Truxton Extreme is a celebration of all things I love about Truxton. From Masahiro Yuge’s involvement on the game’s incredible soundtrack to its modern spin on shmups, there’s much to love…assuming you’re up for a good ol’ fashioned shmup challenge.
Lies of P: Complete Edition on the Nintendo Switch 2 is a standout port of an already beautifully-designed game. From its graphical options to its full collection of DLC, it’s a worthy contender. This is especially true if you’ve never played a soulslike before – this is one you shouldn’t skip.
Star Ocean: The Second Story R is the kind of RPG I want to play when I want a modern Fallout degree of character customization, Final Fantasy VI degree of in-game character development and relationship building, and Final Fantasy XVI degree of fast yet furious battles. Its questionable pricing and absence of upgrade paths aside, it’s a beautiful RPG that shimmers on the Switch 2. If you have yet to play Star Ocean: The Second Story R, it’s a worthy recommendation for those wanting a glimpse into a PS1 remake done quite well.
If you’re still on the fence about Denshattack!, I’ll leave you with this: Denshattack! is the type of game worth keeping installed on your hard drive. In short bursts, it has just the right amount of high-octane stylish platforming needed for winding down after a long day. In longer-form settings, it rewards those in it for the long haul with exhilarating tricks, multiple forms of mastery, and satisfying high-score chases. It’s a must-play of 2026, especially if you’ve been hankering for a Tony Hawk– or SSX Tricky-inspired locomotive fever dream with outstanding art design and soundtrack.
There’s more to Dave the Diver than wasting away between the sea and sushi shop. In the Jungle is a meaningful expansion of the Dave the Diver-verse. It opens up the world we’ve fallen in love with beyond The Blue Hole and lets us explore it. It gives us a handful of new minigames, all but one of which are a treat. It expands Dave’s relationship with a cast of emotive beings and sets the stage for Bancho the Chef (coming hopefully sooner rather than later). It’s one of the better post-game DLC expansions, by just about every metric.
You can strongly dislike automatic side scrolling platformers and still love playing Dark Scrolls. I am proof in the proverbial pudding – I struggled to put it down. What sets Dark Scrolls apart from other platformers is its focus on simplicity. It's a great co-op platformer that's merely held back by its balance and relatively punishing progression. Its charm and co-op chaos will win you over the next time you want a party game to play with your friends!
The Adventures of Elliot: The Millenium Tales is the closest thing to a modern take on classic Zelda games I’ve played during the past two generations of consoles. It scratches that itch of bite-sized dungeon crawling and puzzle-solving that Nintendo has effortlessly refined over the past few decades. Best yet, it showcases the beauty of 2.5D pixel art that Square Enix has successfully implemented across its other turn-based JRPGs over the past few years. If nothing else, Elliot is a romp worthy of your time.
Swapmeat won me over on its chaos, silliness, and replayability. Its grotesque meat swapping mechanics kept me on my toes in building wild looking yet wildly powerful meaty monsters.
Tales of Arise – Beyond the Dawn Edition brings the newest Tales title to Switch 2 owners in a complete fashion, albeit one that is not the most optimized for the hardware. It remains a compelling, engaging, and gorgeously designed action-RPG despite its execution.
Even if Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is not for you, it’s hard to ignore the immense creativity that Good-Feel and Nintendo packed into this game. This puzzle platformer gives the player the warmest of hugs – hugs that make the player forget about their worries and leaves them with a big ol’ grin.
Psyvariar 3 will remain installed on my Nintendo Switch 2 for quite a while simply because of its engaging, highly-difficult, yet highly-rewarding gameplay loop of grazing bullets and racking up high scores. It falls short in the graphical department, but it makes up for it in properly executing a bullet hell that caters for those who want a true shmup challenge.
Atomic Owl is a beautifully drawn and well-orchestrated platformer that wavers between a punishing retro 2D sidescroller and a roguelike. If it had made a bolder stab at one of those genres, perhaps its gameplay would feel meaningful. For now, there are other roguelike platformers that are deserving of your time.
R-Type Dimensions III is a great remaster for 80s and 90s kids who haven't yet been able to play R-Type III outside of the Nintendo ecosystem. As far as remasters go, it contains a great number of accessibility and graphical features to make it a compelling shmup for today's players.
On the basis of the shifted gameplay loop involving racing against the clock, Fate of the Phoenix presents a more hectic, difficult, yet rewarding way to play Europa Universalis V.
Saros pushes the envelope on multiple fronts, changing the roguelike genre in ways that's more player-friendly than ever while taking advantage of the PS5's DualSense controller in novel fashions. It's near perfect in several ways, even if its story lacks the satisfaction that its gunplay otherwise provides.
The Rogue Prince of Persia's fluid traversal, gorgeous art style, and satisfying combat make it a promising roguelike platformer. What it lacks in endgame content and variety it makes up for in a game that has now set the gold standard for what traversal should be for all platformers going forward. With its physical release and imminent free content updates, now might be the best time to try Evil Empire's take on a Prince of Persia title.
If you've ever wanted to feel satisfaction from a coin pushing machine, RACCOIN: Coin Pusher Roguelike will give you the hope, joy, and endless chaos that the real thing couldn't. It's a Balatro-fied coin pusher roguelike that'll keep you chasing the highs of raining coins for hours on end.
Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. World Stage is the same, already great 3D fighting experience that PC players got last year and fans of Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown have been familiar with since 2021. It brings Nintendo Switch 2 owners to parity with crossplay and rollback netcode, meaning that it should be easier than ever to find an online opponent.
Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection is a near-complete collection of the Nintendo DS' Mega Man titles. Featuring welcome quality of life benefits, new-and-improved (for the most part) audio/visuals, along with online play, it's a must-have for a Mega Man fan wanting to replay some of the best titles in the series' history.
On the PlayStation 5, Tales of Berseria feels less like a traditional remaster and more like a simple port. While it remains an excellent game in its own right (and perhaps one of the best in the Tales series), the struggle is real in recommending it to those who can simply play the PS4 version and not feel like they're missing out on anything novel. Good news for other platforms, though: You're now able to play Berseria on the Switch and XBOX for the first time.