Peer Schneider

So many creative little — and big — touches! Super Mario Bros. Wonder gets better with every level. Just when you think that the desert stages are truly inspired, Nintendo tops itself again with even more clever takes on classic platforming. Half the fun is going back and trying to “completely” complete a stage. Kudos also for the smart community “ghosts” displays. Other players act as hints for hidden stuff, add life to the experience, and help out despite not actually being in your game. Multiplayer is also well-tweaked, avoiding the New Super Mario frustration of players bumping each other off platforms and into pits. All in all, an absolute gem!

An gem of a racer, brought down only by (deliberate) reward imbalances to fuel an unnecessary and predatory microtransaction system. Seriously, this is a full price game and one that deserves to be wholly loved by its audience. The pay-to-advance shortcuts are far too enticing when the car prices are this high and the rewards generally this low. I still had a ton of fun with it. The Cafe aspect is wonderful, but ran out of content too quick.

What a clever little gem of a game. Though (purposely) stuck in the past when it comes to freedom of exploration and linearity, Alan Wake 2 invites players to hang out in its moody and often surreal environments. Its immersive, despite not giving you much choice in how you explore or interact. Often channeling that classic Resident Evil setup, it has the look and feel of a David Lynch adaptation of a Stephen King novel… or whatever their Finnish counterparts may be. The game just oozes cool — and it’s genuinely creepy even when it’s not tossing jump scares at you. One of 2023’s must plays!

Luigi’s Mansion 3 is perhaps the best-looking game on Switch. When you play it back to back with Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD — an updated port of a 3DS game — the differences are glaringly obvious. The lighting (virtually no shadow-casting) is a step back from even the GameCube original. The audio is in stereo only. The visuals, while pleasing, aren’t even in the same league as LM3’s But its biggest limitation remains that the quest is sliced up into shorter missions — perhaps appropriate for what we expected on 3DS, but here it frequently disrupts game flow. You may have eyes on a hidden jewel and you’re about to try and figure out how to grab it, but then the quest ends and you’re forcefully brought back to the Professor’s Lair. For needless exposition and the option to replay that same mission or head somewhere completely different. That, in addition to the frequent (mandatory) “tips” interruptions shows Luigi’s Mansion 2’s age. It’s a good game with some fun environments, acceptable controls (LM3, again, wins here handily), and some nice tunes. It’s worth a replay, but it’ll likely greatly improve your appreciation of its must-play sequel.

Clever puzzles and a unique style set Animal Well apart from the many 2D Metroidvanias out there. There’s no combat — it’s all about avoiding overpowered opponents and figuring out how to get past obstacles via logic puzzles and timed challenges. The upside: you’ll feel awesome for getting past a tricky puzzle or figuring out a buried mystery. The downside: you’ll also get lost a bunch and have to backtrack and waste time trying to figure out where on the — blurry — map the next loose end awaits. The final battle is a bit of a letdown and doesn’t quite use all that you’ve learned to give you that final payoff that would’ve made Animal Well truly special. But what’s there is super-fun and clever. Great game!

Twelve Minutes is an interesting experiment that initially had my full attention — but when the game doesn’t understand what I’m trying to tell it, it gets a whole lot less engaging. I stuck with it and got to the end. But the payoff wasn’t there. A good idea that needed more work.

This is such a wonderful labor of love! I was a young lad when I first booted up Karateka on my Atari XL computer -- and I was floored by the quality of the animations and the incredibly smart in-game story-telling on display. I also remember gleefully noting how much smoother my version ran than my friend's C64 one... The Making of Karateka brings all those memories back. I really, really, really love this gaming documentary format the team at Digital Eclipse pioneered (see: Atari 50). I can't tell you how special it was for me to hear the stories about this game's creation, including the tribulations of trying to port it to other, very distinct platforms. The ability to then actually PLAY all the different versions and hear such excellent commentary by Mike Mika while playing a modern remaster/remake is something genuinely new and exciting. If you're into classic games, don't miss out! This is a new way of celebrating classics.

An absolute masterpiece — and now my favorite game of all time. I thought there was no way Nintendo could top Breath of the Wild, but the joy of exploring the more distinct dungeons, feeling the oppressiveness of the Depths, and marveling at the build mechanics all come together to make this a new and unique experience — despite the ground level being based on the predecessor. Sky diving feels exhilarating, taking down big scary bosses so rewarding, and there’s nothing better than attempting to solve a puzzle in an unorthodox way without some base rules or invisible walls pushing back. TotK is a major accomplishment in game design and engine and systems programming. Heat, cold, weather, wind, physics — that it all runs on the creaky old Switch is nothing sort of remarkable. The downsides? The music is good, but much of it recycled. And the choice to go more muted for most areas means you’re never getting that kick-ass moment of riding your horse with the classic Zelda theme blaring. Plus, the framerate and some voice acting performances could’ve used some tweaking. But that’s it. The rest is not just peak Zelda, it’s peak game design from Japan’s best.

Nintendo delivered an honest love letter to N64 era Rare games with this genuinely fun and kinetic take on platformers. I spent a few hours of being overwhelmed by the volume of collectibles and choice, before I settled into a rhythm of trying to dig deeper to see what came next. And once you're a few layers down, DK Bananza shows its creative chops -- and even more so when you go back to 100% every layer. The final stages are inspired and the mega-extended boss showdown is some of the best combat action in gaming in a long time. DK Bananza isn't perfect. I'm actually lukewarm on most of the soundtrack -- and the art style (and especially the way the "digging view" with the wholly transparent views) isn't always up there. But the sound design and the game feel are peak Nintendo. Punching the different materials (and enemies) just "feels" right. And when you're in the zone, you're just smashing your way through layer after layer basking in the joy of such destructive freedom. Overall, a very clever take on platforming -- and DK -- that doesn't feel like just a 3D Mario redo. It's so cool Nintendo gave DK his own identity, and at the same time celebrated the greatest of Rare. Stick with it. The end game is excellent.

Some genuinely interesting insights (that anti-tilt foot on the deck!) and some fun haptics explorations can’t paper over the fact that Welcome Tour is an often rote and tedious instruction manual. As a preinstalled little intro to your new machine, this would’ve worked. As paid software you have to seek out, it’s not as good as a $10 hamburger you could buy instead.

Astro Bot is the best platformer to grace a PlayStation platform -- and is in the running for my personal GOTY. Think of it like the most “Nintendo” PlayStation game ever made. From the many classic PlayStation nods and cameos to the colorful Mario Galaxy and Sunshine-style levels that let you try out new powers and even mess with time and gravity, everything is tweaked to the max. It’s stunningly gorgeous to look at — and everything bobs and bops in a sort of non-stop Happy Party. If you've ever run through a pile of leaves as a kid (and can still remember how that felt), this game will have you smiling.

Replayed it on Switch — and I’m surprised how well it aged. My original complaints were with the size of the overworks and the frequent framerate drops. But it’s still a delightful platformer — aspiring to something more akin to a Zelda game. Plus, the humor is on poin*****l-time great.

F-Zero GX is an evil game. Take it from someone who wrote a strategy guide for the game! Amusement Vision took over design and development duties from Nintendo EAD and didn't just preserve the spirit of its technical and difficult predecessors -- it eclipsed it on all levels. F-Zero GX (and its arcade counterpart, AX), is a fantastic game. It's gorgeous. It's got a great (if cheesy) soundtrack. It's even got a story mode to put Captain Falcon front and center after gamers learned to love him via Smash Bros. But man, it's hard to a fault. There are very few people who saw that F-Zero GX actually includes a whopping 26 tracks. That's because the AX ones are locked behind having to beat everything on Master difficulty. The final track, AX Mute City Sonic Oval, can only be played if you in turn beat the AX track. It's daunting, to a degree that I couldn't imagine any developer making a racing game this inaccessible and tough today. But if that's what you're into, GX is still as good as it gets. In hindsight, I wish it was more balanced and not quite as brutal -- hey, we're all getting older -- but in that regard it's a relic of its time, when GameCube was striving to be recognized as a more core gamer box than the N64. F-Zero GX is way overdue for a remaster or remake. It's a fantastic racer.

The N64 version is most likely the most-overlooked multiplayer gem on the system. Fantastic four-player split-screen tank combat.

What a stunner! While it remains very playable today, it felt like a time-traveler from the future when it first came out. A game outrageously ahead of its time that not only solves problems of moving games to 3D, it does so while being dazzling, entertaining, and utterly charming.

Wave Race 64’s US-made sequel is way better than it has any right to be. From its changing environments to the incredible feel of navigating dynamic environments, it’s one of the best examples of bringing a game to life through a clever physics engine. But the level design is also excellent. While its water effects could’ve used a bit more of a spark (and sparkles), Blue Storm is way better than you remember. A true bright spot in the GameCube’s lineup.

As a huge fan of the original, I was delighted by the new additions and the developer’s notable skill of making you think that what you’re playing is the game you remember. But it’s not! It’s got many cool new moments and is a tweaked experience all around. Like with the original, difficulty is all over the place and could’ve used some more balancing. Also: locking co-op behind a big amount of credits is lame. Make it harder and let me play 2P from the beginning. Point off for that limitation.

Donkey Kong 64 is a frustrating game. Not because it's difficult or because it's an unrelenting collectathon, but because it's so close to greatness. There are lots of clever ideas. And Rare showed with Banjo-Kazooie that it can emulate Nintendo in the best ways, but still add its own brand of flair and humor. But DK64 just isn't nearly as good. Its main design principle appears to have been "Mario 64, but MORE" -- and that "more" didn't translate to fun challenges, but rather a big focus on constantly showing players things that can't be done or collected lest they return with another character. DK64 is a missing link, a game at the cusp of understanding open-world game design married with Rare/Nintendo-style platforming and whimsy. It could've done for platformers what Ocarina of Time did for action adventures, but it faltered by offering up a confusing and bloated world and not providing enough "quality of life" features to make it more easily traversable or conquerable. But there's still plenty of good stuff to be found here. Rare knows how to craft interesting challenges, the music is great, and despite the sometimes hideous character design, the cast's unique abilities are fun to figure out and use. Add to that the ability to unlock the original game and you've got a big -- big - game with lots to do. I just wish Rare had edited itself and dialed back on the ridiculous amount of bananas to collect and crafted a tighter, more appealing overworld.

Maybe it’s purely nostalgia talking, but I remember being dazzled by how well the game translated key moments from the movie — despite the now-primitive graphics. It’s an interesting adventure game relic today, but it pulled off some impressive multi-screen exploration concepts for its time.