El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron HD Remaster is one of the best, more hidden gems, 2D/3D action platformers available today. The combat is fun and challenging, the story, albeit a bit confusing, is still intriguing and the presentation is simplistic yet complex. Sure there are a few outdated mechanics, but it won’t hinder the overall enjoyment of this game. Whether you’ve played it back in the day or this is your first go-round, you can’t go wrong with El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron HD Remaster.
As far as I’m concerned, WayForward rarely misses and sadly Contra: Operation Galuga is a miss. It overall feels sluggish, and overly chaotic with an unnecessary story. While I have fond memories of this franchise, Operation Galuga doesn’t come close to recapturing the magic of Contra. This was done way better in the past with Contra 4 for the DS and Contra Shattered Soldier for PS2 (or PS3 digitally). There’s nothing chaoticly wrong with this; it just feels… monotone, and boring. Unless you’ve played and mastered every other entry in this legendary franchise, pick up the Contra Anniversary Collection instead for the real deal.
On the whole, the Wonder Boy Anniversary Collection is a great collection. It allows players young and old to get a fresh look at what once was. It features lots of bang for your buck, but the language barrier in some of the ports may pose a problem. If you don’t understand Japanese, the deeper RPG oriented games with their native text may be difficult to play.
Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise Of The Dragons is set in the year 199X where a nuclear war has devastated New York City. Citizens are left to their own devices by fighting for their survival as riots and crime invade the streets. The city has been overtaken by criminal gangs fighting for total dominance of the now-destroyed Big Apple. It’s up to young Billy and Jimmy Lee to take it upon themselves to drive the gangs out of their city.
Greyhill Incident is set in the fictional town of Greyhill, where paranormal activities are mysteriously on the rise. Our protagonist, Ryan Baker, takes it upon himself to figure out what’s going on, only to realize that aliens have landed and they are real. While everyone is worried about alerting the police in fear of getting locked up, Baker decides to take matters into his own hands and save Greyhill.
Mega Man Battle Network is a brand new type of adventure for Capcom’s successful blue bomber. While fans know him for his 2D run and gun hardcore antics, this new spinoff is a tactical role-playing game series. The series began way back in 2001 and garnered high praise which resulted in 6 main games and spinoffs of a spinoff.
Star Wars Knights Of The Old Republic takes place 4000 years before the Galactic Empire, and the Jedi Knights have fallen at the hands of the Sith. It’s up to you, a nameless protagonist, to save the Jedi Order from becoming a memory. You must protect the Republic’s last hopes, the Jedi knight Bastila Shan. Unfortunately, the Jedi are hellbent on interfering with your plans. After the squirmish, you and Republic soldier Carth Onasi need to hunt down Shan as they escaped before you. Can you master the power of the Force or will you succumb to the Dark Side?
Rise Eterna tells the story of Natheal who is basically muscle to a group of bandits. One night, the bandits attempt to invade and rob a city while Natheal keeps guard at their fire camp. The next day, our hero realizes that his pals have not returned. He heads for the village only to see it in shambles and finds a young woman hurt on the ground, somehow still alive. As he brings her back to the camp to heal her, he realizes that she killed his employers in defending her village. With nowhere else to go, the girl, Lua, tags along with Natheal as they head to discover Lua’s mysterious origins.
Big Bang Pro Wrestling for the Nintendo Switch is a port from the original game first released for the Neo Geo Pocket Color way back on November 23rd, 2000 in Japan.
Fishing Adventure is a barebone fishing game where players can attempt to capture over thirty different species of fish across seven large locations; all of which are inspired by real-life places across the world. Fishing aficionados will be happy to learn that the game features real fishing gear and fans and newcomers alike can enjoy the soothing relaxing sound of nature.
Gynoug is a side-scrolling shmup, a.k.a. shoot’em up, which was first released as Wings of Wor way back in 1991 for the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive. The game tells the story of the angel Wor who must come to the rescue of the Heavens which have been invaded by the demons of Iccus led by the Destroyer.
Märchen Adventure Cotton 100% tells the story of Nata de Cotton who comes across Silk, a fairy who’s looking for help as the world fell into darkness. At first, our little heroine is uninterested in helping the fairy in need until Silk tells her that giant Willows, Cotton’s favourite candy, is waiting for her at the other end of the darkness. Without hesitation, Cotton changes her tune and she sets out along Silk to find the cause of the darkness.
Raiden IV is a top-down, vertical shmup (shoot’em up) that was first released way back in 2007 in Japanese arcades. A year later, the game was ported to Microsoft’s Xbox 360. An updated version of the game dubbed Raiden IV Overkill was released for PC and PS3 in 2015 and 2014 respectively. The Overkill version included 2 new stages, 3 different ships, newly added Overkill Mode and Replay & Gallery Mode. Fast forward to 2021, where UFO Interactive Games released Raiden IV x MIKADO Remix for the Nintendo Switch with a handful of additions.
The Caligula Effect 2 tells the story of a normal everyday high school student who ends up stuck in a living simulation called Redo which was created by a virtuadoll named Regret. In order to escape this less than ideal situation, the protagonist along with the help of X, another virtuadoll, and his high school pals will have to go head-to-head with Regret in order to be able to return to the real world and his normal student life.
Cotton Reboot is an updated, remastered version of the classic and iconic side-scrolling “cute ’em up” Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams which was first released in April 1991 as the first entry in the series. The game tells the story of a hot-headed, immature young witch named Nata de Cotton who always overreacts and rides on a broomstick, with her fairy friend, Silk. Cotton is crazy about candies called “Willows” and she won’t let anything or anyone get in her way to get them.
Monster Jam Steel Titans 2 is the 9th game in the Monster Jam gaming series which first began in 2002 and was released for Game Boy Advance, PS2, Gamecube, and Xbox. This game is the sequel to the 2019 Monster Jam Steel Titans. The Monster Jam series is a gaming series based on live monster truck events where the main attraction is monster truck racing and freestyle events. Over the years, the series has changed developers and publishers a few times; from Ubisoft to Activision, Game Mill Entertainment, and now today into the hands of THQ Nordic. How does new entry fare? Does it get first or last place? Let’s find out!
Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX is a remastered take on the original Sega Master System game Alex Kidd in Miracle World which first released all the way back in 1986. The game tells the story of the small but strong titular hero, Alex Kidd on his quest to defend his world, Radaxian, and his people, from the evil forces of Janken the Great. Are you gonna help our hero restore order to the once peaceful land of Radaxian?
Destroy All Humans! is a semi-open world game set in a fictional 1959 where Cryptosporidium 137 (or Crypto for short) is sent to Earth by his leader, Orthopox 13. His task is to find out what happened to his predecessor Cryptosporidium 136, who disappeared in 1947 after he was sent to Earth for a similar mission. Orthopox 13 (a.k.a Pox) asks our grey little protagonist to harvest human brain stems to prevent his Furon species from going extinct. Why do you ask? Well, a long long time ago, after an encounter between humans and Furon warriors, the human DNA now contains particles of the Furon DNA. Unfortunately, a shadowy government organization called Majestic, and led by Silhouette stands in the way of Crypto’s mission.
Summer Catchers will bring players on an epic road trip where, thanks to their wooden cars, they’ll be able to travel to distant lands full of mystery, strange creatures and exciting races in your quest to finally experience summer. As you’d expect, it won’t be easy. As you’ll drive through shadowy forests, dark swamps, vast valleys, and underground cities, you’ll encounter a bevy of obstacles and difficult situations.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, known as Tony Hawk’s Skateboarding in Australia, first saw the light of day in 1999 on Sony’s first PlayStation console. It was also subsequently ported to a handful of platforms such as N64 and hell even the Nokia’s N-Gage (remember that phone/portable console hybrid?). The goal of the THPS series is pretty simple: throw players into a 3D environment and have them pull off crazy scores and complete objectives as real-life pro skateboarders. The game was met with critical acclaim which prompted Activision to start producing more games in the series by releasing a new game every year from 2000 to 2002.