Joseph Choi's Reviews
SEGA and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios put a ton of love and care into Yakuza Kiwami 2, and it runs flawlessly on Switch 2. If you’re like me and itching for a reason to take a plunge into the Yakuza universe, there’s no better time than the present.
If you can get past Once Upon A Katamari's sticky controls and a general sense of deja vu, the many time periods, customizable cousins, unique challenges, and features make even a decades-old formula feel fresh again.
Bandai Namco and HYDE, Inc. have done right by the fanbase. Everybody’s Golf Hot Shots hits a solid drive with great customization options, ten diverse 18-hole courses, 25+ characters, a plethora of Wacky Golf modes, and even online play.
For Donkey Kong fans, Donkey Kong Bananza is an absolute dream come true. But at the end of the day, this is a modern Nintendo game for better and for worse, and that means it’s accessible to a fault, has a sparse story, and a focus on short, simple micro-challenges for quick dopamine hit rewards.
Sonic Racing: Crossworlds delivered far beyond my expectations. It races ahead of the competition with dozens of game-changing Gadgets, many multiplayer modes, an expansive roster of characters and circuits, and the potential for endless mayhem thanks to all-platform crossplay. If you’ve ever enjoyed the Sonic Racing series, this is one title you’re not gonna want to sit out.
Herdling boasts an excellent soundtrack and a completely unique shepherding premise, but only delivers upon the more surface-level aspects of its promise.
This type of game design just doesn’t appeal to everyone, so while I can’t give this collection a perfect score, it is a must-buy for fans of old-school shooters.
Mario Kart World is far from a standard upgrade. It's an exceptional new entry for the long-running series, thanks to its track designs, dynamic online play, the intense 24-player races, and a deeper challenge found in the new Knockout Tour mode.
Guilty Gear Strive is not only a miraculous 60fps port that makes the most minimal of sacrifices, keeping the 2021 masterpiece’s crisp animated effects and characters, but they managed to bring over every one of the game’s features to the aging Nintendo Switch with minimal loading times.
This will be music to the ears of kids who grew up on the series, but for the uninitiated, there’s nothing quite like the Mario & Luigi games. Mario & Luigi Brothership does its best to appeal to a wide range of players with charming presentation and a strong new Battle Plug system, but not everyone will be enamored with its reflex-testing gameplay.
Sonic X Shadow Generations blasts into the stratosphere by delivering a flashy, Shadow-centric epic with high-energy Doom Powers, excellent level design that strikes the right balance between fun and challenge, and a lot of heart in its short story. The fact that the timeless classic Sonic Generations comes with this package is more than just a cherry on top.
Of the Switch’s three Mario Party titles, Super Mario Party Jamboree not only provides the best value and the most content, but it’s a refinement of many of the series’ most iconic elements, with a variety of modes for every mood, skill level, and age group.
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom has a lot to recommend - a unique mechanic, classic dungeons, and a decent OST. While it’s a worthy entry into the hallowed series, for Zelda fans who love action and playing with Link’s many toys, Echoes of Wisdom will be an overpriced slog.
It has been slim pickings for Nintendo fans recently in terms of first-party content. Even so, I would only recommend Endless Ocean Luminous to fans who are already madly in love with marine life and to whom spending countless hours swimming and scanning sounds like a relaxing evening, and not simply a meaningless grind.
While Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door has much to recommend it, especially for newcomers, in many ways it is a literal downgrade of a twenty-year-old classic.
Little Kitty, Big City has appropriately-sized ambitions, as it manages to be both grounded and lofty, keeping the player’s eyes scanning the city for open windows, holes in fences, nooks and crannies in which to hide, and vent pipes to climb. Exploration and character interactions are a joy, and I look forward to Double Dagger Studios’ next creation.
It’s easy to describe Animal Well as a puzzle-focused Metroidvania eschewing traditional combat, where nearly every room is a puzzle room, but that falls so far short of describing just what this game is and how expertly it defies genre and classification that it feels like a disservice. Animal Well is a paragon of the art form, a game that simply must be experienced.
With Princess Peach: Showtime!, Nintendo and GoodFeel essentially just kick-started a new franchise with a strong hook - a role-swapping mix of 2.75D action and episodic story-based levels with a comfy aesthetic. Though it’s a little on the short side, younger audiences, casual gamers, and fans of Princess Peach will find much to applaud.
I loved every minute spent in the cozy, quirky world of Super Mario RPG, bopping to the remastered music, smiling at its humor and hijinks, timing battle actions, and enjoying my time spent with its memorable characters. I may have been left wanting a little more, but kudos to Nintendo for bringing back this updated classic, warming the hearts of fans worldwide, and bringing generations together to experience the charm and wonder of Super Mario RPG.
I yearn for a meatier, more challenging Super Mario Bros. Wonder with difficult boss battles, but I can recognize that kids like my young nieces will fall head-over-heels in love with Wonder, because it truly is full of entrancing visual wonder and its simplicity is unlikely to cause household tensions between ambitious older siblings and confused younger ones.