Tag Archives: Nintendo 64

Pilotwings 64 Review

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It’s time for another Nintendo Switch Online title. This time we’re into the classic Pilotwings adventure and I remember this one vaguely from back in the day. It’s fairly fun although there isn’t a ton of content here so I feel like you wouldn’t be thrilled if you bought this at opening day. In the span of around 2 hours I completed most of the content and I was still getting used to the controls. Still if you’ve got the subscription you may as well give it a go since it’s free.

There are 3 main control schemes in this game and each one has 4 levels. You can play with the hang glider and the idea is to pass through a bunch of rings to score points. Once you have passed them all then you have to head to the landing zone. Landing is the most difficult with this one because the wind will shift your glider all over the place and it can be really hard to steady yourself. You have to basically ride with the wind and then plan your landing accordingly. You can see how this would be the trickiest one because you have a lot to consider here. I definitely had a really hard time trying to get past the latter levels with this one.

Then you have my favorite control method, the personal jetpack. This is the only mode out of the 3 where I was able to complete every level. Basically you fly around and land on objects or go through rings and then land. The fun part is that you don’t need to worry about the wind here because your jetpack is stronger than the wind. Do you know what this means?? You hold all the power! It makes this more of a conventional platformer type which is really fun and it’s still one of the more in depth jetpack gameplays that I’ve seen.

Finally you have the long plane where it’s sort of a mix of the two. It’s too heavy for the wind to mess with it too much but when you turn you will feel how the wind tries to slow you down. You have a little rocket launcher which you can use to destroy targets before you head off for the landing. The landing zone is a bit less obvious than the other two though so I never quite understood it. It looks like a full airplane landing strip so I’d aim for the middle but I always lost a lot of points. Maybe I had to go for the end? Either way I would get enough points to win the level but it had me confused.

To unlock the next level you would have to get a certain amount of points. Typically they would ask you to get 70 out of 100. Your score is based on how quickly you complete the level, how many times you bumped into things, and any bonus objectives you completed. 70 isn’t very hard as long as you have a good landing so that’s really key. If you fumble the landing then you have just fumbled your score as well. Trust me you don’t want to let that happen.

The graphics aren’t particularly good for the character models here but I do really love the backgrounds and everything. It’s got a lot of energy all the way around so it does look good as a whole. I wonder if the character models were intentionally sandwiched the way that they were. It’s definitely possible since they look so out of place. The soundtrack is fun enough too. It matches with the overall bright aesthetic.

Overall, Pilotwings is a pretty good game. I didn’t really care for the glider gameplay which is ironic since that’s usually the selling point here but the other two modes were definitely good. You really get to test your balance here that’s for sure. Ultimately there just isn’t a whole lot of content so you will likely be done with this game quickly but the important thing is that you will have a good time while you’re playing it. Definitely worth giving a look.

Overall 6/10

Pokemon Puzzle League Review

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Yes I finally got the expanded pack for the Nintendo Switch Online! It certainly opens up a lot of doors to the classic Nintendo games and this was one of the first ones I ended up jumping into. It’s a pretty fun puzzle game all around. I would say it doesn’t have as much replay value as some of the others in this style because there isn’t a ton of variety but it is cool to see the Pokemon characters from the anime. Adding that franchise effect is always a good idea.

The game opens up with a full cinematic cutscene which I thought was pretty awesome. Unfortunately we don’t get any more after that but there is still a slight story here. Basically there is a whole puzzle league where each of the Gym Leaders have to be defeated in order to conquer it. So essentially it’s the Pokemon league with a few extra steps As Ash Ketchum you have to make it all the way to the end and defeat everyone here. You can choose which Pokemon to use in each level from his 3 starters but I couldn’t really tell the difference in terms of gameplay. Maybe it’s just a visual thing or there was an effect that I missed.

The gameplay is the connect type where blocks fall down from the sky and you have to move them to connect to other pieces on your board. You can also reverse each block so if you have a red square on the right and a blue on the left, you can click it to reverse those spots. Every time you have a set of 3 of the same color they will all disappear which lets your other blocks fall down a level. The first one to have their blocks reach the ceiling loses so you want to be quick about this. Of course you don’t always want to connect a set just because you have 3. You get bonus points for longer sets and those also turn into attacks on the enemy’s turf so you want to keep that in mind.

Granted, it’s easier said than done as blocks tend to crash into each other all the time which isn’t easy. One wrong move and that’s basically game over for you. The opponents are also reasonably tough if you scale up the difficulty. This is one genre that I always play on easy because it tends to get virtually impossible even on normal mode. The match length can range from 1-5 minutes based on the rounds I did although I imagine that could go up if both of you play slowly and don’t attack very much.

The graphics look pretty good and have aged very well. The visuals look like they are taken right from the anime and all of the illustrations are on point during the gameplay. I also liked the soundtrack which is fairly quiet and low key but works well with the adventure. Yeah I’d say there was a good amount of effort around the game. There’s certainly more that you could do with the title even as a puzzle game but the core focus here will always be on the gameplay. Everything else is just extra frosting and since the gameplay is good then there are no issues.

I miss the era of just throwing out a quick game like this with a franchise label. Pokemon Pinball, Metroid Pinball, even Mario got a pinball game back in the day. More games should be made with similar settings for all of these franchises and I’d say that would be a really good idea. They should be fairly easy to make and yet they’re all fun to play because the games themselves are timeless. That’s the true sign of an iconic title all the way.

Overall, Pokemon Puzzle League is definitely a game that I would recommend checking out. I’m not saying that it’s top tier or anything but in terms of executing the puzzle gameplay I would say that it did a good job. It’s a colorful game with a lot of energy and excitement to it. It may not be very ambitious but you’ll feel like the story goes by in a breeze. Granted it is fairly short so I suppose that’s natural. Also if you have the Switch Online then it’s free so why not give it a quick playthrough right? It’s not the kind of game you would drop $60 on but you’d always be up for giving a quick play if a friend’s around. The replay value is technically endless with the multiplayer in mind.

Overall 6/10