I'm not one to shill for CEOS and the like, but Iwata did have a different vibe to him; it really did feel like he gave a shit about the games he helped produce, and the staff he managed.

Thank you so much for reading!! :) When I first made this site, I never expected anyone to read my reviews. I mainly started it to document my own thoughts. So it's really, really meaningful to me that someone out there genuinely enjoys reading them! If you have anything to say -- criticisms or otherwise -- please do! I really appreciate it. :)))

It's really nice that you use emulation as a vessel as a way of saying, "Hey, this game is super cool, and also super easy to get!" -- and not "Hey, this game is free if you just pirate it!"

Same! plus the og devs wouldn't get the money anyway. Sometimes the only way to get the hardware to play those games are through scalpers, and I just rather emulate it myself than to give them any money :/

True! The thinking was that I'd like for each issue to have something the reader is basically guaranteed to be able to play regardless of money or hardware, so I've made sure there's an Easy Emulation in every issue I release. Emphasis on the "Easy" part too, the NES/SNES/Mega Drive/GBA games I typically tend to cover are very easy to emulate both from a hardware perspective and being simple to set up.

Unlocking brawl characters isn't hard just super hard to find. You either have to fight 500 brawls (which I'm not doing) or find doors in specific areas sometimes as a specific character which makes zero sense when nothing tells you to do that. If I need to look up a tutorial to find a basic feature in the game, that's not good game design. [...]

I feel like brawl is a very subjective game. As much as I dogged on it in my review I do genuinely think it is a great game but compared to other entries it feels a bit pathetic. Honestly I do think I was a bit too harsh for the review, lol.

*hungrybox has entered the chat*

Yeah that's fair, I'll give you that Wolf/Puff/Toon Link are a pain even if you can get the rest just through Subspace. Kinda disagree on Brawl not measuring up to other entries, Subspace's story is hardly some Shakespearean masterpiece but it is genuinely cool seeing these characters interact and watching the very nonlinear story unfold. If anything I think Smash 4 is the most "nothing" entry, it doesn't really-

-have anything that stands out about it like the others do. I do get not liking it though, even if I'm used to it by now it does control kind of strangely. Kind of confused by the 7/10 score though, seems like a high rating when you don't seem to have much of anything you personally enjoy about the game.

Yeah, I think I was a bit too harsh when criticizing Brawl. I genuinely do think it's a good game but it's not without any flaws. It was pretty hard to emphasize any positivity since almost my positive opinions of the were just "it felt fun", so the negativity is talked way more in my review -- which is my bad! I'm still learning, so I'll get better at getting my point across the more I write.

Ah, yeah that's very fair. I have the same issue sometimes, with something that doesn't work it's often easier to notice where it fails compared to successes being much harder to articulate. I'm sure you'll improve, looking forward to seeing what you write next :D

This is going to be a bit sentimental, which is why I'm typing it here and not in the review. This game... made me feel things. I don't even know why. I grew up with relatively new consoles, 720p, 1080p, etcetera. But something about this GAME just weirdly comforts me. The low polygon count, the crappy English voice acting, the absurdity! It makes me feel nostalgic for a time I've never even LIVED in. [...]

And it's so... weird. I can barely keep myself from just... staring. Staring far, far into the digital cosmos that I only FEEL like nurtured me. It's just pixels on a screen, why do I FEEL like this? It's... baffling. I've never owned a PS2, let alone a physical copy of this weird ass game. Its just... a lot to take in. I really needed an experience like this, to be honest. [...]

There's been *things* that have happened in my life over the past few days that are too personal to discuss, and this game has really helped me tough it out. A game that leads me onto nostalgia that never even existed. Have you ever felt this? Reminiscing a time you've never experienced? I don't know. Sorry, this is too long. I'm rambling. New review for this game should be out in a few days. If I have time, that is.

Hope you're doing ok, sounds like a new happy memory though amongst it all.

Yeah I know the feeling, sometimes a game just hits you like that. Wasn't quite the same thing but Klonoa: Door to Phantomile gives me a similar feeling, you might like that game. Don't play the remaster though it's terrible, completely ruins the atmosphere, just emulate it.

Supremely excited for the review. Hope you're doing okay. Also, highly recommend you check out the sequel if you ever get the chance; personally I think it's even better than the first.