Izzy's 2025

[isthatallyougot]

Wow, haha... I heard about that a long time ago, glad I now know what it is. As much as I need to, anyway. Thanks! (You also made me remember a time I was interested in the NBA. Many moons ago!)

Back in the Bob Cousy days?

9) POCO (PC - 2025 : 3.6 hours played) 3/5



Through one of the Steam curators I follow, I became aware of a point-and-click adventure called POCO on the day it released, and since it was free and I was looking for a brief game to enjoy, I actually played and completed it the day after release. (See, I'm up with the times and lingo! ) So what is POCO exactly? Well, in brief, it's a story of the world's smallest clown who is banished from the circus - a circus on giant legs towering above the ground. He finds himself, after being unceremoniously tossed out, in a mysterious undergrowth full of lost and broken things. The intro sets up this premise nicely as diminutive POCO stands below a trio of large and imposing clowns, presumably authority-figures, demanding that he perform what amounts to impossible feats as you, in his shoes, try and act impossibly quickly to satisfy their unreasonable requirements. Disappointed with his "failures", the trio open a trap door that sees POCO fall all the way down into the rubble below, where he begins his journey. Ultimately, he meets and befriends a variety of other creatures, creatures that he hopes will help him build his rocket to travel back to the circus above, to his "home." Of course, in the process of getting to know these nether-inhabitants, it eventually becomes clear that home isn't necessarily the place from which you've originated. I won't spoil all the details, but ultimately it's a tale of misfits fitting in and realizing what home really means.

In terms of the presentation, the hand-drawn art is wonderful and depicts a great deal of detail in the game's numerous environments. Seeing that this is a habitat for the small, you see all sorts of detritus that has been cast off from above and repurposed in creative ways to shape their world and various abodes. I loved that a GBA (or very close facsimile) was used as the television in front of the sofa for a family of worms, for example. All the colors are vivid, and there's so much attention given to bringing this place to life. I really loved the color and charm delivered by the artists who worked on this. And the audio is nearly its equal with lots of playful circus-tinged pieces that are, appropriately, a little off, yet somehow a soothing and enchanting accompaniment to a cast-off clown's journey. And the way POCO moves is endearing as he hops playfully while the little bell on his hat jingles and jangles as he bobs from screen to screen. Also, all the characters talk in "Sim-ish," which I personally love most of the time. Okami was one of the best examples of this, but it really fits in this case for me.

In terms of the practical elements, it's pretty standard point-and-click fare. There's an inventory, characters to engage with in order to get quests, pixel-hunting for items - although it's not as punishing as you find in many genre entries - and puzzles to solve. The puzzles weren't overly challenging either, but they were pretty satisfying and helped add that bit of resistance to progression that makes you feel like you're doing something other than just observing the narrative. There were also some mouse-based mini-games, which weren't the high point of the game. They could be a little awkward and fumbly and a little overly strict in a case or two, but they weren't a major problem. But those aspects could have used some refining in my view. I also would have liked the puzzles to have been a little bit more involved, but they weren't bad, just a tad simple as a collection.

But on the whole, POCO was a really charming little adventure with themes of class distinction, finding your place when your place turns out to NOT really be your "place," and making do with what you've got in a spirit of gratitude for what does belong to you and fits who you are. I thought it was a really nice experience, and being free certainly was quite surprising, given the overall quality. It's not overly lengthy. I spent about 3 and 1/2 hours with it and was pretty thorough, although I didn't get all the achievements/endings. But I did get the good ending, and that was satisfying and made the experience feel complete. It was a good game with plenty of personality - certainly better than what you ought to expect from a free offering, and I'm happy to have played it. 3/5

[isthatallyougot]

8) The Suffering (PC - 2004: 10 hours played) 3/5



If I were to complain about relatively minor (non)problems...first-world moaning, I'd say that one of my biggest gripes is the fact that I simply can't keep up with all the games I want to play. I simply adore this medium, and I'm forever accumulating an increasingly large backlog, and, well, I just can't play all the games I'm interested in. But I still feel a pull to games I've picked up, games I hoped to play back when I bought them, yet games that sat collecting real (or virtual) dust. In the case of the PS2, I've had such a backlog for that console alone that I feel a bit impotent in my quest to tackle that beast. I picked up both The Suffering games back when the console was still in the spotlight, and there they've sat, waiting patiently to be explored. During that time, and only very recently, I picked up those same two games on GOG because they were about to be delisted, and they had a final sale where they were very cheap right before being taken down. So, being the gaming (and only gaming) hoarder that I am, I picked them up. So I had a decision to make about how to play. I figured since I play far more, almost exclusively, on PC now, and I'd picked up those versions recently, I'd go ahead and go that route. I think the reason that I let these sit so long is the fact that Midway is not generally a publisher who I've equated with great games - speaking of the console era variety. To be sure, the now-defunct developer had some all-time classics under their belt. Within the realm of pinball, they have the classics ‘The Addams Family’ and ‘Mars Attacks,' among a number of other excellent boards. And they've plenty of arcade classics under their belt, from Mrs. Pac-Man to Tron, among others. But on the home-device front, they have been very sparse in terms of memorable work. They've had Mortal Kombat, certainly, and a few arcade sports titles worthy of note, but by and large, Midway never really hit their stride in the console space for me. But I love horror, and even though the genre is one of my absolute favorites, this is not the slower-paced survival horror of which I'm most fond, but rather more of an action-horror tilt. Nevertheless, I've always felt like these were likely good games that I missed out on, and so I rectified that omission in early 2025.

The narrative and setting set up nicely for some dark-themed and twisted elements. The main character, Torque, is a prisoner in Abbot State Penitentiary. There he waits on death row for the murder of his wife and two children. Right off the bat, the world is undone by some supernatural forces, whether within Torque himself or otherwise, forces that turn the already-dark prison setting into something even more macabre. Within the framework of the story, there are aspects where you, as Torque, can explore the details of his life in a very interesting way. You can choose to embrace the devil within and add more pain to your environment and its inhabitants, or you can embody the angel on your shoulder and alleviate as much agony as possible. The fascinating thing about this is that these decisions not only affect Torque's future but also inform his past - who he really WAS in a retroactive causality sort of dynamic.

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If you're good, you find out that he was set up and that there was another killer. If you choose, well, suffering, you learn that Torque was indeed justified in his imprisoned and soon-to-be-executed condition.

I thought that was an interesting take on choice and consequence that you don't generally see. Within this system I did something that I almost never do in gaming. I decided from the beginning to be as bad as I possibly could. But it sort of backfired on me. In the moment it felt kind of liberating to be a real piece of trash and just kill and maim indiscriminately. But it wasn't long before I paid the price for my choice to embody my dark side. Even though I initially enjoyed being the evil guy in this game, I wasn't prepared for the emotional consequences of hearing your (virtual) children both long for a bond with their father and simultaneously feel alienated and terrified because of who he was. As I imbibed my inner demon, I was eventually presented with flashbacks and otherworldly voices of sorrow from my virtual family. “Why did you kill us?" "You never loved us," etc. If I weren't myself a father, it probably wouldn't have carried the same weight, but it felt excruciating to imagine inhabiting those unbearably tormented shoes. I did not know going in about the details of the narrative structure, but it may have well cured me of my rare trip into the vicarious virtual abyss of myself, lol. I didn't like the feeling at all, but that's a compliment to both the design and the unexpected consequences as they were presented.

In terms of the action, this is either/both a first or third-person shooter at heart. Personally I felt that it was far more intuitive to play from the first-person perspective, but I did try out the more distant vantage, and it functioned well enough, if not ultimately my preferred angle of experiencing the action in this particular case. There are a good number of weapons and armaments to utilize against both the human and predominantly otherworldly foes you encounter here. You've got some handguns, a shotgun, a Tommy gun, and a shiv, among others. You've also got some tossable implements like a flash-bang grenade that briefly stuns enemies, Molotov cocktails, TNT, and the like. There's really plenty of diversity to your arsenal, and that's a good thing because there are TONS of enemies to contend with on this harrowing journey. These enemies were also pretty clever in their design. The opposition was based on methods of execution, which I thought was a cool idea - decapitation, firing squad, lethal injection, hanging, and being buried alive are all represented. The appearance of these enemies varied in quality and in terms of how unsettling they were, but they were all quite imaginative. One highlight, and surely the most common foe, was the Slayer. They had blades for arms and legs, and they'd sometimes scrape and spark those edges against a surface as they slowly approached, which was an intimidating and cool touch. They felt really menacing and seemed to be the design that got the most attention. It was also cool how the enemies would fight each other in a sort of “total chaos" vibe. You could use this to your advantage by standing back and letting them whittle their numbers down in some situations, and that really fit the overall tone of hellish desperation that permeated the experience. There was also a cool battery-dependent flashlight that made you consider whether it was worth using if you were running low, and this added a nice sense of tension to the atmosphere. And speaking of tone, there was a very nice sense of urgency and intensity. This was accentuated by the sound work, where you'd hear Torque's breath and heartbeat as the action ramped up, which helped to transplant you into his shoes and keep you on the edge of your seat. And the overall struggle really added to the immersion. It could get really challenging even on the default “medium” difficulty, and if you didn't watch your resource usage and weren't effective in your clearing of areas, you could find yourself in a tight spot. The game was liberal with healing items and ammo, so it was manageable, but it definitely had a nice flavor of desperation in the better moments. And visually there was a nice assortment of locations to keep things interesting. It was a good decision to present both the prison and surrounding island to allow for greater variety, which I really appreciated. All in all, there was a whole lot to like here.

On the other side of this particular coin, the voice acting was hit or miss with probably more misses overall. There were spots where it was terrible and some others where it was passable to decent. I'm always picky in this area, so your mileage may vary. The combat was perfectly functional but was a bit loose and slippery. And strangely, the shiv/knife felt more effective than the handgun for smaller sets of foes, although it did make it easier to save ammo, though. Even though the combat often felt too loose, it did impart a chaotic and unpredictable feel oftentimes. And while this aspect could be frustrating when things just kind of mushroomed against you in their own unpredictable ways, it also served to make things feel organic in an enjoyable way. And while it was certainly a mixed bag, I do enjoy that sensation where scenarios unfold without too much (or any) scripting. It helped make the world feel more alive and...dangerous. And while I also generally enjoyed that there was some uncertainty to navigation / progression that existed in some places, it was possible to get a little turned around and uncertain a few times. Things were not always a straight corridor, and you sometimes had to work out how to advance. But a couple of these situations were kind of awkward and a little unintuitive. The boss fights had some puzzle/pattern elements, and they were decent but not thrilling. It was satisfying to work out how to beat them, but they were a little frustrating in their execution and felt a little underdesigned and in need of a bit of polish. There were also some cool visual effects and hallucinations that filled your field of vision briefly as you progressed - a reflection of Torque's fragile and deteriorating sanity. However, they sometimes interrupted navigation as they blocked out your view when perhaps you didn't want it. There were also some poor design choices. For example, I entered one area in the first quarter of the game (the showers), and these emerging enemies (the "Mainliners") just kept coming. There was no indicator to the players that these foes would endlessly respawn, and it wasn't until I had depleted all of my health and ammo reserves that it became obvious. I just kept fighting them until I realized that it would never end. I don't like that sort of thing. It just feels sloppy. And it wasn't always clear when you should just run past enemies, which you could often do, or sometimes you HAD to deal with the immediate threats. So I was sometimes questioning how to tackle what was being presented. Thankfully, of course, you have saves to fall back on, so I often chose the option of trying to run to the next checkpoint (if possible) rather than dealing with all the chaos. To be clear, you couldn't usually just bypass combat, but it was a viable and preferred choice in some instances, albeit often an unclear and unpredictable choice. There were also some late-game enemies, these little girls (the "Inferna") who are moving around in flames and chuckling at the trouble they're causing. And they were REALLY frustrating, especially when mixed with other enemies. I'm trying to dodge their massive trail of flames while dealing with other potent opposition and often end up with my ass set ablaze - something that drains your health FAST, all the while this childish mocking laugh is playing in my ears. FURY! And as the game got close to the end and the build to the climax, there were pretty absurd levels of scenarios to deal with in terms of opposition. It's a good idea to make lots of saves to maximize your available resources for the more punishing moments, of which there are plenty. But the biggest gripe and by far most significant in my evaluation of the negatives was the state of the PC port. PC ports of older games generally weren't very friendly to those who prefer traditionally console-centric methods of input. There was no native controller option in this one, and it was a little laborious to set up the controls here. Having decided to play the PC version I had on GOG, and utilize the app (Controller Companion) I use sometimes, I expected things to go smoothly as they usually do. This app offers primary inputs as well as secondary (opened up by pushing select and giving you a second whole controller's worth of commands), but with some software (due to the coding, I suppose) there is only the primary set of controls available. And there are plenty of inputs to configure for The Suffering, and I had to sort of squeeze things together a bit awkwardly and even use a keyboard input or two on rare occasion since everything wouldn't fit within the more limited control pad options I had available to me in this case. I thought about playing the PS2 version because of this, but I got it working good enough to keep me playing the PC entry. I also endured a good number of freezes before remembering that, yes, in fact, I was indeed playing a pretty old game. So I switched it to compatibility mode (in Windows 10 - won't ever go to 11, Linux ONLY before I continue on with MS in any capacity) to Windows XP service pack 3, which was recommended, and the freezes lessened perhaps a bit but still occurred in a regular enough fashion as to be quite annoying. There is apparently a patch to help alleviate this issue with the GOG version, but it happened at just barely a tolerable enough rate to keep me playing as-is without doing more fixes. BARELY tolerable. Finally, I was robbed of a sense of completion in the end. The third, and final, stage of the endgame boss never triggered for me, and after all I'd been through with this game, both in terms of challenge and the freezing issues, I was left feeling incomplete, unsatisfied, and a bit, ahem, blue, if you catch my drift. I very much did not like this feeling! I was quite annoyed at having to watch the conclusion on YouTube, so much so that I'm unsure if it may have influenced my final score. It was either going to be a strong 3 of a game or the lower end of a 4. It was already in that gray area between ranks, but I think this fact was likely the tipping point that ultimately decided its fate for me. I still want to play the 2nd entry, to be clear. And I did enjoy myself here, but it had too many strikes against it for a higher score in the end.

Even considering the issues I had, both technical and otherwise, the generally tense and challenging flavor elevated the whole experience and made for a memorable, white-knuckle action horror game that had me yelling at my screen at times. It was also a satisfying length for an adventure. 20 levels, and many of them took a while. Overall it was close to a 10-hour game and had an enjoyably dark atmosphere and narrative with some unpredictable and enticing combat encounters. It's not a classic for me, even absent the port problems, but I'm glad to have played it. A very solid upper-end 3/5. And I'll surely look forward to The Ties That Bind sequel eventually. (Might have to play that one on the PS2.)

[canedaddy]

I read all that, including the mild spoiler, since I will never play the game, haha. I like what they did with that aspect, very cool and unique. It sounds like there is a heavy price for going all in on being evil... I can only imagine the depressing cries of your murdered family. I've only taken the bad guy path on second playthroughs of games like inFamous, and it never hit like that.

Your experience with those PC issues is a nice reminder of why I'm a console guy.

Thanks for the nice write-up.

[jfissel]

Speaking of oddball games NOT from Steam or an emulator, I offer number 10 in my year-end countdown:

10) Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden (PC - 2008: 6 and 1/2 hours played) 3/5



I can't remember how I first became aware of the fan-made/indie game Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden. I just know that I had consistent reminders of this niche pseudo-sequel to the game of the same name on the Sega Genesis (without the Gaiden subtitle). There were always a post or two on a forum or two with consistent enough reinforcement that the game remained in my mind over the years since its 2008 release. And having an affinity for what I would call the golden age of the NBA (from Walton's ‘77 Blazers through the end of the ’98 Bulls second three-peat), I was particularly interested as this game focused on one of the era's most colorful characters in Charles "Chuck," “Sir Charles," and “The Round Mound of Rebound” Barkley. I had long intended to play this, and in 2025 I finally hit the court.

In the first place, this is not a sports game, references to the sport of basketball and its elements aside. This is, in practice, a turn-based RPG created in the Game Maker engine by Tales of Game's Studios, unusual apostrophe included, with this apparently being their only game. And it's very much a JRPG in terms of style and structure with plenty of dialogue and exposition married to those turn-based battles. The battle system is fun enough, a traditional four-party team most of the time, including the titular Barkley, taking on all the opposition. There are plenty of items and variables to the abilities of each of your party members, and utilizing them in their most appropriate roles makes things go smoothly. They all have regular attacks and special attacks that are executed with timing-based actions on your controller. These special attacks consume resources that limit the ability to rely upon them, but of course there are items to replenish those lost resources at the expense of a character turn. It's often a wise idea to either buff your own party or weaken your opposition early in the battle, much like in many other games of similar ilk. It's pretty standard fare in terms of how battles play out, comedic elements aside. And there are a nice variety of enemies, from referees, whistles, and other NBA players to a bizarre cadre of other foes that keep things interesting thematically. And appropriately enough, given the nemesis he was to the real Chuck Barkley, Michael Jordan is the primary antagonist for the vast majority of the game. And there are plenty of environments to explore, ranging from the commonplace dungeons you might expect to the Statue of Liberty and the Spalding basketball factory, among many other silly and oddly appropriate locales. But as decent as the core structure of the game may be, the real reason to play ‘Barkley’ is because of the absolutely ridiculous narrative.

When you're greeted by an introductory message that informs you that “The game you are about to play is canon," followed by the information that basketball was made illegal in 2041 and almost all b-ballers were massacred in what is now known as “The Great B-Ball Purge" and that you will be inhabiting the role of Charles Barkley, one of the few remaining hoops survivors, well, you know you're in for an interesting and silly old time. There's no way I could touch upon all the craziness on offer here, so I'll just throw some random bits at you to give you an idea of the nature of this experience. First of all, the reason for the “Great B-Ball Purge” was due to Chuck B. performing an action in a game called the “Chaos Dunk," a move apparently only he has the ability to execute. The resulting carnage from this dunk left everyone in the stadium, except for his son "Hoopz," dead along with 15 million more souls, an event that set the world into an apocalyptic state. You see this is ultimately a tale of redemption for ole Chuck. And speaking of his son Hoopz, well, he was born / hatched from a basketball egg, yeah, an egg that apparently spared him from the wrath of his pa's Chaos Dunk. There's also the search for the ultimate b-ball which requires “jamicite” and/or "slamicite." I can't quite keep up. You will run into tons of classic ballers throughout your adventures. Oh, and Larry Bird is now a priest in this new world, lol. And the whole narrative is utterly silly with endless basketball (and Bill Cosby/Wilford Brimley) references, lol. The game also has some strange fixation upon sugar and diabetes, making the inclusion of Brimley appropriate, if bizarre. The writing was refreshing in the sense that it was clearly unconcerned with any notion of self-awareness or broad acceptance. It felt unabashedly awash in some inner world of a mad creator, just playing and having fun with what he was doing. Just playful, whimsical, and (more than) a little off-kilter in the most amusing of ways. Truly, you'd just have to experience this circus to properly appreciate it. The creator also goes off on some crazy rants at save points that express near hatred for all things Western, both gaming and otherwise, while simultaneously bending the knee at the altar of Japan and its corresponding cultural elements. This creator often seemed to inhabit the fraying fringes of any idea of sanity, but everything was wonderfully unpredictable and crazy throughout.

On the other side of the court, the game was really easy. I never died in any battle and was only mildly tested in a couple of instances. I only died a couple times with sudden and unexpected quick-time events that popped up awkwardly. In those instances Barkley sheds a tear (or a bead of sweat, perhaps) while the text “- Kurt Cobain” bizarrely appears at the bottom of the screen. Just more insanity. The lack of a soundtrack or persistent environmental noise made things feel a little too silent. Everything felt “dead” oftentimes, something that really stood out in contrast to most of what you experience within the context of video games. There is some sound, but it's quite sparse, and it really served to emphasize how VITAL sound is to most any experience, imho. The puzzles were only ok. At least they served to break up the pacing. What am I talking about?!? This whole thing was odd and strange from beginning to end - WHAT pacing, lol! Worst of all, there was a brief segment / rant near the end of the game that made me think this guy wasn't exactly right in the head. It had to do with young anime girls and that sort of “cultural” thing, and I'll just leave it at that. But I found that shocking (only referenced in text) and it made me wonder who exactly this creator was. Let's just say, I hope he doesn't have the ability to explore his apparent fetishes. It was really bizarre and out of place within the context of the overall game and entirely unnecessary.

But complaints aside, I was pretty captivated by this unhinged, one-of-a-kind b-ball adventure. It was consistently funny, or even when it was not, it was certainly absurd in ways that always captured my focus. The complaints detracted enough that I wouldn't call it a must-play, but I'm glad I finally gave this obscure sports-adjacent game a go. If nothing else, it was enjoyable in the moment and undoubtedly memorable. There's no way to properly convey the absurdity on offer here in a short review, but if you enjoy such theatrical horseplay, I'd download it and give it spin. 3/5.

What on earth is that game, lol. The things people come up with...

[isthatallyougot]

Your experience with those PC issues is a nice reminder of why I'm a console guy.

Yeah, I get it. But it's a rarity to run into too much trouble. And now that you're relegated to a disc-free future, you may as well jump in.

What on earth is that game, lol. The things people come up with...

I know. Man they is some crazies out there in this world.

7) Wario Land 4 (GBA - 2001: 8 hours played) 4/5



The only Wario game I've ever played was WarioWare, Inc. : Mega Microgames! which I thought was excellent fun and really unique at the time. I've, of course, played other Nintendo games that feature Wario, but only that one where he was the star. That is until 2025, when I decided to play Wario Land 4, also from that Nintendo clamshell device. (referring to the SP, of course) I had obviously not played any of the other Wario Land series, but this one seemed as good a starting point as any, and so I fired it up since I was in the mood for a platformer.

The setup is that Wario learns of treasure hidden within a pyramid. In search of that irresistible filthy lucre he craves, he hops in his car, and off he goes. He finds out that the pyramid is cursed and a princess was kidnapped by a mysterious figure known as the Golden Diva. So he makes his way to loot the place and deal with all the opposition within. It's a simple premise, but light-hearted fun and a decent foundation for your adventures. On your journeys, you must navigate the various chambers of the pyramid while acquiring all the treasure you can amass. In terms of the practical structure, you enter a level and try to find the four hidden jewel pieces. Each level contains four fragments of one of these jewels, and acquiring four complete jewels will open the door to a boss. The interesting part is that when you reach a certain point within the level, you must hop on the head of some frog statue (or something, lol), and doing so starts a timer that begins a countdown to return to the entrance of the level with whatever you've acquired. Oftentimes, you will not have gotten, nor will it be possible to get, all four jewel fragments prior to activating the timer for exiting the level, and so you'll have to continue searching on your way out while the clock ticks down. This can be a little stressful, at least in concept, but in reality, the time limits are pretty generous, and you shouldn't have much trouble. But it does add a fun kind of "stress," since you aren't sure if you can complete your tasks prior to your exit within the time limit. Also you must acquire a key in addition to the four gem shards so that you can unlock the door to the next level. If you run out of time, your money acquired acts as sort of a secondary, last-chance timer that spills out of Wario's pockets while you continue to race for the exit, and if all the money runs out, he is kicked out of the level and does not keep anything he found within. All of these levels are puzzle-based, with most of the solutions being fairly straightforward, although there are some tougher tasks to work out, both conceptually and in terms of execution. For example, there's a pinball-themed level where your timer is counting down while you have to pick up these balls and launch them into the appropriate receptacles to further progress. So there's a mix of mechanical platforming married to mostly light puzzle solving. And the levels themselves were interesting and pretty sprawling in terms of their design, with lots of paths and hidden nooks and crannies offering rewards to keep you searching and discovering. There was also great level variety. These are such distinct levels, visually and thematically. You're never doing the exact same thing despite the mechanical familiarity and relative simplicity of controller execution. And because of this, things remain fresh and nicely Wario-style bizarre. There were a number of times where I finished a level but did not find everything needed to progress, so you're asked to learn each of them fairly well. However, in most cases, it's not overly complex or punishing. Thankfully, the controls were tight and fun in their fundamental simplicity, and everything felt good to play.

Visually everything was vibrant and colorful. As mentioned, the stages varied nicely, so there was plenty of new scenery and enemies to keep things from feeling repetitive. And many of the enemies were more than simple obstacles. I like that some of the level navigation incorporates the damage states you enter via hits taken from some enemies - very creative. Some of those states are really funny as well. Like the all-swollen Wario who has been stung by a bee that causes him to float like a balloon or the super fat and heavy Wario that can barely even move but can butt pound massive blocks into dust, lol. So enemies are not only a hindrance but can be a requirement for navigation in many cases, and I really liked that dual approach of threat and necessity. And the whole Wario personality was present and accounted for. I love the slightly twisted music that usually accompanies Wario's games. It's both whimsical and creepy, but in a playful, trickster sort of way. It's just a little “off” and accompanies the character of Wario nicely.

Granted, the GBA sound chip is not the best - far from it, sadly - the great Achilles' heel of the device, imho. There can still be some decent pieces in the right hands, and there are here, but they're always undermined by the sound hardware on this otherwise wonderful machine. It is what it is. In the way of further character flaws, Wario Land 4 is less of a pure joy-of-movement platformer and more of a puzzle-platformer. To be clear, the movement is mostly good and satisfying, but it doesn't have the same liberating feeling of the former, where you are just running, jumping, and soaring gleefully without interruption. It's got more of a methodical and deliberate flavor than a loose and free sensation. If you're ok with that, it's plenty fun, and as said, the mechanics are tight enough to enjoy the fundamental movements as well. They're just not the highlight or focal point in this title. Some of the separate (and optional) puzzle rooms can also be fun, but they also often made me feel like a bit of a thick-headed toad sometimes. How dare this game undermine my sense of capability! Also, as mentioned, the levels can get a bit complex and challenging to navigate in terms of figuring out what to do in a few spots. It's pretty clever stuff much of the time, but there are some points where it can be a little frustrating and momentum-interrupting, even if it is fun to work things out in the end. And rather than always being a consecutive set of interconnected rooms, there would be looping connections in places that only served to add to the disorientation. And it's cool that sometimes you can't get all the gem pieces (to complete a level) before you've started the countdown timer to exit the level, but that added a little pressure, knowing that you have to find them in a set time frame before exiting or you'll have to do it again since you have to have all four in order to beat a level and move on to the next. It does force you to really develop a sense of level mastery, though, and once you do, the timer, even on the tougher levels, is not a factor unless we're just talking about seeing how fast you can get it done. And the boss fights were generally fun but could sometimes be annoying. The third boss, the Cuckoo Condor, had two stages - first within its clock and then flying around. The second stage required you to pick up the continuous stream of eggs it was laying and throw them on its head to do damage. But the eggs it laid would hatch into ducks that could damage you and interrupt your catching and throwing. And even the eggs that kept coming would deflect the egg you were throwing, causing all sorts of frustration. It was fun and challenging, but also very annoying in the second phase. Like most all pattern-based bosses, it's more than possible to master it and make everything smooth and relatively pain-free, but the initial learning of the boss was frustrating in that second stage and in a couple other situations.

But in the big picture, the complaints are pretty small here. I spent about 8 hours with it. In addition to the main campaign, there are 3 mini-games that you can play with money you've earned, and if you do well in them, you can buy items in an item shop to make boss fights easier. I did play a decent amount of the mini-games (there's a baseball, jumping, and face pattern recognition game) but never spent the tokens earned. But the games themselves were decent enough to warrant playing on their own and reminded me of the aforementioned Mega Microgames. They were a nice side dish at least. And there's replay value if you want to acquire all 12 treasures (in case you missed any) as well as a hard mode that, as I understand it, rearranges the location of items to make them more challenging to acquire. It may have stricter time requirements, but I'm only guessing, as I didn't play that difficulty. And there's plenty of that Nintendo charm and flavor here, if you're into that sort of thing. But I really enjoy Wario's yin to Mario's yang (or vice versa - whatever the case may be, ha). The way he revels in his evil ways is so charming in a playful rather than sinister way, and the game itself was fun on its own merits. It's not what I'd call an all-time classic, but it was surely a good time. And hey, Wario even gets a little love in the end. Maybe he'll finally mend his ways. 4/5.