Category Archives: Games

Light Crusader Review

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I’m venturing further into the Genesis library and Light Crusader was the next one on the list. It’s a pretty fun game and one that feels retro while still getting some unique mechanics in. It’s a game that was well made for its time and I had a good time in the present. It is fairly short so you’ll need to keep that in mind but it does a better job of being a big dungeon/maze than most of the newer ones that show up.

The game starts with a lot of people being kidnapped by a cult and so the main character heads off to save them. Underneath the castle is a 7 floor dungeon where these people are being kept. His mission, should he choose to accept it is to rescue them all and destroy all of the villains and monsters down there. The hero is equipped with a sword and has basic mastery over all elements. With these abilities at the ready he can handle these guys.

The gameplay style is mainly that of an overhead exploration game. The idea is to get to each set of staircases to reach the next floor. On the way there you will need to defeat the boss of the floor and solve a lot of puzzles to get there. The puzzles range from using boulders to fall into the right holes or trying to jump and hit different switches in order. They range from being extremely easy to sometimes being completely unknown. Some of these puzzles just felt like good ole fashioned button mashing to me. One of them for example was to hit 4 numbers in a certain sequence and I didn’t come across any hints in the game. So I just got cracking on trying every combo out until it worked.

If there were too many puzzles like that then it would have definitely hurt the game but fortunately that wasn’t the main focus. They would appear from time to time in the background but most of the game was about running and defeating enemies which is more up my speed. I also enjoyed the platforming puzzles because those tend to be run fair and square You can absolutely solve those puzzles just by deductive reasoning and without using any gimmicks or relying on hints. Those are the best kinds of puzzles I’d say. Since those represented the majority of puzzles in this game, I was all set.

Additionally this game has one of the better maps that I’ve seen. It was very detailed and easy to comprehend at a glance. I didn’t have to be wondering if I was looking at the screen right or anything like that. No, this was a map that would let me get to the end. The game’s length is fairly short as it’s only a few hours long. That said, it’s better to be short than to have had some forced length at the end. With this amount it felt like the game was running at full speed the whole time and never had to pause or try to buy some time.

We even got to squeeze in a classic boss rush as you have to save 8 wizards near the end and fight all of the old bosses there. That was pretty fun. Each boss has a very different gameplay style to them so there aren’t any clones here. Additionally, the final boss has a pretty cool design. It makes for a very impactful climax with a lot of color and depth to him.

The only area where the game is a bit weak is with the hitboxes. For most of the game they don’t even make much sense. There will be times where you know that you hit the enemy but nothing happens and other times when your blow seems to fall short but you land the move. I don’t think it was lag or anything like that but instead it just felt like for some reason the hit boxes were added to odd areas. Eventually you just get used to the difference and adjust accordingly but for a while there it definitely ends up feeling weird.

The soundtrack is solid here. No tunes that I will remember by the end of the week but they still work well enough with what the game is going for. Likewise the graphics are pretty good. Perhaps not out of this world good but they are clear and it is always obvious what is happening on screen. The art style is appealing too so I really have no issues there.

Overall, Light Crusader is a pretty good game. I definitely had a solid amount of fun with it and this would be a good template for how you should do a platforming puzzle game. It’s a genre that would definitely be difficult for most titles to pull off after all. It takes a whole lot of engineering and quality of life features but this game was clearly up to the task. There are even different collectibles and rooms that I didn’t get to explore so there’s even a bit of replay value here. If you have the Switch Online then you should definitely check it out. The experience is a very memorable one and while you might be annoyed at the short length if you had paid for it, that’s the perks of getting it through the Switch Online. If they ever wanted to bring this franchise back I would say there is a lot of potential there.

Overall 7/10

Tetris (NES) Review

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It’s time for some more Tetris adventures! I played the Game Boy port of this one a while back but now I have the home console experience. It is one of those games that everybody knows about at this point but it still manages to be quite fun. After all, the core fundamentals of the game are sound and when that’s the case you can always rest assured that the end product will be good. At this point there are other Tetris titles that have surpassed this one but that doesn’t take away from its own ability.

The game has two main modes. You have the endless Tetris challenge where you try to get a high score and then you have the other one where you race to complete a certain amount of lines as fast as you can. Both of them have their fun points to be sure and when you get a new high score you will get a little animation that is pretty fun. This one also doesn’t bring in the cheesy factor of having you start off with a high score when you enter the higher speed arenas. Instead no matter what mode you begin with, you end up with 0 points. It’s definitely a whole lot fairer to the player. Ultimately my best run here was around 32,000. A far cry from other players who would deal in the hundreds of thousands. Well, what can I say..I’m more of a casual player myself.

In general the best speed I can handle tends to be around 6 out of the 9 possible options. When you get past that, the objects fall down faster than I can match them all together. Ultimately I end up going down while on the slower speeds I can really keep it up forever. That said, the game never lets you stay on a speed for very long. If you pick a slow speed, the game will automatically start leveling you up as you continue to make more lines get completed. As a result it’s almost like an online match making setup in a fighting game. It all balances well.

The game surprised me with the option to pick out of 3 different music tracks while playing the game. Music makes a lot of sense for a puzzle game like this but at the same time I wasn’t really expecting it. The tracks are fairly catchy too which goes a long way. it makes the game stand out and also gives it more replay value. I wouldn’t want to be playing in silence after all. Having a second mode for taking out lines is also a lot of fun because the main mode can be very time consuming with how long it takes to lose. This other mode is clearly better equipped for fast founds of knocking out as many matches as possible. It’s way more fast paced as a result and works out well.

In terms of any gameplay tips, I suppose I would say to always use the long 4 piece object for the sides. Mix and match the others well to take care of the center and that way you can usually knock groups of 3-4 rows out when needed. I’m assuming it helps with the score multiplier since that’s the case in other Tetris games but additionally it also makes it easier on you to keep track of the board. By knowing what you will be doing with each piece ahead of time, you don’t have to waste as much time thinking while you’re actually on the field.

Overall, Tetris is a fun game as always. It may not have anything on the newer ones like Tetris 99 but it’s a game you should check out as long as you have the Switch Online. There is basically no downside to downloading it after all so why would you not do this right? Just something to think about at the very least. I’ll be playing another Tetris game soon so we’ll see how that one stacks up. Due to how straight forward the game is, there’s not a whole lot to talk about here. You will either like the game or not and it only takes seconds to tell if it’s your kind of game. Now if it had a true story mode then that would be another matter but we’ll have to wait a little longer for that one.

Overall 6/10

ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron Review

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Toejam has returned for another big adventure. This one’s definitely pretty different with how it plays out as a 2D platformer this time. It’s okay in most areas but does lag behind the average platformer. It could use more of a plot and also more straight forward levels. This = is one of those games that is all about finding a ton of collectibles in a way in order to complete the game. That’s not exactly my cup of tea as you may know.

The basic plot involves a lot of craziness but the important thing to know if that you must capture all of the humans who have been released into the wild across 17 levels. Each level varies in term of how many humans are captured and fortunately you have a compass that lets you know where the next one is at all times. When the compass turns green then you have caught all of the humans in the level and can proceed. You must capture all humans before you can get to the next level so in that way the game really makes sure that you have done a thorough job. It often involves going through quite a few different paths to locate them all.

You throw bottles as your main attack but you have two super moves. One of them lets you run around like crazy throwing bottles everywhere while the other one has you summon a washing machine of sorts that absorbs all nearby enemies. They’re both pretty handy so you should save them for when you really need them. Some of the humans are rather powerful after all so you want a good move in your back pocket after all. Sometimes you are up against a whole pack of dogs and they make good use of their sheer numbers. A single hit takes quite a bit of your health away. Then you have the photograph pros who really don’t play around. Their pictures stun you for a few seconds while also dealing a lot of damage. Underestimate them at your own peril.

The toughest enemy has to be the guy on a flying carpet though. It takes a lot of hits to defeat him and since he is constantly flying away it is difficult to go on the offensive. A few sucker hits is enough to really take the fight out of you and that is the whole plan in a nutshell. There are burgers and such that you can grab to replenish your health but you have to be careful checking the trees because they also contain items that will make you lose health like bowling balls. Naturally those are infinite while the health items are one time use only.

You can use ESP to see through objects and know which place are safe to check but as you can probably guess these run on an energy meter. Once you’ve used them up it’ll generally be a while before you have enough energy to do it again. You can teleport infinitely though which is really handy. Not just handy, it is absolutely necessary in order to beat some of the humans so you need to keep that in mind. I kept forgetting that I even had this ability for most of the game.

As far as the graphics go, I would say those are pretty good. The character models are fun and the levels definitely keep that odd look you would expect from the series. Everything always appears to be a bit off which is of course the entire point. This has always been a crazy universe and the game keeps that same energy. The soundtrack is more on the boring side though, I’d like to see them get more creative with it than what we have seen so far. I know there is a whole lot of energy there that they can channel into some really good beats.

There’s not much in the way of replay value since you have to round up all of the humans anyway. The game’s length is pretty decent though because like I said it takes a while to get all of those humans. They keep running around trying to buy time after all. All you really need to do in order to make the game better would be to make the platforming a bit more fun. I dare say that the bottle throwing should be removed in favor of a more traditional punch or jump. It would feel a lot more satisfying when defeating the humans and would also help the platforming. Having to hold the down button while jumping to go higher also doesn’t feel very intuitive. It works well enough but it just feels so random in the end. It’s definitely there just to mess with the average player.

I’d say again, it’s not a bad game but it’s not a particularly good one either. It could have been a lot more interesting and as it stands it will end up forgotten. If not for the Switch Online I would bet that most people haven’t even heard of it before. That’s just how obscure this title is. The series definitely needs some kind of a big modern AAA remake that can turn the franchise around. As it is, this one just isn’t performing well enough to break out on its own.

Overall, Toejam has its moments but having to capture all of the humans can be more on the annoying side. The 17 levels feel quite long by the time you are done with the game and you have to imagine that they could have made the levels a lot more compressed and fun. Give me 34 shorter levels instead of the 17 really long ones. If you have the Switch Online then you should check this one out but it’s probably not a game that I would have searched for otherwise. It’s just not really hitting the heart of what it means to be a platformer. That didn’t happen.

Overall 5/10

Banjo-Tooie review

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Banjo-Tooie is one of those games that gets worse the longer you play it. Initially it isn’t so bad but as the worlds go on and the mechanics get more and more annoying, you really feel it. It’s a game that should only be around 12 hours long and yet it ends up getting stretched to over 30 hours. The game just keeps on going on and on and on. Even after you unlock the initial ending, then there is a true ending after that. The main goal of a game is to be fun but the problem is that this one stops being fun early on. It lacks every possible quality of life feature and that’s just a shame.

The game starts off with a few years passing since the first one. Gruntilda is back and she is definitely aiming to take her revenge on Banjo. It starts out well for her as she murders one of our friends. We have to take her down now and avenge him but to do that we will need to collect all of the Jiggies and stop a bunch of powerful monsters. This may sound like a tough mission but it’s nothing that Banjo hasn’t done before. He is a trained hero after all.

Okay so the basic gameplay style here is that of a 3D platformer. You run, jump, and fight your way through the levels to grab some Jiggies. There are 10 of them per level which can be gained by completing different tasks and sub missions within the world. You need 70 out of the 90 in order to get the true ending here. As you complete the worlds you will learn more and more abilities that let you get more Jiggies. So in that case you could almost call this a vania type of game. There is a lot of backtracking that you have to do over and over again.

The worlds are all connected by the hub world but another way to phrase that is you have to constantly be going to the hub world to then go back to the actual level. There is no instant travel or anything like that. There are shortcuts and warp points but none that will ever get you to where you want to go directly. Trust me when I say that is a very annoying thing. With a huge game like this that is absolutely a must.

Additionally the actual walking speed of Banjo is incredibly slow. You should run with Kazooie as much as possible but the more the game goes on, the more times you have to completely use Banjo to get the jiggy which means that running is not an option. Just travelling will take you a very long time. The game also has a gimmick where every world has you control Mumbo at different points and also transform into various objects. You have to go to their huts to do this and then to transform back you have to run all the way there. Often times they have to take different routes around the level which means even more places to explore.

The worst one is definitely the dinosaur world which is absolutely massive. In addition to the usual transformations your dinosaur mode has two forms. You guessed it…you have to run back to Mumbo’s each time to set this up and then go back to the magic tent. Nothing is made to be easy here and that is a massive problem. It’s not something you can just handwave either. Not when it takes hours upon hours to get past this.

The annoying part is that at first it’s actually rather fun. It’s enjoyable to first enter a world and start to check out each of the passageways and find the Jiggy that you are looking for. That is the heart of this genre after all. Where it all goes horribly wrong is when you have to keep on coming back. At the very least they should have a limit like you have to only revisit world 1 once, or something like that. It’s fine to gradually unlock new powers but you shouldn’t spread them out so completely. Every time you have to go back to the same worlds again is more time that is just wasted. It wasn’t planned out very well at all if you ask me.

The technical aspects of the game are surprisingly good though. The graphics are quite sharp with all of the character models being good and the stage deigns are on point. They hold up really well to the current day. Then there are quite a few catchy tunes to listen to in the game as well. At least that helps you to ignore how long you’ve been playing the game. It’s not enough to block the negatives to be honest but having a bad soundtrack would have made it all way worse that’s for sure.

Throw in some maps, basic descriptions of what’s missing and an effective quick travel. Adding those 3 things would do a whole lot of good for the game. Keep in mind that it took this long even with all of the rewinding and such to avoid going down random paths that lead nowhere. If not for that then this would be even worse. That’s a rather terrifying prospect because some Jiggies require an insane amount of platforming while others are very unrelenting with the damage count. A single death will send you wayyyyyyy back which is definitely something to consider. When I say there are no quality of life considerations here I really do mean it. They were all ditched long ago which is a real shame. his may be the most realistic treasure hunting game in the sense that it is so hard and you are given no direction but that’s no a good thing. The game manages to squander some really entertaining writing and a good story which is an absolutely tragic feat.

Overall, Banjo definitely fell down pretty hard here. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the first by any means but it is worlds better than this one. Whenever you have a sequel that is worse than the first one then you’ve got a big problem. That kind of thing just should not be happening. The core concepts are here that could make this a good series but this game did not reach its potential. I’d definitely advise you to stay far away from this one. It’s just not worth the playthrough and makes for a very exhausting game.

Overall 3/10

Wolf of the Battlefield: MERCS Review

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This is definitely one of the more random games that I’ve gotten to play. I can tell you that I’ve definitely never even heard of this game before. It was a pretty fun one but definitely suffers from some arcade age. There’s one boss in particular that you have to play frame perfect or you get crushed. Even with rewind and perfectly dodging every hit it was super difficult to pull off the win.

You play as a GI Joe type of hero who needs to take down a whole army of opposing fighters and giant mech suits. You can bet that this is no easy task but he is up for it. You go through 8 levels of auto scrolling where more and more enemies keep showing up. When the auto scrolling stops, you get to keep on going and take your chances with the enemy gunfire or stay put and whittle them down first. Generally I found that it was best to keep on moving but of course that can also be super risky so you need to keep that in mind. The biggest factor to keep in mind though is the weapons that you pick up. These will change your experience quite a lot. When you pick up a gun, you drop your old one and can’t pick it back up so keep that in mind.

In my opinion the best weapon is the flame thrower and it’s not particularly close. A good blast from that weapon takes out most opponents and you can just hold down the attack button to keep it shooting forever. The catch is that it won’t have the same punch as some of the stronger weapons but honestly it’s a pretty decent trade off for me. Once I picked this one up I made sure not to pick any other weapons up. There was one boss that was nearly impossible to defeat with this weapon but in every other level it really served me well.

The game is also fairly generous with all of the health items that are dropped by enemies or found in boxes. More so than the average game in this genre so I definitely appreciated that. It helped prevent the game from getting too difficult to get through. It’s still very difficult obviously but it never feels quite impossible the way some of the old arcade shooters would. There are some shooters like that where you just feel like they were made to take all of your quarters.

The graphics have aged really well and I’d say that it is due to the art style. It’s very colorful and helps complement the sprites well. The action also works really well although there isn’t much of a soundtrack. You can’t win them all I suppose. In terms of replay value, there technically isn’t one since there are no collectibles or bonus levels to play through. I guess you could try to beat the game quicker or with less deaths as some self imposed challenges though. That would be a hard sell unless you really loved the game though. Otherwise this is clearly made as the kind of game that you play through all the way once and then call it a day.

Nothing wrong with that kind of game of course, that’s how a lot of them were back in the day. It’s definitely worth playing through this title on the Switch Online. The fact that they put a good amount of effort into this one instead of letting it become generic shooter 3000 was also a really good touch. Even with that we’ll see how long I remember this one though. In my defense, there really are a whole lot of army games with no real end in sight. It’s the kind of game that people just enjoy a whole lot so why wouldn’t they continue them right? One of these games in 3D without the first person camera work would really be awesome! Hopefully that ends up being the case at some point.

Overall, MERCS is a pretty fun game. I dare say that a lot of the enjoyment is because I am playing it through the Switch Online though. Without that I would probably be in a really tricky spot. I’d give it a few whirls but in general when you are sent back to the beginning of a game, I’m not too keen to keep on trying. You just lose too much progress even if you are having fun. At minimum, all games need to allow you to replay from the latest level when you have a game over. That is the way to go.

Overall 7/10

Vectorman Review

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Vectorman is definitely nostalgic because I played through it many years ago. I don’t remember if I beat the whole game and if I had to guess, I probably didn’t. It’s a very difficult title which helps to make up for its length. The concept for the game is really sound and I enjoy the gameplay. It really is like an alternate Mega Man of sorts and it’s too bad that this one didn’t spawn a lot of sequels and turn into a complete franchise or anything like that.

The general plot is that Vectorman is the only one to resist mind control and so it’s up to him to destroy all of the enemies. This may sound like a daunting task but Vectorman isn’t the kind of villain to go down so easily. He has his blasters and only gets stronger as the game goes on. The basic gameplay style is that of a 2D shooter. Your gun can spam bullets and along the way you can get temporary power ups that makes you gun even stronger. On the flip side, Vectorman is very flimsy and a few hits will put him out of commission for good.

Virtually all of the enemies have super armor which also makes them very difficult to defeat. You have to be extremely careful or you will end up soaking up a bunch of damage in the blink of an eye. Once that happens then you are really doomed. You always want to keep at least two health points on hand because you can lose 2 in back to back hits before you can really react. You don’t have many invincibility frames here.

There are a number of bosses in the game and they are all crafted well. The way you defeat each of them is unique so there are no re-used bosses or anything like that. Each one is a unique experience all the way through. The graphics are also really good. All of the worlds really stand out and are very colorful. I like the enemy designs and the energy blasts look good. It’s a very well balanced title all the way.

Then you have the soundtrack which is a very solid Sci-fi blend. It sounds like Mega Man but even more modern for its time. The soundtrack ages extremely well and works with the gameplay. The final boss is also really intense so the game gets to end with a real bang. It certainly succeeds on the technical aspects.

When it comes to the gameplay, my main tip would be to make sure and get every single health point. You will need them for the bosses which are all designed to absolutely obliterate you. They are not balanced in any way so don’t get that twisted. These guys are as overpowered as they get and will give you no quarter. You will be on the defensive the whole time and you can expect to die a whole lot. It has a case for being even harder than Mega Man to be honest but the Wily runs do tend to be crazy so that may be overdoing it just a tad.

This is another series that could really use a modern remake. Vectorman would be an absolutely stellar main character and he already has the deign for it. You’d probably need to focus on the supporting cast next since right now there isn’t much of one but that wouldn’t be too hard to do. You can also give him more attacks but perhaps that would make it feel too much like a Mega Man ripoff. That can be avoided for now but with how he’s made of a lot of balls for joints, using some kind of shape manipulation could be within reason.

Naturally I would also add more of a story. It certainly can’t hurt right? So you can have that at the ready as well and you’ve got all the makings of a fun title. That’s probably the most fun thing about playing all of these old games which is that you can sit down and think about the concepts outside of the old limitations of the ancient systems. Something like Vectorman is a perfect example of this.

Overall, Vectorman is a pretty good game. It holds up really well both in terms of gameplay and graphics. It’s the kind of game you can pop in at any time because of how extremely simple it is. It’s ultra difficult but very simple to understand. I would definitely appreciate more of a plot but for now I will be satisfied with just having some opening text at least. It’s more than some other games bother to deliver after all. If you haven’t played or even heard of the game before then you should change that right away. Don’t let your expectations get too crazy here but you can definitely be assured that you will have a positive experience. In the end that is the most important thing after all.

Overall 7/10

Donkey Kong Land III Review

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It’s time to end the trilogy. The Donkey Kong Land games have sure lasted a while and you have to give them major props for that. That being said, this one really doesn’t do much different from the others. Sure, it brings in new levels and good ole King K Rool to shake things up…actually he’s always been the villain. So you get the idea here. If you like platformers then you should have a good time with this.

This time we have 3 different characters to play as which is definitely fun. You basically get to switch places every time you get hit. You can only hang on to one extra life point at a time so the third character is technically never on the roster. No matter though, you will get hit plenty of times as you play through the game so I don’t see this being a really big issue. It is always fun to play as Dixie though since she still has the long glide. You can really cheese some levels with her if you can avoid getting hit for a while.

One thing you will notice very quickly though is that it’s very hard to keep track of what level you’re on. This is probably a casualty of the no color issue for the Game Boy. When you complete a level, there is no visual indicator that it is cleared. Then you have to go up, right, left, or sometimes down depending on the world and this means it ends up being very risky on if you may end up playing an old level by mistake. That happened to me twice and I had to back out. It’s definitely something I’ve never seen in the genre before so it could desperately use a quality of life enhancement there.

Meanwhile while the graphics were likely good originally, hey don’t look great here. It’s all very faded out and the sprites are the only saving grace here. The soundtrack is good though, I do tend to enjoy the DK tunes. Nintendo did a good job of giving them a lot of personality rather than it sound like generic jungle environments which would have been very uninspired. So I was quite content there.

As far as the length goes, I’d say it is a fair amount of content to get through. It may feel short compared to a modern game, but playing through a lot of these Game Boy titles you see how short they can be. The most important thing is that the game doesn’t only have one world or anything like that. There are also some bonus levels that you can optionally play which increases the replay value as well.

The game can be rather difficult so you need to tread through the stage carefully. Without the rewind feature at the ready the enemies would certainly be very overpowering. You just wouldn’t be able to get through them all so easily. I could run a lot but that was a privilege of the Nintendo Switch Online. You could probably add some hours to my playtime otherwise. You also still have the animals here which is good for spreading the gameplay out. There are quite a few ways to play the game and that was a nice bit of extra work by the devs.

You’d expect that it definitely costs more time and money to set up more than one playing style. The DK games have been consistent in this though so that’s a good thing. There isn’t a whole lot to say about the game though because it’s a very straight forward title and also because not much has changed from the first two. I suppose in that way it’s a sequel that should make the players feel very comfortable. It’s all things that they have seen before and so they can hit the ground running rather than worrying about learning the style or anything like that.

Naturally if we get a Land 4 one day I really hope it has more of a story. That’s what the DK games are lacking and it’s a critical component since that really gets you engaged in the series. Naturally it’s not something I would dock this one any points for due to the age and all that but for a new game I would definitely be a little more harsh. I need those cinematics!

Overall, Donkey Kong Land III is a good game that definitely ends rather quickly. It took a step back in terms of the hub world but in all other areas it manages to keep pace. It’s definitely a title to keep your eyes on the whole time. Hopefully we get some new DK games in the future. It may not be my favorite platforming series but I would still play it at some point. You can always count on Nintendo to deliver a fun experience no matter what year it is. It’s just what they do.

Overall 7/10

Donkey Kong Land 2 Review

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The next DK Land game has arrived and it’s a pretty good continuation from the first one. In general I miss DK and his strong way of fighting but Dixie is certainly the most powerful all around character with how she can fly anywhere. The game also doubles up on all the summon animals so on a purely gameplay sense it may beat the original. I would still have liked for DK to have been involved more though since this is supposed to be his series.

There’s still not much of an actual story to be had here though. The game is much more focused on just throwing you into the action so you’d probably have to read the booklet. Somehow or other King K Rool has kidnapped DK though and it is up to Diddy and Dixie to save him. They are ready for this though and prepare to use all of their skills to get past the waves of enemies and help him out. There are a wide variety of worlds to go through here so prepare for a lot of environments.

One thing that is evident from the stat is that the gameplay is quite hard though. A lot of these levels require split second reflexes and you always have to be moving or you will be left in the dust. One big example of this is the level where you play as a spider. You have to shoot out your webs and then keep on rising through the level as some boiling water follows you. The way you do this is by shooting out the web with B and then clicking select to stop it and turn this into a platform. You have to continue with this process at top speed or you will quickly be overwhelmed. It’s really hard because of how far apart the buttons are.

Then you have to consider that a lot of the enemies are impervious to your jumping. So you have to use your rolls which isn’t always easy to time. If you don’t time it well then you will end up taking damage instead. The bosses also attack rather quickly so you want to learn the timings real fast. The game is definitely unrelenting which is impressive. Since the levels aren’t overly long and there are checkpoints, I say bring it on! Of course with the Switch Online and rewinding it’s a non factor but even back in the day it would have been fun.

There are more worlds here than in the first game and of course you also have a bonus world for if you had gotten all of the collectibles. That is some good replay value here and it feels like the modern Nintendo platformers where there is a lot to do. You definitely do get the bang for your buck with this title. Then the graphics are hard to really praise since everything is so faded out but the sprites for the characters look good. It’s the kind of game that would probably look great if we did have full colors but sadly that was not in the cards here.

The soundtrack is good though. Probably not as good as the first one to be honest but it’s close and I would keep it as a positive either way. The game’s technical elements are on point and I also enjoyed the gameplay. It’s not the tightest Nintendo gameplay that I’ve experienced but it definitely does hold its own. The fact that they came up with different gameplay for all of the various animals and Kong members is also impressive. They didn’t just go the lazy route and establish a single mode for gameplay.

My main recommendation is to hold the run button at all times. Some of the jumps are really hard to handle but if you are running then you will be able to make them without any issue. The only weakness is that it can be easy to fall that way and of course if you are in a place with a lot of minions then you might bump into them. So you probably want to be patient but for any gap, immediately start running. One thing about the 2D platformers is they will punish you if you rush through the levels too much. It’s just hard not to since I love going full blast all the time.

The game has a fun cameo for Mario at the very end of the game so make sure you check that out. It’s Nintendo’s way of reminding you that he is always around. If we ever do get a modern plot based DK game, I really want them to include Mario somewhere. Have him show up as a secret boss battle or any ally who helps out at the end. Mario and DK are in the same universe after all so it’s about time that they start crossing over more.

Overall, Donkey Kong Land 2 is a pretty fun game. It ends up being over very quickly but such is always the fate for a platformer. That’s why it is important that you enjoy the gameplay. So it may be a short time, but that way it is a fun one. Additionally with the collectibles it can last a bit longer that way. Hopefully the Switch Online continues to deliver more DK games since there are definitely more that I need to play. We’ll see if any of them beat this one. At the end of the day this one’s a basic platformer so there isn’t a ton to talk about but it handles all of the fundamentals well so it’s a good game.

Overall 7/10

Mario & Luigi: Brothership Review

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Mario is one of those characters who has been around for a very long time. He has had games in many different genres and has two different RPG series. It’s definitely impressive and it was nice to get a new Mario & Luigi title after many years. The story is not particularly strong as this modern era of the plumber tries to steer away from getting too serious but the game itself is still fun. I have some quality of life issues here but all in all it is a fun game for you to have fun with.

The basic plot is that Mario and Luigi are transported to a whole new world all of a sudden. Their assistance is required as all of the islands here have been split apart. This is preventing friendship and harmony from being united across all of the land. It’s a sticky situation to be in but the bros are ready for this. The situation gets more complicated though when Peach and Bowser show up. Now the stakes are higher than ever and they will have to rely on their bonds of Brothership to get through this.

Like I said, the story isn’t going for a very hype kind of vibe so you shouldn’t take this too seriously. It’s not like the whole thing is played for laughs or anything but when things are getting too serious the game will try to throw a gag or two in there. Even the main villain not being able to remember names seems like a way to diffuse every cutscene that he is in. Ultimately I would say that you are playing this game for the gameplay and not for the story. I still like the cutscenes when they show up and every scene with Bowser is a winner but the story does move at a very slow pace.

This is by far the longest game in the series as well. Typically you can expect around 15-18 hours but this one is over 30. There is a lot of content here but the story didn’t really make the most of it. They tend to repeat the info quite a bit or drag out the conversations. Unfortunately the game uses the most annoying vocal sounds that I’ve ever heard. Think of the Banjo & Kazooie games but if two characters were talking at the same time for every cutscene. It ends up being quite brutal as a result and you end up having to hold that L.

The audio direction was really quite bad. We do have a few limited sound clips but as a result they have to be thrown in randomly a lot of the time instead of really making sense in the moment. The graphics are good at least. The game isn’t trying to be too bold with them so you’re not going to see anything on the level of Sonic Frontiers but the art style is fun. As for the soundtrack, there are some decent tunes but it’s not the strongest Mario soundtrack. It could have used one or two more really good tunes.

As for the gameplay, it’s your classic turn based system. You have your standard attacks as well as your Bros attacks. Along the way you also get equipment that amps up your abilities as well as badges that you equip which then expire after a few turns. This adds a lot to the strategy as you have to be careful when you turn these on. For example if you use your best ones against some minions then you will be in a really bad spot for the boss battle. There is no quick way to recharge then either as you just have to fight for a certain amount of turns before they are back to normal.

This is one of those games that prefers to go with a long approach to level ups. It takes a long time to get a level up because every combat animation is on the long side. Normal battles are much longer than they need to be. I know a lot of effort was put into the animations but they really should have an option to turn these off after a while. In particular the Bros attacks take a while since you have to do some command prompts. I suppose it wouldn’t be possible to turn those off but it’s definitely unfortunate.

I also think they should let you skip encounters when you are vastly over leveled compared to the enemy. For example when you go back to the first world to grab some collectibles, those level 1 enemies will still force an encounter. You can run away of course but now you’re already in the battle. These are fairly basic quality of life updates that would make the game a lot more fun. It’s why I would say the game is fun but it’s not going to touch almost any of the other big RPGs. They are in a completely different league.

One thing that was implemented rather well were the collectibles. Each world has some extra sparks which is how you unlock the new plugs (badges) and gives you a reason to explore every world twice. Most of the sparks don’t appear until after you have beaten the world after all. There is just enough where it doesn’t feel like a chore and additionally this is completely optional which I was glad about. So this is the right way to add a collectathon element.

Aside from the campaign itself being super long, there are also a number of side quests and optional items to grab. A lot of the side quests are time sensitive as well so you will want to take care of them quickly. There are also a lot of landmarks to find outside of the islands but the most disappointing thing was I bothered to find them all and there was no reward. Felt like a let down, I was expecting something. Ah well, it was still a fun thing to do on the side.

As for the new Luigi mechanic, it’s not bad but doesn’t really change much. This game tries to really show how Luigi is the smart one of the group and it’s one of those really unassuming twists. Like he’s scared of everything but when he focuses then he can do great things. The concept is sound, but the execution just feels a bit tacked on. I would have liked it to have effected gameplay a lot more or been presented in a way where it enhances the experience. Instead it’s just something that’s around.

Overall, Mario & Luigi Brothership may be a little underwhelming but to be honest I wasn’t expecting a ton out of it in the first place. That probably sounds bad, but at this point I play Mario for the fun gameplay experience as opposed to the story. The story does have its fun moments to be sure but just don’t expect anything too grand. The gameplay has a lot of strategy to it and I would even say that the game can be reasonably difficult at times. That’s something that I was impressed by. You really need to learn the enemy’s attack patterns or you will be buried in short order. Hopefully the next game brings in the Mushroom Kingdom more but either way I can recommend this game.

Overall 7/10

Donkey Kong Land Review

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DK is one of those franchises that has so many games that I start to lose track of them. I don’t even remember a Donkey Kong Land. Mario land? Yeah I know that one but I never would have guessed that DK had this title as well. It’s a fun enough DK game. It’s a little dated and all but at the same time, good platforming is supposed to be timeless. So I can still race through the levels now or 20 years from now and it’ll still be a good time. Such is the power of DK.

There are 4 worlds in this game or roughly so. Unlike most platformers where the worlds are clearly defined, you follow a map of stages here that intersect as you go through them. So sometimes you go back to an old area but it’s a new level. Still, they are labeled as worlds when the game is saved so that’s what I’ll go with. Technically speaking the game is fairly short. It’s only around 2 hours or so but the levels are fun. You can also add onto the time a little bit since without the Switch Online I would have had to use a more conservative play style. This way I was able to just charge through at all times which I do have to admit felt pretty good.

As is standard for platformers, you can jump and climb objects in order to get past the obstacles. Additionally, it’s worth noting that you have some animal assistants. Not as many as in future games but there is a Rhino you can jump on to barrel through opponents. That is certainly a satisfying move. Then you can turn into Diddy Kong when you lose a health point but I basically stuck to playing as DK the whole time. I’d say one of the most creative levels in the game is a level in the clouds. You ride a cloud that shifts directions whenever you jump and land back on it. So you have to time your jumps perfectly to escape a whole maze that is closing in around you. That’s certainly a good way to challenge yourself right?

It actually took me several tries, not because it was particularly difficult per say but because it wasn’t always obvious exactly where I was supposed to be going. It’s easy to not notice the clouds around you that you have to jump on and that made for a pretty good shift. Then we have the boss fights and that’s an area where Nintendo has always exceled in. The bosses each have their own unique mechanics which is nice and forces you to really put in some strategy. The King K. Rool boss at the end is fun for example as you have to time your jumps perfectly to stomp on him when he tosses his crown. The more hits you land, the faster that he starts to move so you really have to be careful.

There is some actual skill at play here and it keeps the boss fight from being repetitive so that was a good design choice. The other bosses are similarly fun. Meanwhile while the graphics don’t look good because of how the colors are loaded, the sprites are good otherwise. The characters all move and act the way that they should and it’s fun to recognize all of the moves from Super Smash. I do miss the vibrant colors though. Meanwhile the soundtrack is definitely good and another reminder of just how solid Nintendo is. In any era, you can always count on them to deliver with some really top tier tunes.

One thing that is different from a lot of the other titles is how you die to almost any attack. It’s definitely a little tricky in that sense. Also any pitfall that you fall into, directly drops you out of the level. You land back in the hub world immediately which is definitely interesting. It may seem a little harsh but the fact that there are no loading times is really impressive. It really lets you get right back to playing the game with no real interruptions which is nice.

Also in terms of the one hit death thing, it’s worth noting that this will turn you into Diddy right away so it’s not like you’re in the game over screen right off the bat. Playing as Diddy can also be fun since he has all of the same moves. It may take you a second to get used to his movement but I’m not sure if that is because he is faster or it just feels that way because of the design. It’s hard to tell either way.

I suppose if there’s anything I would have added here, it would have been more of a story. The plot is basically nonexistent here and while I was not properly expecting a big story or anything like that, I would not have turned it down either. That is definitely a good way to really take a platformer to the next level and the day Nintendo learns that may be the day that they completely end the console wars. It would be really tough to defeat them at that point.

Overall, Donkey Kong Land is a good game. It definitely feels more like a mini platformer compared to the newer titles but it has strong fundamentals all around. I don’t really have any negatives with the game and it is easy to recommend to basically anyone. As long as you enjoy gaming then you will probably enjoy this game. I look forward to checking out Donkey Kong Land 2 sooner than later and seeing how different it is. What changes and what remains the same. It’s a mystery that I will get to the bottom of sooner than later.

Overall 6/10