Tag Archives: Nintendo Switch Online

Wave Race 64 Review

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It’s time to venture into the world of racing. Wave Race is a fairly unique racing game when you think about it because there aren’t a lot of games about racing on the water. Unfortunately it still isn’t able to really break the mold and be a top tier contender. The game’s just way too limited with not a whole lot of levels to play with. The few that we do get quickly start to become repetitive as well which is not a good sign. Ultimately you can do better than this one.

There is really just the one main mode for racing and you have to always worry about the circles. See, if you miss too many rings while heading to the goal then you lose points and eventually lose the match. You also move slower by not going through the rings so long story short…you gotta go through all of the rings. The controls can be a bit sloppy with the waves constantly hitting you so that’s already a bit of a tough ask. I get that they wanted the water to be really realistic but me personally? I’d have preferred to just be able to drive really smoothly.

I also think these gimmicks just take away from the race itself. When you’re racing you want to be able to just go to the goal and call it a day. Having to go down a super specific path takes away from the freedom of it. I can see people enjoying this style too of course but I just prefer pure freedom. Let me chart my own path and then I’m really set and ready to rock and roll.

The graphics have aged pretty well for this game though so I’ll give some credit there. It’s certainly better than a few of the other N64 titles I’ve played recently. It’s all very colorful and really sticks out. You won’t get lost or bump into an object because of how clear everything is. So it is all on you as far as getting to the end of the race goes. The soundtrack is more on the forgettable side so nothing much to write home about there.

At the end of the day the other problem is the lack of content like I mentioned in the intro. Even if you really like the game there isn’t much to do after an hour or two. There is multiplayer which will have to suffice I suppose but it’s still not quite the same. There are too many other racing games trying to grab your attention for you to spend any time on this one. I still say the series has a ton of potential but it needs to change things.

Ordinarily I wouldn’t recommend throwing items into the mix but that would have at least made it more exciting. I also just say get rid of the rings and make this a straight race to the finish. I feel like some devs avoid this for fear of the game feeling too standard or even boring to the average audience but I just don’t think that will be the case. So long as the gameplay is good, people would love playing a racing game like this. You really don’t have to get fancy sometimes, just trust in your gameplay and the execution. So long as that is on point then you will be set.

Overall, Wave Race wasn’t one of my favorite games but if you have the Nintendo Switch Online then you should give this one a try. There’s no real downside to doing that after all. It’s just not going to end up being all that hype so I would say to keep your expectations reasonably low. Maybe see if someone wants to play it with you and that’ll give it a boost. In the meanwhile I’m confident that the next Nintendo 64 titles I play will beat this one.

Overall 5/10

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

Excitebike 64 Review

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I’m gonna be brutally honest here for a minute. I was never a huge fan of the Excitebike series. I loved Excitetrucks when I played that for the Wii and to this day I’d say it’s up there with Asphault 3D as the most underrated racing game of all time. That said, the bikes could never keep up and this game really embodies all of the reasons for why that is. Your bike’s too weak so you’re always being thrown off of the track and the extra issue I have here is that even driving in a straight line is rough because all of the stages are circular. You don’t get to have fun just driving most of the time due to the level designs.

There is a season/tournament mode here but no real story so you can just have fun driving or go into those tournaments to try and test your luck. I’ll tell you those levels are not easy in the slightest. I managed to conquer the first tournament due to a lot of luck with the computers taking turns winning so my consistent 3-4th place was enough to keep up. With the second I wasn’t so fortunate and so I ended up getting wrecked. Most of the stages are almost the same though so I’d argue that you really aren’t missing much here. So just play for as long as you find it fun and then you’re set.

So like I said I do have an issue with the level designs here. In every level there are so many bumps in the road that you’re hopping up and down without being able to drive. Just let me drive for a while and see how I turn the corners. Instead these interruptions happen and there is nowhere to go. There’s probably a way to handle the bumps better as I see the computers jumping ahead but it’s still not really driving per say. I want to just be in there taking names. Also every time you even lightly bump an opponent you end up spilling into the ground.

It just feels so fragile and then you have to be careful about bumping into anyone in addition to trying to finish the race. That’s not the way to go here. The game basically eliminates all of the main reasons for finding the genre fun to begin with. I want the freedom of being able to just jump in there and do my thing. It’s why I’m playing a racing game in the first place. Then if you crash at all you better hope it’s a full crash and you aren’t stuck sideways. If it’s the latter then you are completely doomed and will end up placing in last. It’s a pretty tough feeling because you feel like you could and should have placed a lot better but one single mistake ended up being fatal.

It’s an old game so there are some quirks like that which you can let slide but they all add up. The graphics also aren’t all that impressive. It definitely does not hold its own against most of the other Nintendo 64 titles. After just playing quite a few of them, it’s clear that a game of this generation could and should look a whole lot better. The fact that it doesn’t is just pretty rough to be honest. The soundtrack is more on the forgettable side as well. Technically there is a lot of replay value here if you do find the gameplay fun though. Because then you’ll need to try and conquer all of the stages which is no easy feat, particularly as they don’t even open up until you’ve beaten all of the levels on various difficulty levels.

Overall, Excitebike 64 is definitely not one of my favorite racing games. You’re so busy just trying to survive the levels that you aren’t even doing much racing. That is a massive problem right off the bat and holds it all back. I’d like to see them change things and put a lot more power into the races. Let me crash into everyone and set the stage. The sooner that happens, the sooner I can really start to dominate! In the meantime there just isn’t much reason to play this one when you could be having a good time in Mario Kart or F-Zero. Both of which are massively better than this one.

Overall 4/19

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

The Mysterious Murasame Castle Review

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It’s time to look at another pretty fun game for the NES. This one has a real story and everything, not much in the way of cutscenes or anything since it’s so old but you at least feel the progression. The gameplay holds up well and the fact that it has an actual end point before the loop is nice even if there isn’t much of an ending. That would have been nice at least to end things on a high note.

The game starts with your character having to head through 5-6 castles to reach the ultimate demon. You fight two powerful bosses in each castle as you go through to the end. Each castle is a maze consisting of tons of rooms everywhere which are around to block your path. It can be difficult to find the right rooms so you really have to use trial and error. As far as I can tell that are no hints or anything that show you the right room right out of the gate. So that means you really have to be vigilant and continue moving forward until you have conquered all of your enemies.

You have your trusty sword at the ready and you can fire off kunai really quickly. As the game goes on you get power ups that let you fire off the kunai in different ways or even upgrade them into fireballs at times. Those are really helpful as well for when you need to land a lot of damage very quickly. From there you’re just beating up on enemies and trying to get to the end. As far as I can tell they never drop health points so if you get hit 3 times then you’re out.

The game is incredibly difficult. Without the Switch Online enhancements like the rewind feature I don’t see how almost anyone could beat the game. It’s incredibly unforgiving with just how tough the enemies are. You’re going to get hit no matter how careful you are and that is especially true for the bosses. They fire at you so far and in the time it takes to turn around to shoot at them you will have already been hit. That’s how fast these guys are.

One boss knocked me out what felt like 100 different times. Every time I was trying to mount a comeback I would get blasted. This just kept happening over and over and over again. The final boss is also really tough although not as intimidating as the second to last one. The game gets major props for actually having completely different designs for all of the boss. No recolors or anything like I’ve seen with other NES titles. No this one kept everything fresh all the way through.

The graphics are definitely solid here. A lot of care was definitely put into them all the way through. Meanwhile the soundtrack is also on point even if it is rather small. On a technical level they did everything they could to support the gameplay which is really what you’re looking for here. There isn’t really any replay value since the game just loops all over once you beat it. That’s to be expected though so no big deal there. The game’s length may not be very long but as long as you have the Switch Online there is no reason not to get it.

A modern day remake of this game would be a lot of fun. I can definitely see this working really well in 3D with a lot of great combos and everything. Throw in a bunch of big budget cutscenes too of course and then you’re really set. Yeah they should definitely start remaking some of these NES titles with modern quality of life updates.

Overall, This is definitely a game that you should check out. The gameplay is on point which is always the most important thing for any game. You will have fun playing it and while the maze elements can get annoying at times, you only have to go down 3-4 fake paths per level. It’s not like they’re completely filling up the map or anything. It’ll help you see just how good your instincts are. Will you fall for every fake path? There’s only one way to find out!

Overall 6/10

Devil World Review

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It’s time to jump into one of the new NES online games that has surfaced. Devil World is interesting because the gameplay is really not what you’d expect when you jump into it. It plays a whole lot like Pac Man to the point where they copied the fruits (switched to desserts) idea as well as the monsters chasing you. I like it but it doesn’t beat the original.

The gameplay is easy to describe, you have to eat all of the pellets in a maze before you get tagged by one of the monsters trying to destroy you. To protect yourself you have to pick up a cross which allows you to shoot blasts of fire at these creatures. You also aren’t able to pick up pellets unless you are holding the cross so keep that in mind. The cross only lasts for a few seconds so then at that point you have to pick up another one or you are really going to be a sitting duck there. So don’t let the opponents get the upper hand or you’re doomed.

Each stage has 2 levels to it. Once you beat the first level then the second has you collecting 4 Bibles to seal up the portal of doom. You basically have to carry the book over to the entrance and you’re good. In some ways this level is a lot easier than the first because it gives you unlimited firepower until you drop it off and then you just repeat that until you’ve done it 4 times in total. Of course the one tricky part is being patient here because if you go to the center too quickly you may find yourself surrounded.

There is one big change compared to Pac Man though which is that the devil is constantly moving the screen. If you get caught being a little too slow then you will be squished and that will be game over. Additionally this mean some pellets will go off screen and you have to wait until the next rotation in order to grab them. It’s actually a pretty interesting gimmick that does help to differentiate this from Pac Man. Granted I really don’t think you needed this gimmick but it’s a good way to really test your skills. I would make the case that it increases the difficulty level right out of the gate compared to Pac Man. In a lot of ways for Pac Man you’ll probably master the first 20 levels or so after playing it enough times while the screen shifting here adds a whole other dimension to it.

The graphics are fun enough for the NES. You can easily tell where everything is and the screen is always clear. The game never lags and the screen never gets too cluttered either. The music isn’t particularly memorable though. Pac Man at least has the fun stage transitions and such which have iconic sounds but this one is a lot less memorable. Fortunately the gameplay itself makes up for that and of course there is pretty much unlimited replay value to be found here. You can be playing the levels over and over again for pretty much forever. I can especially see this being fun to play with friends and trying to get the highest score.

Overall, There’s not a lot more to say about the game beyond that. It’s a very simple game and that’s what makes it fun. You can jump into the adventure at any time and just work on getting as far as possible. It’s easy to just pick up and play and from there it all comes down to your strategy skills. So even if someone has a 1 year head start on you, it’s completely possible that you could just go in and start getting a higher score. I love strategy titles like this. Again that’s why Pac Man is the better game though since without the screen moving it is complete strategy but this is still a fun little rival to play from time to time. I bet it would be a hit at parties since most people don’t even know about it. The best tip I can give is to just be really patient here and wait for the right path to open up.

Overall 6/10

Earthbound Review

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It’s time to review one of the most iconic Nintendo RPGs of all time. Everyone has heard of this title and for good reason. They really pushed the envelope on this game with the amount of crazy visuals and just having a generally weird world around the main characters. Games like Undertale would end up continuing in this same light. Without Earthbound you can argue that many games would not exist. It really has aged quite well.

The story starts with a meteor crashing in Ness’ home town Onett. He goes out to check it along with another boy named Porky. Porky ends up succumbing to the dark side and serving the dark lord Giygas while Ness is tasked with saving the world. He will need several allies including a genius, a martial artist, and a psychic expert. Can these kids really stop the end of the world though? Giygas is a being that exists across dimensions and all of time with seemingly unlimited amounts of power. That’s not an easy opponent to overcome but Ness won’t give up!

This is a game where you really need to cling to everything that you are told because it always ends up being a lot more important than you would have guessed. Sometimes you have to talk to a character multiple times and other times you have to go back to an old town to grab an item you may have missed. The game is quite vast and I’m sure I didn’t talk to a bunch of people/witness bonus content. The dialogue is all a lot of fun here. It has that absurd comedy type angle where crazy things are happening and people don’t have much of a reaction to it which is a type of comedy in itself.

The writing is quite excellent. I like how your father will call in from time to time to check on you and give you some money to get items with. It has a very “Are you winning son?” vibe to it and it’s great to have supportive parents here. Your Mom is always around to give you a fresh pizza and recover your HP as well. Your sister even contributes by giving you items and a place to store extra ones. These are little elements that just help make the world feel a lot more fleshed out.

There’s also a lot of room for fun theories about different characters and what’s going on. You could really make a whole franchise out of this which is why it’s a shame that Nintendo hasn’t kept up with making a bunch of Earthbound games. There is so much potential to them and I’m sure with modern graphics and everything they could really make this massive. This game took me close to 30 hours as it is. In general a nice advantage of RPGs is that the long story really lets you connect to the characters.

One of the playable characters doesn’t show up until you’re over 20 hours in for example which is really impressive. I had actually forgotten about him for a while even though in the intro you get to name all of the characters so in a way you know that they’re coming. It’s just a long wait and you’re busy doing a lot of other things in the meanwhile to really keep track. The final boss is super iconic of course and then you’ve got a lot of other creative enemies and even full concerts in game. Yes this is an ambitious title.

At times it can be easy to get lost or not know what to do next. Fortunately their are hint shacks around. The NPCs aren’t generally very helpful so otherwise you would have been in a pretty tough spot. Also some areas are very well hidden so even when you’re following a path, try to keep note of which path you didn’t check in case you have to use it later on. As you progress through the game you unlock some quality of life features like teleportation which is definitely worth the wait.

If I have any issues here, I would say one gameplay mechanic doesn’t age too well. This one uses the old Final Fantasy 2 type of mechanic where if your character dies they won’t come back to life even at an inn. You have to specifically go to the hospital to revive the character and that’s a lot of work since those are rarer to come up against. Again this is a quality of life feature that comes in later on once your character learns how to revive someone. That’s near the very end of the game though so it takes a while.

Also your storage is very small per character so you will run out a lot. This means you will have to constantly toss items out to make room for new ones or pay the storage fee to put in some extra back at home. I think they could have been more generous on that front. It’s only a mild annoyance to have to go in and toss stuff since you can only do this one at a time but still it’s something where a sequel can improve a bit.

The soundtrack is definitely excellent, there are a lot of really good tunes you will hear as you go through the adventure. The graphics are also really solid for its era. Like I mentioned earlier the game is very creative here both in the enemy designs and the effects. It gets a bit trippy with Giygas and the game is just so far ahead of its time that I’m sure the reactions to that boss must have been crazy.

In terms of replay value, there is a lot in terms of talking to people and such but there isn’t really a post game. Regardless the main campaign is long enough where that isn’t a problem. Additionally the game can be rather difficult at times so you will have to stop and train at different points. Don’t think that you will just be coasting by and the whole thing is a breeze because you will be in for quite the surprise!

Meanwhile the ending of the game is really intense. I don’t know if Mother 3 actually follows up on this or not but it’s really a high note. Yet another reason why Nintendo needs to license that game already. It would be so much fun to play through! The music gets rather tense and for a split second you’re wondering if the game is actually going to just keep on going. To date Nexamon is probably the only game I can think of that keeps on going after the long credits play and is the most realistic fake stop. I’d like to see more games do that and it only works in an RPG type game like this because you can have it trigger after 20-25 hours which would be realistic to end with.

Overall, Earthbound is a great game all the way through. It excels in every area and makes for a really fun experience. The gameplay is really smooth and the world is just so large. It feels like they crammed in a toooooon of content here especially relative to the average SNES game. It’s extremely impressive and the fact that it still holds up to this day is also something to be proud of. I would highly recommend jumping into this game as soon as possible. You will be having a lot of fun all the way through.

Overall 8/10

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