Game Reviews8.5/10
Yoshi Takes the Lead and Mario Rides Along in Yoshi’s Island
A creature carries a small passenger across a drawn world, hunting coins and stars in a strange, patient platformer.
CLAY TRIBUNE / THE ARCHIVE
Tag: Nintendo
Game Reviews9.2/10
Nintendo’s 16-Bit Platformer Remains the Genre’s Benchmark — 9.2/10
A solemn review of an ancient game of Mario, whose feather and green companion still delight after four and thirty years.
Game Reviews8.4/10
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars — Timing, Humor, and a Look of Its Own
Mario seeks the Seven Stars in a battle built on turns and timing, joined for a while by Bowser himself.
Game Reviews7.4/10
Mario Kart’s 1992 Original Still Drives the Whole Genre — Our Review Lands at 7.4/10
A grave account of Super Mario Kart, whose karts, items and shared screens gave racing games a form that endures still.
Game Reviews7.5/10
Star Fox Straps a Chip Into the Cartridge and Pulls Depth Out of the SNES
A trial of new hardware within an old machine: swift battle, voices of companions, and shapes rendered where plain pictures once ruled.
Game Reviews4.9/10
Mario Bros. on NES Makes Two-Player Cooperation and Sabotage the Same Move
A most ordinary game, with fleeting pleasure in shared trial, yet held down by rigid control and dull repetition of stage.
Game Reviews6/10
Vine-Swinging Fundamentals Carry Donkey Kong Jr., but the NES Port Runs Out of Rope at 6/10
Donkey Kong Jr. works his way upward on the NES, past platforms and peril, to free his father from Mario. Score: 6 of 10.
Game Reviews6.5/10
The NES Port of Donkey Kong Plays It Straight but Leaves an Arcade Level Behind — 6.5/10
A brief chronicle of Donkey Kong upon the NES, a copy faithful yet wanting one stage of the arcade original.
Game Reviews5.6/10
Balloon Fight Lifts Two Players, Drops the Lone Pilot
A pilot floats above open water, popping foes before they pop him. A short, pleasant NES game, soon forgotten.
Game Reviews7.2/10
Why Zelda’s Strangest Sequel Traded Exploration for Side-Scrolling Difficulty
A sequel that trades wide lands seen from above for sword fights seen from the side, points, and hard palaces of trial.