Nintendo Life
HomepageNintendo Life's Reviews
Loddlenaut is sort of a job sim where the job in question feels futile. Cleaned places need re-cleaning, fed loddles need re-feeding. Given that the project at hand is to purify a mega-corp-abused ocean, it's quite a downer that the game feels so unwinnable – but maybe that's the point, in a melancholy kind of way. In any case, if you don't overthink it, the environment is calm, the loddles are cute and the execution leaves few irritations. If this is a PowerWasher's fever dream, then it would be a shame to wake up.
The Jackbox Naughty Pack is a spicy but slight collection. The inconsistent NSFW-ness often detracts from the series' comedy value, and it's a shame there aren't more games to dive into, but those looking to heat up a grown-up game night will still find some good laughs to be had here.
In review, The Shrouded Isle is a great management sim that is let down purely by its choice of aesthetic. Somewhat akin to the ill-fated red and black visuals of the Virtual Boy, the palette is really nasty to stare at, but if you’re able to look past this, you’ll find a solid experience.
Overall though, JackQuest: The Tale of the Sword is a charming platformer that revels in its own simplicity. The control is excellent, the visuals nostalgic, and the exploration elements engaging.
Overall, My Memory of Us is a solid platformer with decent puzzles, most of which are tied to the plot. It has great sound design (including exceptional celebrity voiceover work), but its main criticism is the sometimes-jarring tonal inconsistencies between creating a tangible threat from the mind of a child and the true horrors on which it is based. That said, the good absolutely outweighs the bad and the majority of the game is a delight to play through.
Overall, Apocalipsis: Harry at the End of the World is an odd game that succeeds in its creation of a sombre atmosphere through a well-told plot. It won’t please everyone, but if you’re looking for a story-driven adventure to suck you into its world, this might be worth a look.
Overall, Bedtime Blues isn’t awful, but it lacks a lot of the depth and production value of the franchise it clearly emulates. It’s serviceable and might be nice for fans of survival horror looking for something to take on the go, but certainly isn’t ground-breaking.
Gimmick! 2 is an easy recommendation for fans of retro platformers and a no-brainer for lovers of the original. Its cutesy, feel-good vibes belie a trove of super-tough but cleverly crafted challenges that are surmountable with practice, precision, and patience. What's clear is the absolute reverence that developer Bitwave Games has for the source material. Dispel any notion of this being a retro cash grab; this is the sequel that the underappreciated and ahead-of-its-time NES classic has always deserved.
Elsie has few original ideas to call its own, instead relying on tried-and-tested roguelike mechanics as a foundation for its excellent Mega Man X-inspired gameplay. This is a fast and fluid experience bolstered by wonderful visuals and a killer soundtrack. A few minor performance issues do dampen the experience slightly, while we found the parry mechanic to be a bit, well, off, but these issues aside, Elsie is a remarkable achievement that will get its claws into you quickly and won't let go.
Blue Manchu delivered the goods with Void Bastards, but this follow-up is a disappointing effort that can't match its predecessor's atmosphere, charm, originality or strategic smarts. Instead, Wild Bastards is a strangely bland affair, melding boring top-down decision-making and dull first-person sections. The game never really picks up the pace or gives you anything surprising to work with. In a genre packed full of bangers, this one is pretty difficult to recommend on any level.
Grapple Dogs: Cosmic Canines is everything fans could hope for in a sequel, as it improves upon every aspect that made the first Grapple Dog so great. Strong level design, a fantastic soundtrack, high gameplay variety, and lots of replayability make this one an easy recommendation to anyone looking for an excellent, pure platformer to add to their Switch library. It's the most fun platformer we've played in quite a while.
Yars Rising is an ambitious interpretation of a classic Atari 2600 game that resoundingly succeeds in appealing to both newcomers and veterans alike. The Metroidvania structure is good enough on its own, but when combined with the awesome Yars' Revenge-inspired hacking minigames, you've got an experience that feels wholly unique while being great fun from start to finish. Some of the characters may prove to be a bit irritating, and the final boss is a massive letdown for us, but overall this is a great effort from WayForward.
Pared-back gameplay options, outdated visuals, and lengthy loads are par for the course for 2K on Switch, but the fact that NBA 2K25 feels like a lessened experience on even last year's disappointing entry is a real turnover for the series. Sound the buzzer and call for a substitution, it’s time we brought ‘Switch 2’ on.
Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland is a well-made platformer that captures the heart of what made the TV show tick, and that's perhaps its greatest achievement. The character swapping system isn't unique, but it works well owing to some clever and occasionally quite challenging stage design; and, while it doesn't reinvent the wheel, there's a fun action game here with a good level of exploration. Whether you're drawn to the HD or retro aesthetic variants is down to which of your nostalgic sentiments is strongest. Either way, the 8-bit representation is so accurate to hardware of that era we can't believe it wasn't actually released three decades ago.
There is a decade of gaming evolution here, including what is arguably the pinnacle of Capcom's fighting game craft. Perfectly preserved and presented, everything is beautifully formed and wonderful to play. Assembled with real clarity in regards to fan expectation, Capcom has thoroughly delivered the goods, from its ton of bonus features to its rollback netcode, with years' worth of combative nuance to explore, learn, and exact in the online arena. Oh, and The Punisher is awesome, too.
Yet, despite being well presented, Sunsoft is Back! is a bit bare-bones for a collection. While the three games included do showcase the versatility and charm of the studio's output, there isn’t much content to explore.
The only minor criticism comes from the soundtrack which, while not bad, isn’t memorable and doesn’t always match the fantastic art. Overall, however, Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight is a stunningly well-presented platformer with some of the most intuitive controls in the genre. A superb game and a credit to the indie scene.
Overall, Hive Jump is a great time, with well-thought-out level and enemy design, smooth gameplay, and a brilliant upgrade system. It’s certainly better placed as a party game with several mates playing local on the sofa, but it’s good fun regardless.
Overall, Stellar Interface is the lovechild of the shmup and roguelike RPG genres and stands above the crowd as an addictively simple, replayable shooter.
Pizza Tower is the rare sort of game that improves on its inspiration in nearly every way, building upon many of Nintendo’s Wario Land ideas with impressive results. This is an incredibly satisfying, creative, and addictive platformer that’ll keep you busy for a long time if you want to 100% it. We’d highly recommend this to anyone who loved the old Wario Land games, or to anyone who’s looking for a new platformer with a high skill ceiling and lots of technical depth. Pizza Tower has definitely got it where it counts - platformers don’t get much better than this.