John Rairdin's Reviews
With stability addressed I will have no doubt recommending this as an early contender for indie of 2026 on Switch and Switch 2. Until then, consider other platforms or double check that the launch day patch has hit. I'll be checking back in on Big Hops with the hopes of giving it the positive score it deserves, very soon.
How they have maintained the rights and how Dark Forces somehow escaped to Nightdive instead (thank the maker) I'll never know. It is time to put more care into re-releasing these games. These games are iconic, oftentimes genre shifting, and they deserve better than this.
For now, there is a lot of potential. Check back around the time that patch hits for my final scored thoughts on the game. In the meantime, if building tracks and customizing cars can make up for some rough edges in other departments, Hot Wheels Unleashed may be worth checking out.
Pine feels like a very promising alpha, not a game that should be sold as finished. The presence of Pine on the eShop is baffling. While I earnestly hope it improves, I simply can't recommend it in its current form.
The concept of JCB Pioneer: Mars, in isolation, is potentially interesting. The Switch version, however, presents so many obstacles to gameplay that I feel comfortable calling it unplayable. The release of games like this and ARK: Survival Evolved draw into question the existence of Nintendo's quality control. Products like this are an embarrassment to Nintendo's digital offerings.
Is a Switch game that can realistically only be played in docked mode actually playable? The entire point of this system is to be able to take your games with you, but ARK can't really offer that. It draws into question the sanctity of the Nintendo seal of quality. The fact that it is not only available to the public, but costs money is an insult. Don't buy ARK on Switch.
Wonder how a very well known publisher could stomach having it in their library. Wonder what in the world happened with the Switch version. Wonder where your $60 went.
But perhaps in some cases it is best to simply not port a game if the target system is unable to maintain your vision, and you are unwilling to adjust it. If for some reason you're desperate to play this game on your Switch, play it docked. As a handheld experience, Hollow is unjustifiable.
This Switch version, however, is just not very fun to play. It is poorly optimized to a damaging degree and turns what could be a meandering but enjoyable experience into one of the more rough experiences I've had on the platform. There is some fun to be had here surfing along the great wibbly-wobbly, but it's probably better done on a different system.
Heart Chain Kitty on Switch is a very rough port of a pretty rough game. What results is just uncomfortable to play. It would be one thing if the underlying experience of Heart Chain Kitty outside this Switch version was some sort of hidden gem, but it isn't. Heart Chain Kitty is technically a fully functional 3D platformer, but not one you'll actually enjoy.
The Elder Scrolls: Blades is a simple case of a mediocre game on mobile just not holding up on an actual console.
Warplanes: WW2 Dogfights is a perfect example of how not to port something to Switch and is somewhat damning to the mobile game environment in general. You cannot simply throw a freemium cell phone game on the eShop, break the progression system, and expect it to meet the expectations of that market. What passes for a game on a cell phone often comes in well below the bar of an dedicated game system.
Battle Supremacy is a usually functional, though consistently clunky, third-person shooter. The occasional forays into non-tank vehicles offer momentary reprieve, but that feeling is quickly overshadowed by their own unique shortcomings. While it may half-heartedly scratch an itch for the most hardcore of tank fans, most others will just be left frustrated.
Every time I loaded it up I thought to myself, maybe I'll find something really fun this time that will make it all worth it. I wanted to like it. Unfortunately two minutes later when the game finally loaded, I'd generally lost this feeling of optimism.
Even just catching a glimpse of an enemy can be hard from far away given the resolution, and effectively navigating the halls of the shrine to escape is much more difficult at twenty frames per second. So while I could forgive some of the more repetitive encounters and lackluster voice acting, everything compounds into a very unimpressive showing. This isn't necessarily a bad game, but I'd strongly suggest playing it elsewhere if possible.
Ultimately World Heroes Perfect is a pretty mediocre fighter, wrapped up in a mix of good and bad emulation. While it may be fun with friends as a way to show off the Joy-Con controllers, it offers very little in the way of a satisfying single player arcade experience. Let us hope that Nintendo's official Virtual Console fares better.
It neither uses its premise to create a unique stealth experience, nor does it lean into its own ridiculousness enough to be compellingly campy. There is a nice attempt at enemy variety, and an honest effort at puzzle-based stealth, but it just never comes together. There are moments where you can see what Tokyo Scramble was aiming for, but what you're left with is a remarkably mediocre stealth experience.
Instead it is a shallow glimpse at what could be. When you factor in significant performance issues that even the Switch 2 can't seem to brute force, and constant stability problems, it becomes very hard to recommend this game. I really want to like Tales of the Shire. I think there is a reality in which it could potentially get better in time, but it just isn't there yet.
I like Dementium a lot. This and Renegade Kid's next DS release Moon were staples of this era for me. While I appreciate that I can access it on a new platform, seeing it dumped here so unceremoniously without even an adjustment to the internal resolution is very disappointing.
When One True Hero works, I generally enjoy it, but there are just so many issues to push through. Its writing is genuinely endearing, its characters are lively and animated, and even as you moon jump high above the playable areas, it maintains solid frame rate and resolution. With some aggressive patches there may be something here, but it isn't quite there yet.