Yeah, Kameo is a flawed gem. Better than most reviews let on, but definitely not the best platformer out there. Have you played Super Lucky's Tale? It's a nice, solid platformer. I think you'd like it.
I also find Nier Automata to be a tad overrated. Which is funny because I find all of Yoko Taro's other games to be severely underrated (at least in terms of review scores).
I put a ton of time into Ys Origin recently. I absolutely love the game. I beat the game like 8 times! It's a bit sad to hear Ys VIII is overlong. One of the main things I loved about Origin was how short and replayable it was.
I love Phantasy Star I and IV, liked II, never played the third (that one doesn't count). I actually prefer the original Phantasy Star series to pre-VII Final Fantasy. With II, even with saving everywhere on modern versions, the game is nearly impossible without a guide, so I never finished it either. I'm looking forward to playing II and IV again with the Sega Classics Collection, but I doubt I'll have the patience to make it far in II.
I assume you are not using the save states, which let you save anywhere, in Mega Man? You really should unless you have gamer pride against using them. I personally prefer what they did with MMLC2 which gave you checkpoints, so it made it easier but preserved some of the challenge.
At least you didn't make it all the way to the end of Okami, only to get stuck on a frustrating puzzle like I did.
I thought the HD really made the cartoon graphics pop a lot more in Okami HD, but maybe that's just me with a bad memory of that game on PS2.
BoTW and Nier Automata I believe are the last remaining games I still want to play from 2017.
I can't recommend either Cuphead or Okami HD, as both are really frustrating. Well, Okami isn't nearly as frustrating as Cuphead, but I made it almost to the end of Okami only to get stuck on a stupid-mini game that I forgot about on the PS2. I'm sure I could beat it if I put enough time into it, but the minigame is so unfun I couldn't bear anymore. Other than that, great game, almost as good as Zelda if it weren't for that.
Really liked Momodora, even though I beat it in a day. I also played and beat Darksiders 1 last year and really enjoyed it. Can't say the same about Darksiders 2 though, I made it half-way through that one and gave up on it.
Have you tried Yiazmat yet? From what I remember, he's really not that hard, just time consuming. You can even go back and save in the middle of the fight.
Mega Man 3 has always been my favorite, but Mega Man 2 and 10 have become strong contenders after finally beating them last year.
