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Overall it's a package we think is well worth the asking price, something that's brilliantly simple in principle, but reveals its intricacies and hidden difficulty as you play through; it wouldn't be entirely out of place in a late eighties arcade.
SuperMash is a great idea that feels squandered thanks to poor execution.
Spirit of the North simply doesn’t hold up well on the Switch, and with poor gameplay and visuals, its relatively short 3 to 4-hour length felt much longer as a result.
Indivisible is an ambitious game, and there are moments where it seems to buckle somewhat under that ambition.
With three main worlds to get through, Fledgling Heroes isn’t a very long game, but it is a lot of fun while it lasts. If you’re after a meatier experience, or even one that perhaps isn’t quite as cute as this, you might want to look elsewhere. For everyone else, Flappy Bird may well have struck gold when it was released 7 years ago, but Fledgling Heroes rises head and shoulders above it.
Ultimately Levelhead will live or die on the commitment of its community, but even without the creation aspect it would still be an enjoyable platformer. Smart design in every department - challenge, creation and curation - means that Levelhead is a surefire winner, and we only hope it catches on. After all, there's more to the 'maker' genre than just Super Mario.
An exquisite bike racer-cum-trials game with tight controls, varied courses, and uniquely zen-like presentation. At once calming and demanding, Lonely Mountains: Downhill looks and feels like no other game on the eShop. Barring one or two disappointing technical issues, it's an absolute freewheeling delight.
Fury Unleashed takes the central gameplay loops of the likes of Dead Cells and Enter the Gungeon and infuses them with pulpy '90s action platforming resulting in one of the best roguelites currently available on Nintendo Switch.
Arcade Spirits is a niche title that will nevertheless find its audience thanks to some great writing and a very inclusive selection of diverse characters to interact with. While there are a few flaws in the sound design area, including some poor voice work and an overall low volume output, the gameplay is engaging and the plot intriguing, making this the perfect choice if you're after a fun, lighthearted experience or a well-written gaming nostalgia trip.
Jay and SIlent Bob: Mall Brawl is a strong achievement, a worthy NES throwback and a fun game for Kevin Smith fans and haters alike. Unfortunately it is hamstrung by a stage so bad that it brings down the entire experience and should, quite simply, be patched out entirely or made significantly shorter and easier.
20 years before it was spiritually reawakened as SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy, the Neo Geo Pocket Color added another fine string to its bow with the enjoyable handheld combat of SNK Gals' Fighters. With a few extra changes for Nintendo Switch – namely support for far easier to set up local multiplayer and a handy rewind feature – this classic portable fighter is now in the rudest of health. It's not the deepest of fighting games, but with an already strong Neo Geo presence on the platform, this cutesy battler is a fine way to perfect your combos on the go.
Bullet-hell games aren't often known for melancholic narratives and exploration at a sedate-pace, but ITTA isn't your usual bullet-hell experience. This is a top-down adventure that will appeal to fans of Hyper Light Drifter: Special Edition, Titan Souls and the like, one full of confident storytelling and very challenging bullet hell bosses. While its difficulty curve can wildly fluctuate, making it less than palatable to genre newbies, those with a taste for danger who want a new bullet-hell extravaganza might just find their new obsession.
Even on this second go-around, Battle Princess Madelyn Royal Edition is not up to scratch.
Super Pixel Racers offers a simplified brand of top-down arcade racing, with an intriguing handling model that's simultaneously casual and highly demanding. It might not be the richest, deepest or most rewarding game of its type on Switch, but it's a worthwhile experience for those looking for some solo and local multiplayer arcade kicks.
Shovel of Hope stands as an example of how excellent retro-themed platformers can be when you have a team of experienced and passionate developers working on them, and still to this day acts as a standard which other, similar releases are judged against.
Performance issues could be (at least, partially) ironed over with likeable, interesting characters and a compelling mystery, but Dread Nautical just doesn't deliver one.
It's not perfect – the in-game dialogue is well-written but rough around the edges, with plentiful typos and grammar confusion – but that's not enough to distract from Ministry of Broadcast's terrific level design and superb visuals. Nothing new here, but what it offers is, quite simply, a very, very, very, very good cinematic platformer.
Streets of Rage 4 is the very best the series has ever been.
On paper, searching a large database of phone-filmed video clips doesn't sound too exciting, but Telling Lies offers an exhilarating few hours of detective work thanks to clever construction, strong performances and exceptional polish. Given that the game takes place almost entirely in windows on a virtual desktop computer screen (and would therefore seem 'at home' on PC), it survives the transition to Switch entirely intact. While there's not much incentive to reopen the investigation once it reaches its climax, uncovering Telling Lies' web of relationships and intrigue is a case definitely worth taking on.
Played in the mindset of having old-fashioned fun rather than pushing your gaming skills to their limits, Moving Out has quite a lot to offer. It looks good, sounds good and plays well; it's just a shame there isn't a little bit more to get your teeth into. It's a lot of fun causing chaos with friends – throwing toasters through windows or trying to balance that last lampshade on the back of an over-stocked removal truck – but it's just not resonant enough as a co-operative experience to stick in your mind. A very good effort, but in our view, just too slight to be a lasting classic.