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Pokémon Puzzle League is really just Panel de Pon / Tetris Attack with a Pokémon makeover, but far from being a bad thing, it makes this an even more thrilling puzzler. Panel de Pon fanatics will have the time of their lives regardless, but the Pokémon wrapper helps draw in and hold the attention of new players long enough for the puzzling to grab hold. With the added Pokémon anime nostalgia factor that's grown over the decades, there's even more reason to investigate Pokémon Puzzle League if it passed you by all those years ago. It's still the same old game, and it still rocks.
As long as you're okay with its unreasonable lack of online functionality and screen filter niggles, there are hundreds of hours of fun to be had with Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium. 32 mostly excellent games and another historically notable preservation piece, it recalls the essence of what an arcade felt like. Achieving that feeling, however brief, will be enough to justify a purchase for those with an affinity for gaming's rich history.
XEL takes many of its cues from the Zelda franchise, with combat and puzzles that keep things interesting throughout as well as a charming, fun cast of characters. However, technical glitches in the Switch version make it difficult to enjoy at launch. There is the potential for a great game in here, possibly after a hefty patch to fix some of the bugs, but despite its obvious promise it fails to live up to its potential in its current state.
Make no mistake, Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series is the best way to currently play these two platforming classics and Namco has done a decent job of presenting these titles in the best possible light. With around 25 hours of dreamy, retro-styled platforming contained in this package, Klonoa veterans and younger platforming fans will find lots to love in the whimsical worlds and puzzle-platforming level design on offer here. Some performance issues aside, it's tough not to fall in love with this duology. Catch it when you can.
Although we may sound quite negative when discussing the game, FIST: Forged In Shadow Torch really is worth playing; it just has so much potential that it doesn't quite reach. It rides on the cusp of greatness so often, while not quite making it over the hurdle. We can't wait to play a sequel because if it was iterated on, FIST could be something really special. Sadly, due to the technical issues associated with this Switch version such as the unbearably long load times, it's let down even further. Overall, a promising foundation that we hope leads to better things in the future.
Rabbids: Party of Legends is a fun, polished party game that can soak up a few hours if you have enough people willing to jump in and out. The visuals feel unique within the Rabbids franchise while still capturing the charm and personality fans will expect. The slow progression of unlocking new games in Party Mode, the lack of online play, and the fact that the game is almost unplayable in Tabletop Mode hold this title back from being truly worth the asking price, though.
Time on Frog Island is a charming and intriguing game, but whether it's an enjoyable one will very much depend on how you approach it. The silly frog characters and the little society they've developed can be cool to interact with, and there are plenty of surprises to be had as you get deeper into the trade network, but the deeper in you get, the more Time on Frog Island turns into a one-trick pony. Running errands for frogs is good for a little bit, but the lack of a map or any effective means of managing requests means that even this sole task is made needlessly more difficult. We'd give this game a light recommendation, as the chill vibes and the charming atmosphere do a great job of making Time on Frog Island worthwhile, but bearing in mind its frustrations, you might want to wait for a sale.
Spidersaurs is a fun ride while it lasts, as well as a strong love letter to Contra, all delivered with WayForward's signature style. While it is very short and suffers from some minor issues following its transfer from Apple Arcade to consoles, it's still a good time and a strong purchase for anyone itching for some classic run-and-gun action.
Little Noah is a game that we can easily recommend, but with the caveat that it's not really special in any way. The quality of the combat and the design of the progression systems make it clear that the developers are big fans of roguelites and understand what makes them alluring, but Little Noah is rather light on its own ideas. Sometimes that's enough; not every game needs to reinvent the wheel, and Little Noah certainly feels like it deserves credit for how effectively it delivers on the roguelite formula. This may not be a game to rush out and buy right away, then, but keep an eye on this one and have it in mind when you feel like snapping up another roguelite. If you're after a solid 'one of those', it's well worth your time and money.
Once a technical marvel, Zero Tolerance Collection is now severely dated. Fans who live to relive days gone by might get a kick from diving back into the Planet Defense Corps facility, and the new Underground set of levels is a nice, if limited, bonus extra. But tweaks to provide an updated graphics option, improved frame rates, audio tracks, and true button remapping would have been greatly encouraging for existing fans and newcomers alike. As it is, this collection is largely just a ROM set thrown into a lacklustre zip file, with a frustrating level of non-effort.
Many will see the score at the bottom of this review and immediately write off Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition. However, there is something genuinely brilliant buried deep inside this Switch release, beneath the lingering issues with pacing and narrative design as well as the myriad painful "enhancements" Nightdive Studios has dumped on top. To cut through all that, you will need a great love for Blade Runner and cyberpunk, saintly patience, a walkthrough on hand, a strict requirement to play on console rather than PC, and a pair of rose-tinted glasses. If you have all those things then you may still see life in this game's eyes, but we don't need a Voigt-Kampff machine to tell this version from the real thing.
Sunbreak is a success in multiple ways, with enough that's new or different to make it a must-have expansion for Monster Hunter Rise fans. New mechanics and content are enjoyable, the challenge is turned up, and it's still an audiovisual treat. It's a welcome reminder that there's nothing else quite like Capcom's monster-slaying franchise, and even in moments where it's 'just more of the same but harder', that's still more than enough.Now excuse us as we get back to the hunt. That fashionable armour isn't going to craft itself.
Cuphead - The Delicious Last Course is a great little expansion that adds new life to one of the Switch's most entertaining games. It may be a tad on the short side but what's here is absolutely fantastic and it's reasonably priced to take its length into account. If you have the original, this is essential. If you don't, they both are.
A great chiptune soundtrack courtesy of Tsuyomi caps things off; it perfectly encapsulates that quiet, isolated feeling, while knowing the perfect time to ramp things up. While the game doesn’t last long (clocking in at around two hours), it uses every second wisely and never outstays its welcome, even if you are left wanting a bit more.
Despite our relative indifference toward the shmup sections and our frustration with some of the puzzles, by the time we cleared each team's attraction and really got to know the eccentric cast before the intense final chapters, Yurukill: The Calumniation Games had thoroughly hooked us. Individually, the puzzle-solving and shooter elements aren't anything particularly special, but they come together with some ridiculous characters to form a game greater than the sum of its parts. We'd go so far as to say we like pickles on ice cream now, and – while you might think us as crazy as Binko – we think you might, too.
Gamedec is the kind of game that calls back to a much simpler kind of RPG. You won't find any creative combat systems or instances of killing god with the power of friendship here - this is much more akin to a point-and-click adventure game with loads of dialogue to get through. If you have a particular love of science fiction or cyberpunk in literary form, you'll find plenty to enjoy here; if you're into RPGs for crunching lots of numbers and fighting cool foes, you won't find much. If you think Gamedec sounds like your kind of thing, we'd definitely suggest giving it a try. Aside from occasional graphical glitches and dialogue non sequiturs, Gamedec does a great job of achieving what it sets out to do.
It's hard to overstate our satisfaction with Portal: Companion Collection. Portal and Portal 2 felt incredibly fresh when they first released, and the years since have not diminished their immense impact. To now have two of the most unique and mind-bending puzzle games on a Nintendo console, and on-the-go if you choose, is a pure joy. If it weren't for the frequent load screens punctuating the experience, we'd have absolutely nothing to complain about here. The motion controls work like a dream, the games run at a near-rock-solid 60fps, and the writing remains as funny now as it did all those years ago. If you haven't played the Portal games before, this should be a no-brainer. If you have... well, just play them again.
Wreckfest is one of the more impressive Switch ports we've seen, taking a game that already had performance issues on more powerful hardware and delivering a relatively stable version with reasonable loading speeds and all its debris-flinging carnage fully intact. Handheld play is a little less visually acceptable, and the Switch tax rears its ugly head again, but just like the rough-and-ready roadsters in the game, we ultimately had a great time behind the wheel.
Roller Champions has potential; the core gimmick and gameplay are both lots of fun and it's satisfying blasting your enemy across the court with a dropkick as they're about to score three points against you. However, it lacks in pretty much every other department and there's just not enough content in here to satisfy anyone. Add in the performance and blurry visual issues on Switch, and we can't really recommend the game on Nintendo's console in its current state. It is free-to-play, so it's worth a try if anything we've mentioned sounds interesting, but unless some serious updates are made to this version, you're definitely best off playing it on a different platform if at all possible.
Sonic Origins is simply more of the same, which is both its greatest strength and weakness. On one hand, it's a near-definitive way to experience four stone-cold classics that represent some of the highest peaks of Sonic's career. On the other, most of these games are already readily available and there aren't many new features or additions to justify buying them yet again. If you don't already have a reliable or convenient way of playing these games now, or this is genuinely your first time playing through them, then we'd say that Sonic Origins is the go-to way to experience Sonic's 2D heyday. Otherwise, we'd encourage you to either wait for this to go on sale or just pass on it.