Matt Jacoby

Ok, first let me start by saying that I briefly played this on a friend's system and hated it, due solely to being generally a hard & difficult game to pickup on. However I got it as a gift the same year I got my Switch system and after reluctantly playing it again I soon found that it rapidly becomes easier and easier to get past the difficulty factor. I guess if you get stuck early on and give up on it forever you will probably hate this. However those willing to give it a chance will soon find and experience the same great Donkey Kong Country formula that's been around for decades and another great entry in the series. In hindsight it's nice to see Nintendo not put out an overly easy game that's a total walkthrough of ease like many of their signature games. This isn't to say this is really challenging, it's just not as easy as most other Nintendo signature games. I'll skip details of the actual gameplay and story as the recipe and formula here are essentially the same (just reworked and tweaked a bit) as it's always been.

It's good, really it is, you know, provided you like the general series. Where I only give it 3 stars at is because not really enough is added to justify calling it a deluxe version. Unless you never played the original on the Wii U and are a fan of this series then you can safely pass this one by. Also your in for a letdown if you have and/or have played the Wii U version as you'll most likely instinctively compare the 2 and realize the differences are minimal. That Nintendo is clearly just out to milk another of their big series of games for every cent it's worth is also how I knock an otherwise 4 and a half star game down to only a 3 star game. Similar limited upgrades were made with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, but at least there they had a tried and true multiplayer to back it up. I forget if Pikmin has any multiplayer at all, if it does it certainly isn't much a part of the game and certainly not nearly enough to redeem this. Still, the general formula and gameplay is solid.

Way overrated. Definitely a game made and kept infamous solely by fanboys & fangirls of the series. What few redeeming qualities exist are killed off by poor gameplay, very basic mechanics, again very basic controls and just bland everything. The thing is, I grew up in the 8 bit and 16 bit era of gaming. To say I wanted to like this game is an understatement. I absolutely loved the original and especially given other reviews and not never being a cheap SNES game I had strong expectations. Not ridiculously high expectations, I know the capabilities and limitations of 16 bit games. Still, this should have been way better given what lead up to it and the improved technology available of the original NES Metroid vs Super Metroid. Sadly the game is bland, basic, overrun with cliches and just generally dull. What fans see in this I seriously don't know. The one star comes from an incredibly bland and meh game after hearing a ton of all great stuff about it. I suppose if it weren't for such a high level build up it'd have gotten 2 stars as it does actually work as it intends to. But again even accepting 16 bit era capabilities and standards it's really ill advised to expect any kind of greatness from this. I think being a first party game is what amped up this games popularity, after that Nintendo fans just ate it up and clearly had absolutely no standards for to call it great or epic. What it does do well is kill time, simply because unless you have a strategy guide or look online for a walkthrough you'll most likely be wandering around aimlessly trying to figure out what you need to do next and how to do it along with repeated trial and error on actually achieving it once you know what you have to do next. I could go on and on about the flaws here, but I'd rather play a superior SNES game, which comparably could actually be a Madden game.

It's technology for the era was superb and showcased some cutting edge technology, Dade's eyepiece towards the end, the cool clear laptop he was sent by the Plague as a sorta half apology (for trashing his boombox) and half as a way to inform and further manipulate him, the general notions that it presented whether real or just potentially real like their friends having their own TV show Hack The Planet, where they hung out at in public especially. They could have been possible in the mid 90's, but unless your parents were making several thousands each a month and you lived in a big city like Miami, Chicago, LA or New York (a few popular examples) then odds are that was far from reality for someone growing up in the mid 90's, and yes, I'm speaking from firsthand experience there. The story however is legit, it's not without it's plot holes, the biggest being the odds that supposedly these are pro hackers AND they not only get discovered but by another hacker. Even if it's the fault of a noob making rookie mistakes the odds are that the one who discovers them is also a hard-core hacker is way far fetched, especially since supposedly they also stumble onto highly incriminating evidence in of all places a garbage files. Who's going to store such vital information in a garbage file? And who's going to search & copy a garbage file? It just lacks believability. But the story does a number at selling it and pushing it hard and actually makes it work. But it's certainly not due to a well thought out story, it's completely, totally 100% because of great actors, acting and the inner play between them that not only makes it believable, but actually really, really good and even edge of your seat addictive. This gets a 4 star instead a 5 star review from me because as brilliant of a movie as this is there's also too much wrong with it for me to treat it like a 90's version of Casablanca or something. This is still definitely a 90's techno classic for sure, but again, it's got some pretty glaring flaws that are pretty hard to overlook. Thank God it's got such great actors who really pull off an extremely mediocre script.

Just watched for the first time. It's original enough, that's for sure, but it doesn't make much sense. It creates it's own rules and then changes those rules every few minutes or so basically in an effort to remain unpredictable. It remains unpredictable for sure, but change for the sake of change is really all that seems to be happening midway through this oddball movie. I should be quick to point out that being a Jim Henson's creation you'll get a total Muppet vibe from virtually all the characters, this is basically the only element that keeps this from being a horror flick. If the characters weren't in Jim Henson's typical manner then the most likely common substitute would just naturally result in a classic horror movie. After getting to the climactic end scenes things just keep getting weirder. I suppose then it stands to reason as to why this movie also ends bizarrely too. Add party with the Muppet like characters to try and maintain a friendly atmosphere and of course the return of Sarah's brother and it gives it a storybook ending. Ok,I guess it has that, a storybook ending, going for it to prevent it from also being a horror flick, but so much of what is weird and bizarre throughout this movie will surely be interpreted by some as frightening. However not all characters try to be, in fact few do. It's just the one's that do are so over the top at it that it gives at least a potential frightening element. IDK all together I'd say this is more PG-13 than PG. Probably recommend for ages 12 and up. As to how good it is, that becomes a question of if you like a movie that's bent on trying to be totally unique the whole way through. If so then you should enjoy this, it's anything but predictable.

It's solid enough overall. As it's a collection of older titles mashed together in one the question of if it's worth it or not to you depends on simply if you liked them the first time around or not. I have played the original Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Galaxy both (I've only watched friends play Super Mario Sunshine) and was pleased enough that this Switch adaptation is overall solid. Only thing is perhaps add at least one Mario game from either the NES, SNES or perhaps even Gameboy (original) to give some real golden age gaming. That would have been the necessary addition for a 5 star game given that their calling it all stars.