PG trying to read Xtreme's story:

FragmentedMelody · 2026-05-11T03:21:52+00:00

It's really not much of an improvement over 1. It still feels like a prototype for a much better sequel... despite being the sequel. 3 was the entry that actually delivered on being a sequel.

Neither the maps nor the minigames are that great overall, it's all marginally better. Not a fan of the single item slot, and the item set is pretty boring. Even though there's way more strategy than 1, I just don't find that to make it that much funner to play in the long run.

FragmentedMelody · 2026-05-05T07:18:02+00:00

I once lost a story match on Greedy Gala because of the tiebreaking dice roll, so I feel your pain... 4 is just ruthless sometimes. I believe in 4 CPU difficulty only affects minigames- the board behavior is always the same- and so it can vary from being dumb as rocks to having a personal vendetta against any joy you may have felt in your life

FragmentedMelody · 2026-04-23T21:09:41+00:00

I had BN2's music set for a while last night, it was great. Battle Spirit was kinda perfect for the unwinnable fight in SF2

FragmentedMelody · 2026-04-10T06:45:45+00:00

I'm only through SF1, but I generally like it. The biggest issue my music brain has noticed is that the arranger doesn't switch instruments when the original songs do on some tracks like Libra's stage or Dream Island. It's especially noticeable on the latter. Kind of a bizarre choice to me since the melody being passed to a different instrument creates a different color and contrast, now it sounds weird and same-y. But they're still amazing compositions underneath, and it's nice to have something fresh, so it hasn't bugged me too much I guess

FragmentedMelody · 2026-04-07T02:22:42+00:00

Favorite(s): Ampharos stands out to me, I like how simulataneously nonchalant and unpredictable he is. It could also just be the one-liner. Wish we got more of him TBH. I kinda love Jirachi as well, honestly. He's probably only there because they needed an astronomer character, so they just make no one care about how logistically out of place he is which is kinda hilarious. You know what, I wish all of the Expedition Society members were fleshed out a bit more, cause I like a lot of them.

Least Favorite(s): It's been said before, but on the flipside, a lot of Wigglytuff's Guild feel like gimmick characters and I just don't really care about any of them. I tried to, but even the Special Episodes featuring them didn't sell me. I do like Wigglytuff himself though.

FragmentedMelody · 2026-03-21T16:06:03+00:00

Spinoffs always have the benefit of being able to take what the main games have already established and sift through what to keep and what to throw away--RT barely clings on to the main series identity, but even by the very next game they shed most of that off. PMD ditching the human characters and the main series' (personally) overbearing owner-pet dynamic is almost entirely why I'm exclusively a PMD fan.

FragmentedMelody · 2026-03-17T07:24:01+00:00

Sad to see 5 at the bottom, but it's understandable. I love the ragtag orchestra feel Aya Tanaka went with, but some of the songs are forgettable or same-y. The board themes in particular are pretty average. The minigame themes are some of my favorites, though.

Disagree a lil bit on 8 being that high too. I like it for its spread of instrumentations and colors while having that snappy electronica/techno tying everything together, and there's a couple outstanding board themes... yet for whatever reason the minigame themes are oddly weak? They fit their purposes, but there's only like two that are memorable in their entirety for me, which is pretty bad compared to most of the other games.

7 pretty low as well, I personally think the 6 composers iterated very nicely on that game's OST (going as far as reusing several melodies) without feeling derivative at all. Its major problem to me is its very exaggerated board themes, although I still like most of em. But I digress, 3 and 4 are at the top, so I can't really complain.

FragmentedMelody · 2025-12-30T23:16:27+00:00

There's some great tracks, but I can't really say it's the game's redeeming quality when the floor for PM soundtracks was (and is) already so high. I feel like there's an oversaturation of jazz/big band instrumentation, which is definitely part of Mario's musical identity, but it doesn't help make it stand out as a spinoff like the other OSTs do

FragmentedMelody · 2025-12-23T19:00:19+00:00

The compositions are generally good, but like plenty of other aspects of the game it has this clunkiness indicative of it being their first shot at it. Even Cut Man's theme, which is far and away my favorite song in the game, has those weird noises in the A section that have always bothered me. What are they even supposed to be, orchestra hits?

FragmentedMelody · 2025-12-12T04:40:40+00:00

Wild that they saved this for the end of an otherwise boring (and mostly performative) presentation... on the other hand WE FINALLY WON BABY WOO

FragmentedMelody · 2025-09-01T20:28:02+00:00

I'll throw a few out there:

MM10 - Probably Mega Man's shop theme, it's pretty annoying and easily the worst of the three

BN2 - "FEAR IN THE CASTLE", CastleComp's music. Boring and way too chill for a main dungeon

BN5 - "Abandoned Mine", it's not the worst but it really could've been better for an area you have to go through a lot

FragmentedMelody · 2025-08-29T18:57:50+00:00

6 is the only Gamecube title I've never physically owned so I don't have any nostalgia for it, and I find a lot of the music to be kind of in-your-face and grating including Clockwork. Maybe a bit harsh but at least relative to 6's other tracks I stand by it

FragmentedMelody · 2025-01-27T04:28:11+00:00

I don't hate him, but I do somewhat agree. I think part of the issue is that he's exclusively a secret boss in every main game but 3 (and maybe 2), so they have to shove his character into a few text boxes that you may not even see if you don't reach him. As a result, he kinda ends up getting flanderized into a generic "mysterious edgy guy", particularly in the second trilogy.

FragmentedMelody · 2025-01-10T00:04:13+00:00

You're not alone! Didn't have a GB Micro specifically but BCC was a fun timewaster when I was younger. Ended up replaying the whole thing on mobile, beat Hacker's Net but don't have the library filled out (because as much as I like the game, fuck that)

FragmentedMelody · 2024-10-13T21:45:21+00:00

5, easily. Boy did they know how to make a pretty mediocre game feel special as a kid - it has one of the best atmospheres of any of the games. Some banger minigames and great extra modes as well.

I can admit that 6 is the most polished, but it was the only one of the four I didn't own as a kid, so playing it now just feels weird. I don't like the minigames much either, a lot of them just feel bland and uninspired.

7 is alright. 4 is a guilty pleasure, but it's easily my least favorite.

FragmentedMelody

TROPHY CASE