Tag Archives: Nintendo Switch Online

Harvest Moon Review

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I know what you’re thinking…skill issue?? Well Harvest Moon may be one of the most difficult games that I have ever played but it does so in a very artificial way that doesn’t make you feel fulfilled or satisfied at all. Seriously this is a game that will have you shaking your head the whole time because it just wasn’t meant to be this way. I was looking forward to taking names and raising a great village but in the end it wasn’t to be. Harvestella destroys this one and I can’t say I’m hyped for the next Harvest Moon titles. This one has to take the very dubious honor of being my least favorite game of all time. Granted, something had to take that spot right?

The plot involves you moving to a nearby town and now it’s time for you to start up your own farm. There’s a bit more to the story than that but that’s the general premise and you have to get to work The only problem? I never made it to my actual farm. Yeah that may sound crazy but I spent a few hours on this one and couldn’t get past the tutorial. That was brutal. It seems like you need to talk to a bunch of folks to get through but I talked to everyone and it didn’t work. I was just stuck and couldn’t press on forward. How could this happen to meeeee?

Seriously I tried pretty hard on this one. I talked to everyone many times over and I ran around the whole map so many times. Ultimately I realized there was just no getting out of this. I had a theory that maybe I needed to talk to everyone multiple times in a row because sometimes they would say something different but it still didn’t work. Unless I missed someone since I thought about that a little later in the playthrough. Then you also have the issue of the guys telling me to find my tools but I couldn’t find them anywhere. Maybe that’s what I needed?

The point though is that the game was not very clear at all. I can’t picture most people being able to solve this case at least. It really stumped me at least. You could say that I was on the back foot the whole time. Because of that it definitely does impact the score because it meant that the game ended up being very boring. Seriously I could barely last a few hours in this one because it was just so repetitive. Imagine being stuck in the tutorial in any game. It’s exactly as brutal as you’re thinking.

Now I’m not giving this game a 0 or even a 1 because it does have some redeeming qualities about it. For example I think the graphics are actually rather solid. It may not be top grade stuff but it has aged very well from the SNES era. Additionally the music is quite an peaceful enough to work out well. I like the overall town atmosphere and I can see someone having a little bit of fun here. Ultimately it will be tough to get to that fun which is the problem.

If you can’t leave the tutorial then what can you really do right? At least in a game like Casper’s Scare School you jump right into the events. The game may be over in 12 minutes but you actually got to do something. That’s not the case here…that’s not the case at all. Oh noooo!!! I’m even struggling to get this review any longer because there’s not much more to say when I ended so early into the campaign. I guess that’s a knock in itself though. This has never happened to me before. Now perhaps there was some kind of glitch at play here. I would be surprised given the positive rep for the game everywhere but I do tend to be unlucky with glitches sometimes so it does happen.

I’ll definitely play more life simulations in the future though so we’ll see if another one can do better. Animal Crossing for example will probably be added at some point and I’m interested in trying that one out. Lets face it, it should definitely beat this one for me. Ultimately Harvest Moon didn’t really do it for me but at least I will never forget it. It has a lot of fans and I know a lot of effort was put into the game so I’ll still give it that level of props at least. Throw in some action gameplay and I may make it back for one of the sequels.

Overall, Harvest Moon is really not as good as I was expecting it to be. Trust me I wasn’t expecting it to be great either way but this was really going to be a game that I could play for a long while with a big smile on my face and that just didn’t happen which was disappointing. I like the concept behind the game so I think nowadays you could pull it off a little better. That said, it’s still not really my genre of game. They can be fun on the side but I tend to prefer the more action packed titles. If you have the Switch Online you should check it out though since it’s free at that point. No real downside to checking it out.

Overall 2/10

Joy Mech Fight Review

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So I like a good fighting game as much as the next guy. This one even has a plot which is cool so I would have been pretty satisfied if I got this back when it first came out. That being said, it’s a shame that Nintendo didn’t translate this one. Seriously would that have been so hard? The game has an impressive amount of battles in the story and while it will be tough to beat them all in one batch, I appreciate the replay value since you get a decent bang for your buck if you had bought the game.

The basic plot appears to be similar to Mega Man where two doctors have created a bunch of robots but one of them turns evil. So you play as the main character and every time you beat an enemy robot, the heroic scientist mind controls it so it joins your side. You rinse and repeat this until you’ve beaten all 8 robot masters. You then jump to the next planet and do the same thing. You beat all of them…then you go to the 3rd planet. It just keeps on going and going and going. The robots actually do change a bit, some are color swaps while others actually swap parts a bit. They’re mainly similar but I liked how creative the devs were here.

My only issue is that you can’t unlock these robots so that’s a bit of a tease. I beat the first two worlds and stopped at the 3rd one. There appears to be 4 worlds and every fight is a best of 5 set so this actually takes some time. You’re basically looking at 40 battles per world so over 100 in the game. Again, the value here is pretty good. I won’t say the gameplay is extremely polished and everything but it’s fun enough. It should remind you of the old Street Fighter days where you would spam the hadouken to keep on hitting enemies for as long as possible. That would just keep them at bay over and over again.

Well I did that here with my main projectile attack and it was great. I would then use a flying kick and take the win. I never even needed to rewind which was cool although it was starting to get really close in the last world so I was probably pretty close to that point. The game would be a lot more difficult without spamming since the attacks can be hard to dodge. Like you think it’ll hit a certain area but then it hits you somehow instead. The hit boxes may not be perfect but granted it can also just be that the designs are all a bit different and take some getting used to.

The graphics aren’t bad but not super clean. I’d say for NES standards they’re a little below average. They make up for that with the colors and the interesting designs though. You won’t forget some of these robots very quickly so I give the devs credit for that. Again I also give them credit for having an actual story since that’s pretty awesome and you don’t see it very often.

Overall, This is a decent mech fighting game. To be honest there is little reason to play it more nowadays with so many other fighters on the block but it doesn’t take away from the fact that a decent amount of effort was put into this one. Certainly more than I would have expected based on the box art and how the game’s never gotten popular. As long as you have the Switch Online you should play the game. It’s got a multiplayer mode as well so you can definitely play that for a long while before getting bored. It’s yet another game that I would consider a good proof of concept for something that could be a lot grander with a modern remake.

Overall 6/10

Mystery Tower Review

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Mystery Tower is one of those games that’s really unique so I have to give it a lot of credit there. That said, I don’t think it’s a game that would remain fun for too long. I played a decent amount of levels and the puzzles can be fun but after a point you’re just ready for the next thing. On one hand it’s impressive that they made a whole game where you basically just use one button but on the other hand that means the gameplay will inevitably be rather limited. There’s only so much you can do with that after all so eventually you just have to press on.

Basically what happens is in each level you have to get to a door which lead you into the next level. To do that you have to arrange blocks just right. You can spin and move them, also you can cause large domino effects by moving the bottom block from a tower. If they fall into an abyss then that’s game over. Additionally you die if any enemy comes into contact with you. So that’s simple enough right? Just move around and eventually you will have the right block in place.

Of course this wouldn’t be a full game if it was that easy right? So it’s a lot harder than it sounds. To give you an example, you’ll have a door high in the air and have to stack the boxes up just fight. You can only jump up one level at a time so if you lift the box from the wrong side then you won’t be able to jump up because each box has an awkward lant where only one side is jumpable. Then there is another issue on top of that, if you make the wrong choice then you’re done for the level. You can end up being soft locked out and will need to rewind or just let an enemy bump into you.

You also can’t afford to try too much trial and error because the amount of times you can lift something in one level is limited. If you try to exceed that limit then you end up losing a life. Now you’re seeing where the difficulty lies eh? I had to restart the levels over and over again in order to get as far as I did and even then I was unable to make it even halfway through the game. It would definitely take a lot of time and serious dedication to actually make it all the way. I’d say that would be something to really consider at some point but only once I was really done with every game and every post game. So effectively never to be honest.

The graphics aren’t bad. They look pretty decent for a NES title. Nothing spectacular or anything but they work well enough with what you’ve got here. It’s always clear what is going on in the game so you’re not confused. The soundtrack is definitely a lot more bland and not particularly memorable but it’s fine. So on the technical aspects the game is certainly acceptable, I really didn’t have any problems there.

One thing the game is lacking is a real story. That’s the kind of thing that can easily enhance any title. Throw in some kind of story here with a few text cutscenes every few levels and it would give me a massive incentive to actually go ahead and play through all the levels. Don’t underestimate how effective a good story mode is to taking a game to the next level. Yes that would have been excellent!

Overall, Magical Tower is an interesting game to give a spin for a little while. If you have the Nintendo Switch Online then there is definitely no reason not to play it. That said, I just don’t see it ending up as one of the all time big titles. It really couldn’t keep my attention for more than an hour. I can respect the puzzles here because nothing is hidden. They’re all just brain teasers that you have to figure out but beyond that there isn’t anything extra to the game. The puzzles are literally the only feature around and so that’s just not going to do it. Maybe if they ever make a big budget remake of this it could be a little better.

Overall 5/10

Kirby’s Star Stacker Review

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It’s always neat to play a new Kirby game and especially when there’s one that you hadn’t even heard of before. I definitely didn’t know anything about this game but I have to say that it holds up pretty well. I do wish it was translated though because it can be hard to find the mode that you want to play. I ended up spending most of my time in some kind of unlimited survival mode. I made it all the way past 600 matches there which was cool but naturally the story mode is more fun.

It’s hard to say what the plot is per say but it seems like some kind of dark spirit is taking over all of Kirby’s friends. The young hero must now defeat each and every one of them in order to bring them back to their senses. It won’t exactly be an easy feat and yet it is something that has to be done. Without the powers of Kirby the world is doomed. Are you ready to put your matching skills to the test?

I’d always have a bit of a hard time describing exactly what the gameplay is but the best way for me to describe it is that it’s sort of like Tetris but instead of fitting shapes together, you’re matching blocks based on color. They are all in the same shape though. The more connections you make, the higher your opponent’s tower goes. Whoever is unable to keep up with the rise and has the tower go past the top of the screen first loses. This is definitely not for the faint of heart for that reason as the speed will continue to increase as the game goes on. There is no safe area! You really have to make sure you keep up.

The soundtrack is pleasant and charming enough as you go through the game. I feel like Nintendo kept giving this their A game even though it’s not exactly one of the mainstream titles. Additionally the visuals are solid and have held up well over the years. I definitely had no issues there.

In theory you’ll easily complete this game since you can rewind and use access points but the rounds are fast enough where you never feel tempted to do so. With all the RNG running around and how much of a good time you will be having regardless, you’re just ready to dive in and have some fun. One thing to note is that in the Kirby version of this gameplay there are stars running around in addition to the usual colors. Think of the stars as a wild card, they can help you connect to any color. So if you have two reds, if you have a star in the middle it will connect them for you.

It’s a bit of a tricky dynamic to get used to compared to the normal rules but it does help this one stand out. There are also bombs around but personally I actually found those to make things a little more difficult. They would ruin combos I was getting ready to use rather than actually helping me out of a pinch. That’s the way that I saw it at least. Still, just go for those combos and ignore the gimmicks around you. Eventually you’ll be where you want to be, at the top of the rankings taking down all opponents!

Overall, Kirby’s Star Stacker is a pretty fun game. There isn’t a whole lot to say about a game like this because it’s all pretty straight forward but that doesn’t take away from the experience. I had a good time with it and it would be even better if the game was translated. I can’t believe this didn’t come to America sooner. If it was in the mobile age then I think things would have been different because this kind of game sells really well on the phone. The gameplay is easy and addictive so all you need is a quick story and you’re set. There’s a good amount of content here and since it’s free if you already have the Switch Online, I recommend checking it out.

Overall 7/10

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past Review

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The Legend of Zelda series has returned and while this one did feel like it’s visually improved a whole lot over the original titles…I can’t give it too much credit either. My main issue with the game is one that tends to occur with a lot of older RPGs which is that the game isn’t too clear on what you’re supposed to do. Towards the end this starts to come back to bite you as the final boss is completely invincible without very specific weapons. This means it’s time to backtrack once again and it gets rough. There are areas that show promise here but ultimately the game just feels too dated and ends up being a miss for me.

The general plot is that Link is called into action to save Princess Zelda. She is in a lot of trouble because a new evil threat has arrived and the castle is taken down. Link must rescue a bunch of princesses and grab some super powerful weapons in order to save Zelda. He definitely needs to hurry but if he can pull this off then it will truly be one of the ultimate feats of a hero. Get ready for a long journey.

This game feels a bit longer than the first ones. You not only have the first hub world to go through but after clearing that then there is a whole second part of the game where you go to all of the areas again but this time in the dark world. So there is a lot going on here for sure but fortunately you actually have a good map this time around. That is massive to have here because without a map you’d be getting lost constantly. It’s a really good upgrade here and near the end of the game you also get a quick travel option. Yes, the quick travel is very limited but it still beats walking everywhere.

Only thing I would change would be how moving between the different worlds works. Instead of only being able to do it at designated areas or using the mirror to go to the light world, you should be able to move between both worlds freely. This would be way more convenient and would be a substantial improvement if you ask me. Not having that ability just slows you down throughout the game and at times you have to backtrack a lot just so that you can change worlds. This doesn’t seem like a necessary feature.

Of course my biggest gripe with the game is how you have to go back and complete side missions that you never remember encountering in order to fight the final boss. There is no indication of what exactly you need either so I don’t think I would have ever figured it out without a guide. To be extra sneaky, for the final boss you can’t even tell that you’re hurting him and just have to keep swinging until he goes down. I had assumed I wasn’t attacking the right way and tried switching things up only to find that it had been working. A little sneaky but not in a good way.

On the positives side, the game does look nice as I mentioned before. This is an SNES game that really used the visuals to its advantage. The soundtrack is also on point with a lot of really memorable tunes. The series is really able to hold its own against against the Mario series with its wide array of themes at the ready. While you’re playing, the game at least looks and sounds really good so that’s also a plus.

I would also say that in terms of raw gameplay the game is solid as well. Overhead Link style may not be my favorite and occasionally you will get hit and feel like that shouldn’t have really hurt you but still, it’s a good style and it can even be a little difficult at times. You need quick reaction times in order to win here. In terms of replay value there is a good amount with a lot of areas to explore and collectibles to find. Don’t expect that you will get all of them in one playthrough as they can be hidden really well.

The dungeons are also crafted better than normal as most of the puzzles in there actually made a lot of sense. Getting to the dungeons is the hard part but once you’re there, then you’re good. If the hub world was a little less confusing and there were less mandatory items that you needed, then the game really could have gotten a thumbs up. I would say this one just had some missed opportunities for me but if you enjoy the exploration aspect of the game and have fun uncovering the secrets within the world then you should have a good time here.

I can’t picture playing this one without the Switch Online features or a guide at the ready because it would just take too long though. So it really depends on what you’re looking for in a game. I tend to want to just blast through to the good parts and enjoy the boss fights so backtracking doesn’t feel great unless the game is super smooth like Shantae or something like that. Give me a good indicator of where I need to go or the general location of a collectible and I won’t mind going back to have to grab it. If it’s something I have to find out with no clues so I have to talk to everyone and run around, then it doesn’t work quite as well for me.

Overall, A Link to the Past is okay but I wouldn’t directly recommend it. You should check out Skyward Sword instead or Wind Waker. That said, if you do like the retro Nintendo games then you can access this one for free with the Nintendo Switch Online subscription so you can’t really go wrong there. Who doesn’t like playing games for free right? One of these days I’ll grab one of the more modern overhead LoZ games and then we’ll really see how they have amped up the quality of life features since the SNES days.

Overall 5/10

EarthBound Beginnings Review

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After all of these years I’ve finally played the original Earthbound game. It’s pretty nostalgic to hear some of the old tracks here and the game certainly has a lot of memorable moments. It is significantly held back by the fact that it is missing a lot of quality of life features and the villain encounters are way too frequent. You’ll want to have a book on hand to read while playing the game or some online videos to look at because otherwise you will feel the time going by.

The story follows a kid named Ninten who is one day attacked by an evil teddy bear. He stops this menace and realizes that the world isn’t quite right. He has to travel across the globe to track down the source of evil and his father is too busy to help but will give you money every now and again. If you save the world, perhaps you will finally be able to see him. Does Ninten have what it takes to pull this off?

One thing the game has going for it right from the start is how odd everything is. The whole game has an air of mystery and you get the feeling that the world Ninten has grown up in is not ordinary by any stretch of the imagination. Around every corner you’ve got monsters and psychic phenomenon. There seem to be a lot of random crooks as well and there are giant mechs and everything. The mystery is part of the fun though and I could see this inspiring Undertale in the future.

It’s just got those fun vibes throughout and it works well. I think with a little more story and cinematics the story could have been downright amazing. As it is, the story is fun but there are long periods where the story just vanishes and I would have liked to have seen more of it. Even the final boss pretty much comes out of nowhere. She’s a cool creature and everything so it makes for a hype climax but it’s like we just jumped through to the end. Talking to NPCs will give you a better picture of the plot but I’d like more of it on the direct path.

The gameplay is your classic turn based system. You can use standard attacks, PSI abilities, or items in your bag. Most of the time you’ll be using normal attacks but for tough bosses then you want to switch to PSI right away. Even then you can expect the bosses to be quite difficult to take down. Some of them are even invincible and you’re meant to lose while others will just give you a run for your money. The final boss in particular took me many tries because of how powerful the strikes were. One wrong hit would just decimate your team.

I was apparently under leveled for the final boss even after fighting tons of monsters so the grind is definitely meant to be real in this game. A lot of time running away is actually longer than just beating the enemy so fortunately because of that you will rarely be tempted to run away. I did it a lot during the final chapter but otherwise I would just fight everyone. The EXP goes rather slowly though even against tough enemies so this is one game where it can be worth it to grind against weaker ones. Just try to find the sweet spot where they go down easily while being close in total XP.

The graphics are also pretty good. This is a game with the AAA Nintendo seal of approval. So you know that they definitely didn’t hold anything back here. The soundtrack is also a lot of fun and very distinctive. That’s another core strength of Nintendo’s without a doubt. On a technical level the game is absolutely on point and it’s pleasant to listen to. There are a lot of mechanics with the items to get used to. I recommend you familiarize yourself with how the bread works in particular since it can save you a lot of time in running.

Now’s where my issues with the game come in. First off, there is an encounter in what feels like every 5 steps. I literally had to have Reddit open in the background to read while the enemies kept spawning since all I had to do was keep pressing A to knock them out. Most of the minions you can defeat with ease but they still keep on coming and there is no quick way to run so this gets really tedious. It is absolutely the weakest part of the game and something that would need to be changed in a modern remake. It got really tedious and is what took up most of the game. Without this then the game would be a lot shorter so it’s like artificial padding.

Running from town to town takes a really long time as well. You don’t unlock teleportation until the very end of the game so until then you will be running everywhere. That means more villain encounters and everything. You have to revisit towns quite a bit as well. Usually that’s not a bad thing but considering that you have to do this while fighting the enemies then it becomes a problem. The whole game just isn’t very optimized and that isn’t as bad as it would be for a modern game since this one is older but it makes things tougher in the present.

A lot of the time it can be hard to know where to go as well. There is a map but it’s missing most of the locations on it so it’s not as much help most of the time. The story can go to a stand still at times and so you have no idea where to go. This happens quite a lot as the game goes on and it reminds me of Final Fantasy VII. It can slow down the momentum quite a bit just when you figure that you’re on a roll. Whenever the plot does continue it’s fun and I do like the story setup but it’s old and it feels old which isn’t a great combo.

It’s a major issue I have with the game along with how it tries to trick you. If you do something out of order then you’re going to be in a lot of trouble later on. There is also one dragon that won’t wake up until you reach level 25 but without looking up a guide I would have had no idea. So I trained for about an hour to get there but otherwise I would have just been running around panicking the whole time. I like a good mystery but in a video game it can definitely be out of place without proper clues. It’s hard to go get those clues in this game though since you may end up in an area with more monsters.

Overall, It was fun to finally play Earthbound Beginnings but it’s a game that would be virtually unplayable without the Switch Online services. Without all of these features it just feels like the game would be impossibly grindy. I’d eventually be able to pull it off but it wouldn’t be the seamless experience that you would expect. Additionally, the game can just be way too vague at times and the monster encounters are relentless even while you level very slowly. It’s probably best to jump to the second game first but I’ll be playing that one soon so I’ll let you know if it does get the quality of life updates that I’m hoping for like a better map, early teleportation, and less monster encounters.

Overall 5/10