit, it's still more fun than the Pepperman fight overall).

World 4, It's A Mixed Bag

World 4 is a bit of a step down from the last two in general, though it's not all bad. Peppibot Factory was a fairly forgettable stage for the most part, but it is the second one to have a big vertical emphasis, the pizza box transformation is incredibly fun to use, and the goal running away during Pizza Time was a great surprise, definitely one of my favorite tropes in games. Refridgerator-Refridgerator-Freezerator is an ice level so I already knew I was gonna like it a lot, but I especially love the metroidvania-ish structure it took on where you spend the first half of the stage blocked by ice blocks you can't break before getting a powerup halfway through that you can use to access all those areas you couldn't the first time through. 

However, Oh Shit is probably my least favorite standard level so far, packing in all of Pizza Tower's worst traits. You have the worst transformation in the sluggish Cheese Monster, tons of mechanics that either irritatingly push you back, the iffy claw grab, a pretty gross toilet humor theming, and of course, multiple points of no returns that forced me to replay the stage a bunch of times for collectibles. No wonder this was the first stage where I woke up Pizzaface. The few positives I can think of are that the pipes and trash can lids are decently fun to mess around with and the music is really good, but that's really it.

Pizzascare

Floor 5 only has three main levels, and they're easily some of the most interesting of the bunch so I need to talk about them each individually. Pizzascare is definitely the least remarkable of the three, but it's still noteworthy for being the only level to use concepts from a prior one, in this case being Pizzascape. Despite that though, Pizzascare still feels like a completely different beast and I feel it does a much better job at a utilizing a spooky theming than the Wasteyard did. The two main gimmicks are ghosts that you can only defeat after touching an Exorcist, and the King Ghost who follows you and activates objects on your path that can either help or harm you. I like the King Ghost a lot actually, it's a neat premise and introduced a lot of fun and satisfying platforming puzzles, though some of those anchors are pretty cruelly placed. The music is still great, and the whole stage has a lot of energy to it, this is definitely a solid one.

Don't Make A Sound

Don't Make A Sound is a more stealth/horror focused stage set in an abandoned pizzaria where you get chased around by animatronics, so it's obviously inspired by FNAF, a series I have absolutely zero care for or interest in. I was also a bit concerned at first that this stage would be a lot slower-paced, so I went into Don't Make A Sound somewhat doubtful that I'd enjoy it much. I shouldn't have doubted Pizza Tower though, Don't Make A Sound feels less like it's about slowly sneaking around and more about quickly dispatching of enemy cameras before they trigger it along. There's a really fun and satisfying flow to frenetically trying to take out all the cameras in the room, and there are even cases where you need to purposefully wake up the animatronics to progress making sure that even the most skilled player will have to experience a few chase sequences. I like that the Secret Eyes are often hidden behind animatronics forcing you to puzzle out how to get to them, and the finale which has you chased by every animatronic at once before getting a shotgun and turning the tables on them is easily one of my favorite moments in the game. Just a masterful and creative stage all around.

WAR

Well, okay, this might get me crucified. I don't care for WAR.

It's a shame too because I love the set-up. The hilariously blunt title card really sets your expectations, and in theory, blasting your way through a warzone with the aforementioned shotgun all while Hotline Miami-ass music plays in the background sounds like a blast. However, I found this to be the most thoroughly unenjoyable level for a bunch of reasons. So first and foremost, WAR is a level set entirely in Pizza Time. Grabbing the shotgun triggers a time bomb and you have to race to the end while breaking terminals to keep your time up. This isn't a bad idea, Wario Land 4 even did that for its final level, but you are given barely any leniency here, especially if you go for the collectibles since time continues to tick down when you're in the Secret Eyes (this is the only level that does this too). And since you need to collect every Secret Eye in one run, you really have to commit too. Pizza Tower can be a pretty tough game so I'm not exactly complaining that WAR is hard, but it felt really trial-and-error compared to the other escape sequences. I didn't feel like it was really possible to do this is one go, since there are so many easy mistakes to make that could cost you the stage.

And while the guns are incredibly fun spectacles in the Vigilante fight and Don't Make A Sound, WAR really shows how limiting they can be since there's a number of moves like the grab and uppercut you can't do while holding the shotgun. This makes Peppino's movement feel, in turn, less fluid and it makes WAR feel less like a final level testing you on everything you've learned, and more like it's forcing you to adapt to this gimped moveset. I don't mean to keep ragging on this stage that pretty much everyone seems to love, but I found it to be easily the weakest one in the game. Even separated from its main hook, I found WAR's level gimmicks like the landmines, homing missiles, and Peppino clones to be pretty unremarkable on their own, and with zero incentive to explore, I also found the stage fairly lacking in substance. It also doesn't help that I feel a certain other level does what WAR did even better, but more on that in a sec.

The Finale

Thankfully, while WAR could've risked me ending the game on a sour note, Pizza Tower's finale is fantastic and sticks the landing hard. The fight against Pizzaface suffers from the same central issue that all the other bosses had, it's absurdly long clocking in at a whopping seven phases. However, its difficulty was also incredibly fair which helped the fight remain satisfying and climactic to take down. The Pizzaface fight tests you on pretty much all of your combat capabilites, with the fairly simple first phase having you toss enemies at him, the second phase using the gun, a boss rush with truncated versions of all the previous fights, and a cathartic final phase that tests your patience. It's got a real sense of spectacle too, from Peppino snapping and muda-muda-ing all the previous bosses, to the final blow having him suplex Pizzaface into the tower itself. I think The Vigilante might still be my favorite fight overall, but this is a fantastic final boss.

And it's not over yet, because after Pizzaface comes the true final level, the Crumbling Tower Of Pizza, which is actually my favorite level in the game. If you know me, you know that I love it when final stages feel like a victory lap that test everything you've learned and Pizza Tower absolutely nails this trope. This is another stage that you spend entirely in Pizza Time (though unlike WAR, there's a flat time limit with a decent amount of leniency), and it has you dash down the tower through pretty much every prior level. You get to pass through all the hubs, picking up the NPCs you've met along the way, and you get setpieces with pretty much every single prior mechanic. While I didn't find this stage all that difficult, especially compared to WAR, it felt incredibly satisfying and ended Pizza Tower on the best note possible.

And if you're wondering, I got a Not Bad rating which I'm pretty satisfied about.

Conclusion

Overall, Pizza Tower really is a fantastic game, and a wonderful love letter to the Wario Land series that shows a genuine understanding of their design philosophies. Even if the focus on speedrunning wasn't really my thing, the incredibly fluid movement, varied level design, satisfying collectible hunting, surprisingly fun bosses, and stellar aesthetics still make for one of the best platformers I've played on Switch. With all the hype, it's always a toss-up if a game will actually live up, but Pizza Tower thankfully manages to live up to its gargantuan cult status.

4.5/5 Stars

2024 Games I Played: Spark The Electric Jester 3

Sorry it took me so long to finally get to Spark The Electric Jester 3, but this playthrough was a rollercoaster. Just read ahead to see why...

Spark The Electric Jester 3 was a game I thought I would never play. It's part of a series so inextricably tied to the PC, the culmination of both an entire trilogy's worth of Sonic fangames and an entire trilogy's worth of Spark The Electric Jester games. As a diehard fan of Freedom Planet, I was always really curious about the other major Sonic throwback, but I gave up on being able to experience them a long time ago. Then Spark 3 got announced for Switch.

Jumping into a series with its third and last installment is certainly a unique challenge, but I'm lucky enough that I was able to go into Spark 3 was a decent amount of context. I knew that the Spark The Electric Jester games are made by a indie dev named Lake Feperd, who got his start making Sonic fangames like the popular Before/After The Sequel games. He then proceeded to make a 2D original title named Spark The Electric Jester, which became a cult hit and paved the way to two sequels, both of which shifted to 3D and tried to take more cues from the Adventure era of Sonic. From what I can tell, Spark 3 is generally regarded as Feperd's magnum opus, the peak of his craft. If I could only play one game by him, most people would recommend this one. So does it live up to the hype? Will it reach the Freedom Planet levels of expectations I've built up towards it over the years? 

Well... it's complicated...

Why I Love Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2

Oh my god, I finally made it, I wrote blogposts about all 100 of my favorite games. This project took so much out of me, at least over half a year, and that's excluding the games I skipped because I already had full posts written about them. But now, it's finally time for me to talk about my two favorite games of all time, the seminal Super Mario Galaxy duology.

 Super Mario Galaxy 1/2 are two of the first platformers I've ever played, and in hindsight, I really took the both of them for granted. There really aren't many, or any, other platformers with this kind of consistent creativity, and while antigravity mechanics are usually relegated to a single gimmick stage, there aren't many other games that made them the crux of their gameplay loop like the Galaxy games did. Let's start with the first game, which I generally prefer more than its sequel.

Super Mario Galaxy doesn't quite have the same freeform movement that the more open 3D Mario games have, it's a more contained and linear experience, but it's not less impressive. The fact that Nintendo was able to make consistent sphere-walking physics that feel good to use is a genuine technical achievement, and Mario still moves with so much fluidity and grace. It's a joy to just run around a planet, and Nintendo knew this because the first level has you run around a planet chasing bunnies. Even the Wii Remote's motion controls are super well-implemented here. The feedback for grabbing collectibles with the cursor is super satisfying, and shaking the remote to do a spin feels intuitive and natural. The level design in Super Mario Galaxy is fantastic, really using the sphere-walking tech to toss a ton of unique, memorable, and varied planets at you. Many levels even have you travel across multiple planets in quick succession, so even within an objective, you're experiencing constant variety. Galaxy also toes the perfect line between linearity and exploration, with some levels taking place on large open planets that wouldn't feel out of place in Mario 64. There's so many useless hidden coin secrets and strange easter eggs scattered around too, to the point where it feels like I'm still learning new things about the game over 15 years later. Did you know you can do a homing ground pound by ground-pounding right after a spin jump? Did you know about the secret train in Toy Time Galaxy? Did you know that there's a giant coin hidden right underneath Gold Leaf Galaxy?

But I think what really makes Mario Galaxy's level design so stellar is just how surprising and unpredictable it is. Pretty much every galaxy introduces a bunch of original enemies, mechanics, and assets that don't appear again throughout the game. Each planet you visit offers you something entirely new. Some may argue that this is not great game design, that every mechanic introduced should be fully explored and iterated upon, but I don't really agree. Tossing a ton of unique mechanics at the player can be exhilarating as long as the mechanics in question are intuitive and enjoyable, and 99% of the time, Galaxy 1's stages are genuinely fun. It makes me want to keep playing and exploring this massive galaxy just to see what else is around the corner. It also helps to generate this really naturalistic feel to Galaxy that its successors don't quite have. As much as I love Galaxy 2 and 3D World, their levels often feel like their specifically-designed to be video game levels. Galaxy's areas, on the other hand, feel a lot more organic. Mechanics aren't meticulously introduced to you, they're just... there. Some galaxies look like an absolute clusterfuck of different planetoids pasted around and you're just expected to find a way to navigate them.

The boss roster is also easily my favorite in a 3D Mario game. Mario is often accused for having fairly derivative three-hit bosses, but the fights across both Galaxy games don't feel nearly as restrictive, and you often have to fight them in some really creative ways. Bouldergeist is an obvious highlight, slinging Bomb Boos into him will never not be satisfying, but I also love the tennis matches against King Kaliente, the Shadow Of The Colossus-esque battle against Megaleg, the shockingly good underwater fight against Kingfin, and probably one of my favorite final Bowser fights in the series. Skipping ahead, while I don't think Galaxy 2's roster is quite as strong, it also has some serious standouts like pretty much all of its Bowser Jr fights, most of which rank among the best he's ever had.

However, for as good as the gameplay is, what I think elevates Super Mario Galaxy to my favorite game of all time is its story and atmosphere. Most mainline Mario games don't really put much emphasis on the story, but Galaxy was a unique exception, being headlined by, of course, Yoshiaki Koizumi. After his incredible work on Link's Awakening and Majora's Mask, he aimed to take Mario in a more emotional direction, and he absolutely succeeded. Super Mario Galaxy feels uniquely epic for a Mario game, Bowser's initial assault on the Mushroom Kingdom is so cinematic and devastating, it really hooks you right from the start. Even in gameplay, Galaxy is conveying so much. The camera is often pulled way back, with Mario looking like a speck compared to the vast expanse of space. The colors used are often really dark and cold, it gives off an incredibly isolating and contemplative atmosphere that always stuck with me. This, of course, fits in perfectly with the focal character, Rosalina. There is so much to unpack about Rosalina, she's easily one of the most complex Mario characters ever made. Her backstory really delves into the effects of isolation as Rosalina leaves Earth to help the Lumas (while also having been revealed to be coping with her mother's death), and as you explore the hub, the Comet Observatory, you get to learn how Rosalina deals with this isolation. From visiting Earth every 100 years, to taking care of the Lumas like family, to building a serene garden in the top of the observatory that may or may not be based on hills where she grew up. And seeing her slowly open up to Mario, the first human she meets in a long time, is really heartwarming to watch. Koizumi really is a masterclass at wringing deep themes out of simple Nintendo IPs, and I didn't even mention the tearjerking Luma sacrifice ending and how it uses the cyclical nature of the Mario series to tackle the cycle of rebirth. Most games don't make me cry, so the fact that a Mario game is able to make me tear up multiple times is truly something special. 

Now, Super Mario Galaxy 2 gets a lot of flack for toning down the atmosphere and dramatic emotional narrative than the first game had, and while I get this complaint in theory, I don't fully agree. As you can probably tell, I absolutely adore how melancholic Galaxy 1 is, it helps that game stand out so much to me. But I also don't think Galaxy 2 is losing a sense of atmosphere either, it's just going in a different direction tonally.

As I said, Super Mario Galaxy is first and foremost a game about isolation. Super Mario Galaxy 2, on the other hand, is about connection. When Peach gets kidnapped again, Mario teams up with a big luma named Lubba who's also looking for who he calls his "special someone" (who's of course revealed to be Rosalina). The main plot is driven by two characters forming a bond out of their desire to reconnect with those they care about, and it expands from there. As you play through the game, you slowly meet other NPCs across the various galaxies who proceed to hop aboard your starship. By the end of the game, Starship Mario is populated with all kinds of different species from all across the galaxy, a melting pot of everything the universe has to offer. Fittingly, Galaxy 2 has a more adventurous feel to it. The music is more bombastic and in your face, even the quieter tracks tend to have a dramatic chorus. Each world is set further away from Earth, with an increasingly hostile atmosphere to boot. And while there are still the occasional moments of contemplation, they're usually there to allow the player to take in the beauty of their surroundings. In this way, I think Super Mario Galaxy 2 is a perfect compliment to the first game, not trying to replicate its success, but rather tackling its core idea from the opposite angle. It's a much lighter take on the concept of space, focusing on the community and beauty you can find in such a large expanse. Maybe I am giving Nintendo too much credit here, but the parallels exist nonetheless. Either way, while Galaxy 2 is absolutely lighter in tone, it's still dripping with soul and is totally capable in resonating with me, just in a different way from the its predecessor.

As far as gameplay goes, Super Mario Galaxy 2 plays pretty much identically to its predecessor, but it does bring some neat new abilities to the table. Galaxy 1 did have some fun power-ups like the Bee and Boo Mushroom, but Galaxy 2 introduces some of the best powerups across both games like the Cloud Flower, Spin Drill, and especially the Rock Mushroom, all super fun abilities that are incredibly well-explored. But more importantly, Galaxy 2 introduces Yoshi who plays a pretty huge part in the game. As a Yoshi fan myself, it's very cool to see him play a major part in a 3D Mario platformer, and his movement feels great. He can flutter jump and swallow enemies, the latter having the same wonderful sense of feedback that collecting Star Bits has, and he even has a few really fun powerups of his own. The level design is also really good, possibly even an objective improvement on the first game. It's more focused and refined, with each Star focusing on fully fleshing out a set of mechanics, more like the levels in 3D World. While I do have a softspot for Galaxy 1's aforementioned unpredictable level design, Galaxy 2 still manages to feel almost equally unpredictable through the sheer quantity of its level ideas. The first Galaxy game has only fifteen major galaxies and a number of smaller galaxies, with the prior having around six Stars and the latter having just 1-2. Galaxy 2, on the other hand, has around 30-40 major galaxies just with the Star count cut to 2-3. 

And for as much as I think the first Super Mario Galaxy is a near perfect game, it does have some flaws that Galaxy 2 actually sands off. Galaxy 1 suffers from a bit of asset reuse near the end of the game, with many bosses being brought back with minimal changes and even some planets being directly recreated. Dreadnought Galaxy is basically Battlerock Galaxy again, and Gold Leaf is just mirrored Honeyhive. Galaxy 2 does not have this issue. Not only does it have vastly more galaxies than the first game, but outside of the occasional callback to Galaxy 1, it's far less flagrant in this regard. To the bitter end, SMG2 never stops tossing new ideas at you. Galaxy 1 is also pretty easy for the most part, but Super Mario Galaxy 2 is genuinely challenging. I'd even say it's one of the toughest 3D Mario games right up there with Sunshine due to the harder Comet stages and the presence of World S. I also think the postgame in Galaxy 2 is quite a bit better. The Green Stars are more fun to collect than just replaying the game again as Luigi, and Grandmaster Galaxy is a far more satisfying final level compared to Galaxy 1's cute but minimal Grand Finale Galaxy.

As far as presentation goes, both of the Galaxy games still stand as two of the best-looking games on the Wii. Not only do they look super ahead of their time for games that released on a standard definition console, but their art direction is absolutely stellar, with some stunning skyboxes and really fantastical textures for all of the planets. Once again, I generally prefer the darker colors of the first Galaxy, but its sequel is nothing to scoff at either, as I feel its levels look a lot crisper and more detailed than in the first game. The soundtracks are the icing on the cake for the Galaxy games, they're easily my favorites in the medium in how they blend sweeping orchestral pieces with atmospheric and space synths. Once again, I think the first game has the general better soundtrack as it's a lot moodier and more atmospheric, focusing mostly on quiet piano pieces and those aforementioned spacey synths and leaving the bombastic orchestras for the really big moments. It's filled to the brim with iconic tracks like Rosalina In The Observatory, Hell Prominence, Luma, The Galaxy Reactor, To The Gateway, Egg Planet, Purple Comet, Space Junk, Waltz Of The Boos, Enter Bowser Jr, and of course, Gusty Garden and Buoy Base. While Galaxy 2's soundtrack isn't as instantly iconic, it's no less fantastic, leaning in a lot more on those emotional, sweeping orchestral pieces. Tracks like Starship Mario, The Starship Sails, Fleet Glide, Cloudy Court, Bowser's Galaxy Generator, Fated Battle, Space Storm, Starshine Beach, Time Attack, World 3, Bowser Jr's Fort, Melty Monster, and Cosmic Cove definitely stand out as phenomenal in their own right.

I don't mean this as a slight to the other 99 games I raved about, but Super Mario Galaxy is so above any other game I've played that its sheer existence feels almost like a miracle. I've never played another game that crams so many fun, unique, original, and creative mechanics into itself, that offers so many instantly memorable and iconic levels back to back to back. And on top of that incredible gameplay, Galaxy also manages to embue a lighthearted series like Mario with some serious emotional heft, between the sweeping score, the ethereal art direction, and the genuinely touching story. These games pretty much defined my taste in videogames, and to this day, I still hold them up as the crowned jewels of the entire medium. Gameplay, design, replayability, narrative, visuals, audio, the Super Mario Galaxy games mark Nintendo at their absolute peak and will probably always stand as my favorite video games of all time.

Why I Love Kirby & The Forgotten Land

I've talked about my love of Kirby & The Forgotten Land a lot on this blog, but I never actually did a full review of it. I reviewed its soundtrack, I briefly talked about it in the Kirby retrospective I did a while ago, but I never fully delved into why I love it so much. So yeah, it's finally time to talk about how a Kirby game from 2022 managed to overtake Return To Dream Land as my favorite game in the series after over a decade.

Kirby & The Forgotten Land was up there with Metroid Dread as one of the biggest surprise releases of the Switch era. Kirby as a series did have some flirtations with 3D occassionally, between Blowout Blast and the infamous canceled Kirby GCN, but it's been sticking to 2D for so long that I feel like the fandom had reached a state of acceptance. Personally, I didn't think Kirby would ever go full 3D and I was also entirely okay with it, the series was already great as it was. So when the first Forgotten Land trailer suddenly dropped in a Direct, it was a massive surprise. After 30 years, Kirby finally did the unthinkable and went 3D, but was HAL able to pull it off?

Oh, hell yeah. As a matter of fact, this might be one of the best 2D to 3D transitions ever made, up there with Metroid Prime and Metal Gear Solid. It feels like HAL used the long wait to study pretty much everything that made 3D gaming work, and pulled off the perfect conversion. The behind the scenes of this game is genuinely fascinating, because you get to see the many clever techniques HAL used to mitigate common perspective issues while carrying over Kirby's core gameplay so perfectly. From the perspective of your average player, Kirby in Forgotten Land plays almost exactly like how he did in the 2D games... just in 3D. He's just as fast, snappy, and responsive, and while there are some concessions made to accommodate the new perspective (Kirby's flight is limited, copy abilities have less moves), there were also some genuine gameplay improvements within the larger scope of the series. Previous games had added a block move and it was reasonably helpful in a pinch, but Forgotten Land leaned even more into the character action inspirations by adding a quick dodge move, and it makes combat more fun than ever before. And while previous entries introduced some sort of central gimmick like the Super Abilities or the Mech, Forgotten Land's Mouthful Mode is probably my favorite one so far, as the sheer amount of different objects Kirby can swallow are not only fun to mess around with but add so much variety to the game.

The world and level design elevates Forgotten Land even further for me, though. This game takes place in a weird world called the New World, which looks like some kind of abandoned Earth. If you're a long-time Kirby fan since 64, this kind of setting was a long-time coming for the series, but it also made for some of the freshest level design in the franchise. Levels in Forgotten Land are often able to combine standard elemental biomes like grass, snow, and desert, while combining them with more grounded human structures to create some truly inventive and varied stages. You'll be platforming through a mall, across a giant tower bridge, traveling through an amusement park, and visiting a seaside resort drained of all its water. This allows for a ton of really cool world-building details scattered throughout each stage, it's fun to try and piece together what each place was previously like before whatever apocalypse happened, happened. The actual structure of each level is also pretty much perfect for me, they're these linear obstacle courses that are filled to the brim with secrets, hidden areas, and a ton of collectibles scattered around, akin to games like 3D World and Galaxy.

And as per the usual, the boss fights are top-notch. The added arena space and the addition of the quick-dodge allows for fights that move at an incredibly fast pace, with bosses often darting around the arena tossing a fast flurry of attacks for you to dodge. It's exhilarating and, as I've always mentioned, marks Kirby feeling even more like a beginner's character action game. The highlight, however, is easily the final boss, both from a story and gameplay perspective. Forgotten Land actually has one of my favorite stories in the franchise, for reasons I've mentioned quite a lot already. Elfilin is a great new companion for Kirby, he's a real cinnamon roll, and the point halfway through when he gets kidnapped is a real gut punch, even for people who were probably expecting him to be a villain. King Dedede also gets possessed yet again, but I like how seriously it's treated here. It's been a long time since he's been possessed for an entire game, and he and Kirby have become really good friends since, so the fights against him have a bit more urgency. The final act is a perfect culmination of both of these plot points. Dedede sacrifices himself to save you and a bunch of Waddle Dees in one of the most emotional moments in the series, you're absolutely blindsided by a voice-acted monologue detailing what happened to the New World, and you learn that Elfilin was the part of a terrifying ultimate lifeform called Fecto Elfilis, who you proceed to fight in one of the toughest, fastest final boss encounters in the entire franchise.

But of course, that's not all, it is a Kirby game after all. Forgotten Land has a ton of really fun extra content that both expands the story and the playtime. Each level has a bunch of Waddle Dees to save, there's a ton of small hidden challenge stages to discover, you can upgrade all of your copy abilities, and there's over 250 figurines to get in a mercifully generous gatcha system. I also love how most of the usual menu options are incorporated into the hub, Waddle Dee Town, including the sound test, theater, an honest-to-goodness passcode system, a bunch of fun minigames, and of course, the Arena. Forgotten Land also has a pretty neat extra mode where you run through modified versions of all the previous stages, but unlike in previous games, it actually ties into the story and wraps up a few loose ends. Once again, the extra mode ends on a strong note with some of the most effective bits of Kirby horror since Canvas Curse (and here we are, and here we are), along with the haunting canonization of Morpho Knight. I actually adore how Morpho's introduction was executed here, from the slow dawning realization once the butterfly shows up, to the gritty rock version of his theme in Star Allies, to the way the entire room turns bright orange once he shows up, to just how aggressive his fighting style is. I didn't even care for the guy much in Star Allies, but this game absolutely sold me on the character.

As far as visuals go, I think Kirby & The Forgotten Land is one of the best-looking games on the Switch. The environments go for this cartoony-realistic blend where you can tell they're based on real locations, but they're heightened in some way. The colors are incredibly bold, the environments are super detailed, and some of the framed shots showing buildings towering over Kirby are utterly breaktaking. Waddle Dee Town is probably the highlight of the game visually, though, not only does it cram in a ton of adorable character animations, but so much of the UI is diegetic and it looks awesome. The soundtrack is also fantastic, definitely one of my favorites in the series. It is a bit unique for the series, lacking in many returning tracks and having a more complex, moody sound to it, but I think it really works for me. Some tracks even give off a similar energy to the Klonoa games which is always a plus. For the stage themes, I'll shout out Running Through The New World, Through The Tunnel, Fast-Flowing Waterworks, Northeast Frost Street, The Battle Of Blizzard Bridge, The Wastes Where Life Began, Moonlight Canyon, and Faded Dream Of A Psychomeddler. And for the boss themes, I'll shout out Sword Of The Surviving Guardian, Roar Of Dedede, Morpho Knight, and the phenomenal final boss theme, Two Planets Approach The Roche Limit.

Overall, Kirby & The Forgotten Land is such a masterful transition to 3D, it does everything right. The movement is spot-on, the level design is some of the most fun and engaging in the series, the combat is way faster and more bombastic, the Mouthful Mode is the best gimmick to date, the visuals are stunning, the soundtrack is fantastic, it's bursting with side content, and the story is one of my favorites so far. And the crazy part is that there's still room for improvement! Many have stated how Forgotten Land is lacking in copy abilities, and how those copy abilities are lacking in moves, but despite these minor gripes, the fact that HAL's first attempt at a 3D game ended up becoming my favorite entry to date and there's still room to grow even more means I've never been more excited for the future of the series.

Top 10 Favorite PC Engine Shmups

I've waxed poetic about my love of the PC Engine before, particularly its slew of incredible shmups. However, with so many incredible entries in the genre, how do you even pick out the best ones the console has to offer?

Here's my personal list of my ten favorite shmups on the PC Engine:

10. Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire: Sapphire is a very fascinating game. Not only is it one of the last games to come out on the PC Engine CD, not only is it a surprising hard right into shmup territory for the otherwise VN-centric Yuna series, it's also one of the most expensive games on the console. I won't deny that Sapphire has its issues, the slow characters move too slowly and boss healthbars can be easily shredded no matter who you pick, but it's still a generally polished and punchy shmup at the end of the day. But most of all, I still think this game is worth playing for the sheer audioviual spectacle of it all. Sapphire is easily the most impressive PC Engine game visually, somehow shattering the console's limitations and implementing prerendered polygonal enemies and bosses that wouldn't feel out of place in a Super FX or Saturn game. The enemies and bosses are so consistently unpredictable and off-the-wall that I love playing through Sapphire just to see what else the game is going to toss at you next. On top of that, Sapphire boasts a phenomenal rock soundtrack by T's Music that rivals the best the console has to offer. Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire may be short and a bit poorly-balanced, but it captures the appeal of the PC Engine CD in its purest form.

9. Seirei Senshi Spriggan: Seirei Senshi Spriggan is Compile's big PC Engine entry, and it has all the usual bombast and mechanical complexity you've come to expect from their games. In a similar fashion to the Genesis's similarly great MUSHA, Spriggan blends large-scale mech combat with medieval fantasy inspired environments to craft an incredibly interesting world with varied and memorable landscapes to fight your way through and some absolutely wild boss fights. However, easily the best thing about Seirei Senshi Spriggan is its powerup system, which lends you a unique weapon based on which of the four elemental orbs you're currently holding, allowing for a whopping 29 powerups. The sheer customization and freedom of this system really carries the game, making every playthrough feel entirely unique. While I personally slightly prefer MUSHA for its faster pace and better soundtrack, you still can't do wrong with the first Spriggan game.

8. Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams: Fantastic Night Dreams for the PC Engine is easily the best way to play the original Cotton game, really taking advantage of the CD-ROM technology to amp up the presentation on every level. The cutscenes have full-on voice acting that allow the absolute gremlin of a character that is Cotton to really shine, the graphics balance cute with eerie to craft a really strong atmosphere for the series, and of course, the redone CD quality soundtrack stands out as one of my absolute favorites on the system. As for the game itself, though, it's a fairly simple but pure fun cute-em-up with an addictive XP system, brisk pace, and solid difficulty curve. It's a perfect introduction to one of my favorite shmup protagonists of all time.

7. Gunhed: I've already reviewed Gunhed here, but I'll reiterate my thoughts quickly. Gunhed is one of the best early system sellers on the console, serving as a great graphical showcase of how the PC Engine can pull off fast-paced action games with zero slowdown. Being a collaboration between Hudson and Compile, you get the varied and dynamic level design of a Star Soldier game combined with the bombastic screen-clearing weapons of an Aleste game. It's a bit on the long side, but it boasts a fairly beginner-friendly powerup system, and spans across an impressive nine stages each tackling shmup archetypes in fun and fresh ways. If there's any of these games I'd recommend you play first if you want to delve into the PC Engine library, it would probably be Gunhed.

6. Lords Of Thunder: Lords Of Thunder is a great shmup if you want pure, dumb, balls-to-the-walls action fun. In what feels like a polar opposite approach to its relatively pared-down predecessor, Gate Of Thunder, Lords Of Thunder is one of the most maximalist shmups I've ever played. It has four entirely weapon sets you can use, RPG mechanics like a shop, a gritty techno-medieval aesthetic, massive boss fights that often don't even fit the screen, and of course, a hard rock ballad soundtrack with some of the gnarliest shreds in the gaming medium. It's 45 minutes of adrenaline-pumping spectacle, and while the sheer visual noise might be a bit too much for genre purists, people who vibe with Lords Of Thunder's maximalist energy are in for one of the most original, unique, and polished shmups on the console.

5. Nexzr: In complete contrast to my last pick, Nexzr is an uncharacteristically minimalist shmup compared to the rest of the PC Engine's library, focusing more on precise bullet dodging rather than flashy setpieces. This is both Nexzr's greatest strength and probably its greatest weakness, as while it doesn't really break any new ground, the fundamental game design at play is incredibly polished and confident. Each of the game's six stages are perfectly-paced and boast some serious bite, the boss fights are all top-notch and just get better as the game goes on, and the sparse visual style and spacey soundtrack gives Nexzr a strong sense of atmosphere. It's easily one of the most underrated shmups on the console and I'd even argue it can rival Hudson's own first-party Star Soldier series.

4. Air Zonk: Air Zonk is probably the biggest surprise gem out of any game in this list, because I do not like the Bonk series. I'm not a fan of the character (cavemen characters don't do it for me), and the wonky momentum makes the potentially fun platformer entries into a pretty huge slog. However, the weird cyberpunk shmup spinoff Air Zonk really blew me away. Air Zonk is just dripping with originality, from the inventive futuristic environments, to the subversive cyberfunk interpretations of Bonk iconography, to the absolute treasure trove of wacky powerups to use, to the robust companion system that gives the game so much customization and replayability, to one of the wildest final stages I've ever played in the genre, to its godly chiptune soundtrack. Don't let the weird premise put you off, Air Zonk is one of the freshest and most original shmups out there, and it stands out as far and away my favorite Bonk game.

3. Gate Of Thunder: Gate Of Thunder is Hudson's take on the Thunder Force series, and believe it or not, I think it manages to rival if not surpass most of its contemporaries. This is one of the most efficient side-scrolling shmups I've ever played, not a single second of Gate Of Thunder's 35-40 minute runtime feels wasted. Each stage is constantly tossing new ideas and obstacles at you, densely-packed with enemies and hazards, never leaving you to do the same thing for too long. You get three weapons you can swap between at any time, and they're so well-balanced that I never found myself just leaning on one shot type, they're all useful. The spritework is some of the cleanest and most vibrant on the console, and the rock soundtrack by Nick Wood boasts some serious bangers, even if it can sadly be drowned out by the sound effects a tad. Aside from that, though, Gate Of Thunder is honestly as close to perfect as a shmup can be, and it's still only third on my list.

2. Soldier Blade: Soldier Blade is far and away the reigning peak of the Star Soldier series, it just gets everything right. Fast and frenetic pacing? Check. Fun and varied level design? Check. Large-scale bosses that are fun to take down? Check. The powerup system is brilliant in its simplicity, letting you hold up to three weapon orbs and allowing you to use them as a bomb at the cost of losing that weapon. The kinetic soundtrack by Keita Hoshi, who at this point has completely mastered using the soundchip to its fullest, ranks as one of the best on the entire console. The icing on the cake, though, is the addition of a rival character who repeatedly shows up throughout the game to stop you in your tracks. Shmup stories tend to not be especially great, but just by giving you an antagonist you can really hate, Soldier Blade manages to stand out as probably the most motivating shmup on the PC Engine.

1. Magical Chase: While Gate Of Thunder and Soldier Blade are probably the best traditional shmups on the PC Engine, Magical Chase stands out as my personal favorite for just how unique it is. Similarly to Cotton, it's a side-scrolling cute-em-up where you play as an adorable witch. The addition of a shop where you can buy increasingly more powerful weapons as the game goes on gives Magical Chase a unique feeling of progression, and the immensely customizable option system gives the game a lot of extra mechanical depth. The levels get increasingly more ambitious and surprising as they go on, the cartoony spritework is both utterly adorable and blisteringly colorful, and the uniquely calming and atmospheric soundtrack by Masaharu Iwata and Hitoshi Sakimoto (yes, that Hitoshi Sakimoto) is easily the most impressive on the PC Engine's original soundchip. Seriously, listen to this stuff. Magical Chase is one of the rarest games on the system and while I probably wouldn't recommend shelling 5,000+ dollars for it, I would recommend finding a way to play it however you can. It's a Top 3 PC Engine game for me, and a lovable adventure not worth missing.