Tag Archives: Nintendo

Donkey Kong ’94 Review

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It’s time for the return of Donkey Kong. This is one of Mario’s first ever antagonists and I can tell you that nobody ever expected he would end up becoming the great hero that he is today. Well, that wasn’t the case here as he’s up to his old tricks in kidnapping Pauline so now Mario has to stop him. This time DK is well prepared though and has hidden behind dozens and dozens of levels. Can Mario get through them all in time to save her? One thing’s for sure, it’s unlikely that Pauline would be friends with DK again after all of this.

The gameplay initially starts off with the classic Donkey Kong style as you jump through the different floors and try to dodge all the barrels. The level then ends once you reach the top. Well after a few levels of this the game transforms into a more standard platformer and this is when things get real. Each world has levels in multiples of 4 where you fight DK every 4. So some worlds have 8 levels while others have up to 16. It’s definitely a lot of levels to get through. The objective in the platforming levels is to get the key and bring it over to the chest in order to open it. This may sound easy but as the levels go, there are more and more obstacles in your path.

I was pretty impressed at different points with how creative the game would get. It was also rather difficult, certainly a lot more difficult than you would expect a game to be nowadays. Nintendo was not holding back so you can expect to die a number of times here. All it takes is to mistime one of your jumps and it is curtains. You can throw your key around to get past some but if you don’t pick it up within a few seconds, it will respawn back to where you first grabbed it. So you often have to move really fast or you will have just lost a bunch of ground for no reason.

The levels tend to be on the smaller side so it doesn’t feel bad if you lose too much though. Ultimately it comes down to having a plan. As long as you know what you are going to do then time will rarely if ever be a problem for you. Sometimes you just can’t execute your plan quick enough so there will be a degree of trial and error here. Just don’t give up, keep on swinging and eventually you will make it. If you’re super stuck, try looking for an alternate path because sometimes you’re just looking at the puzzle all wrong.

The toughest parts are definitely when a level has different arrow orbs. These create blocks that can be climbed or walked on depending on where you pout them. They often end up being the toughest because there are tons of ways to use them since you choose where they go. In most puzzles, you’re figuring out how to use equipment that has been put in specific places so that is way easier. Well, just keep your composure and you’ll be fine.

The graphics are pretty good. The game looks nice throughout from the backgrounds to the character designs and items. It has that Nintendo charm to it at all times. The soundtrack is more forgettable but DK games rarely keep pace with the classic Mario titles anyway. As long as they’re close, I suppose that’s the important thing. The story mode will take you a decent time to get through thanks to all of the levels. Probably 3-4 hours if I had to guess and potentially a bit more depending on how many times you need to try again. You’re getting a pretty decent bang for your buck even if it’s not crazy long or anything like that.

I guess my biggest piece of advice when playing the game is to try not stopping much. It’s better to take the wrong approach and lose a life than to be left wondering what to do and lose when the time runs out. The timer isn’t especially high so it will run out rather quickly and in the worst case you will be just as lost when you respawn. At least when you die from the first method you can rule that out as an option. It’s not like the levels are crazy complex so just knowing one way that isn’t correct will really help you narrow things down.

As for the boss fights, those are pretty self explanatory. You have to hit Dk with the barrels that he drops down. Keep the pressure on him and you’ve got this. Unlike the levels, I would say the bosses always tend to be pretty easy. Not crazy easy like you can close your eyes during them or anything like that but easy enough where I don’t expect you will die much at all. It’s just not that game.

Overall, Donkey Kong is definitely a fun game. It takes you back to a simpler time of gaming and it holds up really nicely. I’d be up for more titles like this one. The whole transporting the key around thing was definitely really creative. The Mario vs DK series is still kicking so there is always a chance to keep on making new games like this one. Until then, you should definitely check this out on the Nintendo Switch Online. There is no downside to doing it after all so why not right?

Overall 7/10

Nobunaga’s Ambition: Lord of Darkness Review

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Uh oh, it’s another strategy type game! Lord of Darkness takes thing further than the first game in regards to how realistic they are going with the simulation. You now have to worry about supplies and 7 different kinds of locations in addition to the battles. As a result there is far less gameplay than in the first one. The difficulty of the battles themselves appears to have been lessened but the game itself is just as difficult as always because of all the other factors you have to worry about. The more you have to keep track of everything, the more you will quickly find yourself being absolutely shut down. Ultimately, you’re doomed here.

The game has only 2 scenarios instead of 3 this time but maybe you unlock the third later on. The main goal of the game is really to go in and conquer all of the world. Along the way you will have to fight or ally with other team leaders. Of course the whole quest feels virtually endless with how the other armies keep popping up like whack a moles. Defeat one of them and another 3 come in to take their place. Trust me, it’s not ideal when you like to see your progress going up. I felt the same way for De Blob 2 and Paper Mario: Color Splash. I never like the idea of enemies recapturing different locations that I already got.

The only exception I can think of is Dynasty Warriors since it’s all happening in real time and it’s on the same level. So it doesn’t feel as bad when I lose a piece of land compared to other games where it means a whole lot of back tracking. I would argue that it is a completely different circumstance to be honest. Then this game is also just very complex with how the supplies are handled. You can give orders once a month so you have to be very complete with them. Try addressing as many areas as possible because the wait to the next month will be absolutely brutal. Of course on the other hand this also means that each month will be really time consuming.

The enemies seem to be a lot more relaxed this time around though so I made it through many seasons without being attacked. That also means that the game gets downright boring though. You’ve also got a lot of RNG elements here like floods that come washing in and illnesses that take chunks out of the general populace. Why add RNG to a heavy strategy game like this? The answer might be that it tests your strategic skills in an ever changing environment but it just makes you less invested since your well thought out plans can be done in an instant.

The graphics are okay at best but it’s clear that they were not a big priority here. There’s also not much of a soundtrack at all. I can say that they did put a lot of effort into the gameplay so I’ll give them some props there. It just wasn’t any fun and ultimately that is the most important part of any game. Who is going to play a video game that they don’t think is an absolute blast? It just wouldn’t make sense and so this one just forgot to be super fun. I’m sure strategy fans may get a kick out of this one but it definitely does not have the kind of widespread appeal that you would like to see here.

In terms of quality of life features, the game could definitely stand to label the units. They’re all very easy to mix up. The difference comes down to their weapons and flags. If you really pay attention then you will know what they all represent but having a basic map on screen would be nice. In a more modern adventure you wouldn’t need that since the game would have way more details but in this case it is an absolute necessity. It’s certainly an instance where the game’s technical limitations really came back to bite it.

There’s not a whole lot more to get into with this game. You can activate multiplayer which can make things a little more fun but the sheer chunk of time that it would take up would probably end up hurting quite a bit. With two players that is basically double the amount of time that it would take to clear each game and that’s assuming that one of the other 25 computers doesn’t win. So if you’re going to do a multiplayer battle this is probably not the title to use.

Overall, I would say to avoid this game. Even though it’s free, there just isn’t much fun to be had here. The menus are way too extensive and the gameplay is too limited. I would probably rather read a book about the warring states than play through this one. I can’t say that I find the period too engaging even on a good day but there are ways to make it interesting. Perhaps a modern PS5 remake would prove to be different but in the meantime this is definitely a full on skip.

Overall 2/10

Nobunaga’s Ambition Review

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It’s time to get into the old time strategy games on the SNES. Nobunaga’s Ambition is definitely a game that everybody has heard of but I’m sorry to say that it has not aged well in practice. The gameplay takes too long to get to and there is too much RNG. Hardcore strategy fans will have a kick with this but it is lacking the quality of life features that would make this a winner. You end up watching more than actually participating which is not a good idea. Maybe one of the sequels will do the trick but I have my doubts.

The game starts off very ambitiously as you decide how many players will be participating between 0 and 8. Yes, 0 is an option as you can then watch the war going on. I tried that mode once and watched for about 10 years of in game time but the war just never ends. The world is too large so when one faction gets a lot of land, the others end up capturing some eventually. It’s an eternal war you can say. When you are actually playing the game with 8 people you can prevent that but of course it will still take a while. Playing as one person? Well you’re going to get crushed.

I do appreciate the game allowing you to choose if you want to watch the computer’s turns or not though. I made sure to say no because the game would absolutely take forever if you did that. Each match is a very long experience because of the amount of details put into it and watching all of the 28 countries duke it out would really take forever. When it’s your turn, you can choose to attack a neighboring country, make a deal with them, or flat out bribe their citizens to join your country. I suspect these options don’t really begin working until you have a lot of money and prestige though because I tried on several accounts and it just didn’t work. Even with rewind so I know the chance was 0% there.

As for fighting, well that’s something you can win but without rewind I imagine you would be dying a lot. When the match starts, you position where you will put your men. The kicker? You don’t actually know where the opponent will put their men until the match has actually started. So worst case your king will be immediately surrounded. If that happens then you are really cooked because it’s not just a loss if your king is defeated, it’s an instant game over! It’s quite the harsh punishment.

You also keep all injuries and deaths from the previous rounds. So lets say you start with 100 men and lose about 30 in the first fight. Well, now you will have 70 fighters left for round 2 and that number will only continue to be reduced in each ensuing battle. That’s I guess where the bartering would come in. You can try to buy and sell rice and even order more men but it’ll cost you gold. So in addition to the fights you have to really take all of that into account as well. You’re also surrounded by 2-4 enemies no matter who you pick to play as so you have to hope that they don’t all attack you back to back. If they do then you’re really in trouble.

Sites list the game as 50+ hours and I can definitely see why. I imagine that eventually you will beat enough opponents to really make a name for yourself and improve your reputation but it’s definitely not going to be easy and is going to be a long time. You will have to suffer some losses to give your other forces time to marshal their defenses. It’s the only thing that makes sense. Where some modern quality of life features could have helped would be with the speed of combat and the little cutscenes here and there. If you remove those then everything probably gets to be a whole lot easier.

As far as the graphics go, the game looks quite old. None of the character models are all that descriptive and the game also just throws you right into the fire. If you want a tutorial then you’d best look for that online because you won’t be seeing anything here. No as far as this game goes, you just need to try your best. There’s not much of a soundtrack but I wasn’t really expecting that anyway. This is an old time war game so it’s meant to be very somber.

To me there just isn’t a lot of incentive to playing this. If you want to try and take over the world, I imagine it would be much more fun irl in a dungeons and dragons kind of setup. One of those real rpg games where you play with everyone and just enjoy the game itself. That’s the way to do this kind of game rather than in a video game. Still, this game got enough sequels where it makes sense that a lot of people do have a good time with it. I will also say, it is still better than Harvest Moon for what it’s worth although I can’t see myself playing either game for very long.

Overall, Nobunaga’s Ambition just makes you want to play some Dynasty Warriors. I think that series spoiled me a bit because uniting the world through combat just makes way more sense than this strategy title. If you’re gong to do strategy, then do it in a straight forward way like in Fire Emblem. You keep the strategy fights while also not having to worry about the smaller stuff like supplies, grain, etc. Just focus all the way on the combat. Hey it’s free on the Switch if you have the online though so maybe you ought to give it a shot.

Overall 3/10

Super Ninja Boy Review

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Super Ninja Boy is a very unique game because it’s sort of trying to be 3 different games at once. For starters it is a turn based RPG for the big boss fights. Then it becomes a full platformer adventure for some of the minion encounters. For the others it becomes a 2D beat em up. During the hub world you have an overhead style like Final Fantasy. The game has you travelling the world on foot, then in a boat, and then in a giant mecha. It’s tackling everything but unfortunately excels at nothing and that’s probably what doomed the title.

You play as the Super Ninja Boys who are needed to save the world. Villains are emerging from all parts of the planet and some of them aren’t even human. Their father (Or uncle) went missing as well. These two have formal training but are they really ready for an adventure like this? They will really have to travel the entire world so this is no picnic. At the same time, these two boys know that they are the last hope for humanity.

The story’s fairly forgettable but it does have a fun script. I appreciated all of the one liners and burns that came up during the game. There are quite a large number of villains running around as well. Now like I said before I do think the game is too ambitious. If they had just picked one genre they could have succeeded. For example, the reason the overhead part fails is because the encounter rate was set up to be way too high. You have a minion trying to attack you every few seconds. Your odds of fleeing are near 0 unless you are considerably stronger than the enemies. The other problem is that you barely get any EXP from fighting minions so it’s not like you can easily power level.

Eventually you will need some level ups but the grinding sessions are annoying at best when they show up. It’s just not something that you really want to be doing at this point in time. Then for the RPG battles, they have a ton of RNG at every point. None of the attacks have descriptions or show how much damage they do so you really have to wing it here. Trial and error is how you get used to all of the attacks and that feels like sloppy game design to me. There should be a better way of knowing what’s next.

There is no map in the game for the massive hub world so good luck remembering where everything is. If you take the wrong path then you have to play through a whole platforming level before you return. This gets old quick. I can safely say that the game would be really difficult to navigate without the rewind feature. At least that helps to mitigate the worst parts of the game’s design. It doesn’t mean that you are totally safe or anything but at least you can quickly retreat.

These all feel like pretty basic game design choices as well so I don’t know how the game launched like that. It’s a shame because the novelty of actually having multiple games in one is a pretty good one. I would like another game to try this in the present with a big budget studio behind them. If the game pulls that off then it will have really made history. Well, at least you can’t say that the game is short. It’s a true RPG through and through and it took me even longer than all the estimates had guessed.

I suppose most gamers were able to figure out where they had to go right away. I definitely can’t say that was true for me. I really had to put on my thinking hat and exploit the rewind to visit a lot of towns at times before I found the right ones. The NPCs aren’t typically handy and there is also a glitch where sometimes you will enter someone’s house twice and stay in a bit of a loop. More sloppy game design, it just doesn’t stop.

Overall, Super Ninja Boy made quite a lot of mistakes. So why am I not calling it a bad game? Well, for all its faults, the game still does some things right. It does provide a lot of content, the story can be fun, and the actual beat em up/RPG gameplay isn’t bad. It’s just the various mechanics around those which really hold the game back. So while I won’t say that it’s a good game by any means, it does enough to stay in the middle. Just make sure you beat up as many enemies as possible and you will shorten the grinding time needed. Learn which enemies go down quickly and ignore the ones that don’t. No enemy that survives a lot is worth fighting. Trust me on that.

Overall 5/10

Mario’s Picross Review

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I remember playing the Legend of Zelda Picross a long time ago and it was surprisingly fun. I’m more familiar with Sudoku than Picross but they have a lot of similarities. It’s satisfying to see the picture that you have created by making all of the matches. While Mario may not have quite the same amount of polish that the Link title had, I would say that it holds its own. The levels also throw you into the deep end right away with how many rows and columns there are.

For those who don’t play Picross, the basic goal is to try and figure out whether each tile is an X or an O. You do this by reading the numbers listed on each column and row. There are 15 rows and 15 columns. So lets say a row says “15” on it. Then you know that every tile in that row is an O. Likewise if it says zero, then every tile is an X. You start the level with one “hint” where the game completed 1 row and 1 column for you. Then from there you have to figure out the rest with logical deduction. After the first levels you won’t see any 15 or 0 indicators. Instead there will be numbers in the middle like 5, 7, etc. So for those you just have to check every field and narrow down your search. Don’t try to solve everything at once and eventually you will get there. You can get a few guesses wrong but each one hurts your score.

So that’s the gameplay and of course like I said you get to see a fun image related to Mario once you have completed the puzzle. It’s a nice incentive for pulling this off. Perhaps if you recognize the image that will appear it can also work as a hint but to be honest that’s never worked for me. It’s just too specific to really zoom in and make a great guess like that. You will need to really be a genius to pull that off so you’re probably going to be stuck trying to solve the puzzle the normal way.

How much you enjoy the game will all depend on how much you like Picross because that’s literally the only mode here. You won’t be doing anything else. Now if you do like the style, then you’ll be glad to know that there are over 100 levels to go through here! That’s a lot of Picross to get through and so you can’t say that the game is lacking in content. I’m curious which symbols are used but I guess across the Mario franchise it should be easy to make 100 pictures. I wouldn’t be surprised if the last one is a Mario face or something.

The graphics aren’t bad here. I’m not going to say they’re amazing or anything but they hold their own and don’t show the age all that much. The art style works well and then you’ve also got a decent soundtrack. Surprisingly they don’t go ahead and throw in all of the big Mario tunes though. That would have been really fun to have gotten a large variety of those. Maybe next time if they were to ever make a new Picross title.

It’s hard to estimate how long it would take you to complete every level but surely it would be at least a few hours. After all the puzzles only get harder and harder the more you go on. I wouldn’t be surprised if they increased the size to a 20 by 20 or even a 30 by 30 in the end. The difficulty should feel really hard by the end and so this works as a real educational game as well. You have to really focus and give it your all in order to reach your way to the top. One wrong move or bad guess will send you back.

There’s not much else to say about the game because of how direct it is. Likewise you should know if you will like it or not right away based on this as well. Picross is Picross at the end of the day. There may be some slight differences in how it can be presented but there certainly are no differences in how the game itself is played. Although if anyone was to ever add items or gimmicks to the game, it would definitely be Nintendo.

Overall, Mario Picross is a good game. It’s definitely not all that ambitious but you don’t need to be for a game like this. The real fun is in trying to see how far you can go. You can even implement big challenges on yourself like considering it a game over if you get any wrong responses or turning down the hint at the beginning. Just keep on going and your skills are bound to continue improving over and over again. Soon you will be a Picross champion!

Overall 6/10

Metroid Dread Review

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It’s time to finally check out Metroid Dread. That game was definitely out for quite a while and got good reviews so I knew it was about time that I took the plunge. I can tell you this, the game definitely lives up to the hype. In fact I would say it is the best Metroid game in the franchise. The climax is super cinematic and the combat is also a lot of fun. You really get to use a larger variety of abilities than in other Metroid titles and it doesn’t hold back on graphics or soundtrack. Prepare yourself for a difficult but very satisfying game.

The game starts with a brief recap to Metroid Fusion and then Samus has to head to a planet that is having some trouble. Unfortunately this was a trap. She is quickly defeated by a powerful being known as Raven Beak and she wakes up at the bottom of the planet with most of her abilities being sealed away. She is suffering from something called physical amnesia. She needs to find a way off the planet and then blow it up because if Raven Claw and his X viruses get off the planet then the whole universe will be in trouble. Will she be able to escape?

Right away the game lives up to its title as the main theme is really dark and foreboding. I’ve been listening to it a lot on Youtube after completing the game and it really holds up. It’s a super memorable track and it’s going to be hard for any Samus theme to beat this one. The various boss/level themes are also really solid so I was quite impressed with the soundtrack. Then we have the graphics which are looking real sharp as well. The colors are on point and the cinematics keep up the good work. There are no weak points in the visuals.

The game’s length is a bit on the short side as I beat it in under 7 hours but there are definitely more areas to explore through. All though not as much as in other games as most of the maps quickly get locked as you proceed through the game. So for the most part you can’t do any backtracking until you’re really near the end of the game. It’s hard to time this as well because then you quickly enter the land of no return for the climax so you could very well find yourself at a point where you don’t get to explore much at all.

The game is designed in a way where you can certainly still win even without all the extra energy tanks, it’ll just be more difficult. You have less room for error here so you better work on memorizing the enemy attack patterns. It took me some time for a few of the bosses but just keep going at it and you’ll be okay. This is a very appropriate measure of difficulty where nobody can accuse the game of being too easy but at the same time it’s not insanely difficult. You have the tools at your disposal to win the matches when it counts.

The key gameplay mechanic here is the parry system. You have to use that in order to block the stronger moves that the enemies use and then counter with some free shots from your end. If you nail every counter then you will definitely win but the window of time can be short so it does come down to your overall reaction times. There are also unblockable attacks so you have to be able to quickly notice when they’re coming and dodge instead. If you are too slow then you will be in trouble.

A lot of the boss battles are in fairly open environments which is fun because your movement is not limited. It also means that when you lose, you know that you could have done something different. There are 7 hunters after you as well so you have to constantly be running around them and evading until you get your super laser to finish them off. These chases are really intense and some of the best parts of the title. Probably the best aside from the final boss himself.

Raven Claw will also go down as one of the all time greatest Metroid villains. That guy was really solid. As always Samus is a great heroine as well. Someone who can make snap decisions without hesitating like when she blasts one of the villains near the end. She never gives up. As a whole the gameplay is definitely a lot of fun and in terms of gameplay design, the Metroidvania aspects weren’t bad.

The map could have been better though. It’s a little too cluttered and you can’t really filter it. For example I think you should not see collectibles that you’ve already obtained on the map. It just takes up space and looks misleading. At least make it a different color right? If the map were easier to read then that would make things easier instead of having to check it over and over again. It could be a lot worse though as the game at least usually makes it pretty clear where you should be going. So I give it a lot of props there.

Aside from trying to beat the game even quicker to get special endings, there is also a hard mode and a boss rush mode that you unlock. I’m sure those are fun modes to check out and hopefully you would get some kind of a special reward for completing them. Hard mode must be absolutely unforgiving too so I wonder how the bosses would go there. Maybe the reaction times for the parry are even more narrow which would really put you in a tough spot. As it is I could only parry the hunters once in a while because they are so unpredictable. Having reaction times that good is definitely a rarity.

Overall, Metroid Dread is definitely a great game. One of those titles that reminds you Nintendo can still churn out an intense title when they feel like it. It may be a little more rare than you would like but that’s just how it goes sometimes. I eagerly look forward to seeing if Prime 4 will be able to maintain this intensity. I still have yet to play Prime 2 and Prime 3 so you can bet that I will work on correcting that sooner than later. In the meantime, this is a good title to tide you over.

Overall 8/10

Yoshi’s Island DS Review

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Yoshi’s Island is one of those games that I would have imagined that I’d have played years ago but it always fell through the cracks. As a result it feels really retro to be playing this one because it’s just from such a different time. This was back when Nintendo really did not hold back on the difficulty. Some of these levels are really quite hard but never in an unfair way. Your platforming skills will simply be tested in ways that you wouldn’t have thought possible.

The story is fairly basic but with one little twist that was nice. Basically babies around the world are being kidnapped and this includes poor Luigi. Fortunately the stork is able to save Mario and quickly locates Yoshi so that they can team up to save the world once again. These two are no strangers to mixing it up with the likes of Bowser and so they quickly get ready for this. What they don’t realize is that King Bowser has come from the future as well to really complicate matters. Dealing with two fierce opponents may be a bit much and then we have Wario as a wild card.

Right off the bat I can appreciate the wide character roster here. At least for a Platformer this feels pretty big. You can use Baby Mario, Peach, Wario, DK, and even Bowser at one point. Each character has their own special abilities while riding on Yoshi and this even affects your running speed. Additionally Mario has the ability to grow his cape while using a power star and you temporarily control him instead of Yoshi. It’s clear that Nintendo was really working hard to ensure there was a whole lot of depth to the gameplay. It’s certainly doing more than the original.

That said, more isn’t always better. How much you enjoy this game will really come down to how much you like playing as all of the characters. If for any reason you do not like playing as them, then you will probably miss the standard Yoshi gameplay. As its core the gameplay still has many of the same elements like running through the levels and getting past all the obstacles but then you use the character specific items like DK’s climbing to get past different barriers in the level.

I mostly stuck with Mario as his basic gameplay is the most comforting but the game does force you to switch on many occasions. So get used to playing as everyone. Like I said before the difficulty is also quite high so don’t think that you will just be sleep walking through this adventure. No, you’re going to have to really put in a lot of effort. Stock up on as many lives as possible in the first few worlds. I nearly didn’t spend enough focus on that since I figured lives wouldn’t be important but the difficulty really spikes starting with world 4. I had around 65 lives by that point and ended up with less than 20 by the end.

There are a lot of check points in the game which is good but some of the jumps and timings are really intense. It’s fun to see how creatively Nintendo added this difficulty while preserving the basic concept of Yoshi not having a health bar. You die if you fall through a pit, touch lava, or let your baby get away from you for a long period of time. The latter is the easiest way to die so just be careful where you’re at when you take damage.

For the most part the bosses are all really easy though as even the final boss moves fairly slow and only has a few different attacks. I suspect that it is harder to balance a boss than it is for a level which explains the huge disparity between them. So at least that’s one part you don’t have to worry about, for the most part you will be blowing the bosses away with ease. For the levels, you just have to keep going at them over and over again until you’ve found a way to win. Over 90% of the challenging parts are just about execution though so you don’t have to worry about solving puzzles or anything like that. Just put your best foot forward and you’ll be fine.

The graphics are pretty solid here. Again it has a very nostalgic kind of vibe to it with the looks and designs really being classic Mario all the way. It’s an easy game to enjoy visually and the soundtrack is also good. A solid array of themes even if I can’t point to any one theme and say that it’s an all star. They all work well within the context that they appear in which is good enough for me. Nintendo typically always does a good job on that front so I’m not surprised.

There is also a formidable amount of replay value here. The main campaign is fairly long with 5 worlds of 8 levels each but then each world has 3-4 bonus levels as well. Then you have the collectibles and there are a ton of those to grab in each level. We’re talking massive Yoshi coins as well as red coins. It will take a very long time to achieve all of those so that will add more than a few hours to your total docket.

Overall, This is a very complete Yoshi game. It holds its own with the classic Mario titles although I will always prefer the Mario gameplay over Yoshi overall. Nothing wrong with Yoshi’s but Mario’s tends to be more fast paced. Here you do often have to wait for things to get set up. The worst are the auto scroller levels but that is true for any platformer title since the movement is so slow. You should definitely check this game out if you are looking for a good challenge. I can definitely guarantee that you will find one here. It’s the kind of game that you really can’t underestimate.

Overall 7/10

Dr. Seuss’ Green Eggs and Ham Review

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It’s time for one of my most random video game purchases. Hey sometimes that’s how you end up getting a top tier talent right? Well this one is hardly at that level but it’s a reasonably serviceable party game. It’s mainly held back by the length and lack of variety here. You won’t have much reason to play it but I do like how seamlessly they incorporate a 2 player mode into the mix. If they ever make a PS5 remake of this game I’d be temped to give it a look.

The basic plot follows that of the book. The characters want to get this one guy to eat their green eggs and ham no matter what. They seriously won’t take no for an answer and are having a really hard time convincing him otherwise. So you get one page out of the book after every minigame but then you will quickly notice that it is the same 5-6 cutscenes that repeat on loop. For example if you activate the train minigame then they will ask the guy to eat the meal on the train. I imagine this could get old on repeated playthroughs since it’s the same stuff each time. You can skip past it easily enough at least.

The gameplay is definitely a party game through and through. You are on a map similar to something like Candy Land as you roll the dice and move forward. Every time you roll the dice you play a matching minigame where you have to match shapes together. Then based on what square you land on is what minigame you will play after that. Once you reach the end of the map, whoever has the highest score/victories is the winner. I will say that the computer kept it close as we had the same amount of victories for a while there but there was also a big reason for this. The matching game keeps your progress which is fine but you can only do one turn at a time. So lets say I win it in turn 4 and now there are only two uncovered cards left. When it is the next player’s turn, he has no choice but to flip those cards and of course they are the right ones so he wins. This happens each time when the matching game is near the end which seems like a pretty big oversight.

Most of the other minigames are like mini platformers. You jump around from area to area as you collect the hams and eggs. You want to get as many as possible and if you’re lucky then you will get them all. The minigames aren’t particularly hard but they are fun. I’m always up for bite sized games like this. The whole game may take you maybe 20 minutes at most to complete. Then after that you are done so that’s why I say the game is ultra short. It’s fun but how high can you really rank a game when you are able to conquer it so easily? Just doesn’t really add up. I think I’d probably be even harsher if I had paid the big bucks for it but fortunately I was able to get it for just a few bucks.

The graphics aren’t bad. Nothing special but you can always tell what is happening at least. The soundtrack isn’t bad either but it also comes across as generic. I don’t imagine a whole lot of time and effort was put into these things but of course I’m still glad they were present. There may not be a whole lot to this game but at least it wasn’t glitchy or anything like that. It’s still a fun game at its core and if you can snag it for a few bucks then it’s not a bad purchase. If you have to spend a whole lot of money on it then that’s another thing though.

Like I mentioned earlier, I do give the game some credit for actually having a multiplayer mode though. Basically you would just hand off the GBA after each turn. Each minigame is meant to be for 1 player after all and then you compare scores like Pac Man. It’s really quite genius when you think about it. Now they still should have had more minigames and you’ll need to find someone who wants to play the game but it’s a small thing the devs did that actually does add some replay value here. l

Overall, Green Eggs and Ham is one of those games where you may be surprised to learn that it got a video game at all. I was pretty surprised myself and figured I would have heard about it by this point. Well, better late than never as they say. It’s not a game I will probably remember as the years go by but it’s definitely crazy enough where that might not be true. Maybe I ought to buy the Cat in the Hat game at some point to see how that one stacks up. I bet the game will definitely be real interesting so at the very least I won’t be bored. I’m hoping it would at least be a bit longer than this game though. Being under 1 hour is always crazy no matter how you look at it.

Overall 5/10

Pokémon Trading Card Game Review

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I’ve played my share of trading card games over the years. Mainly Yugioh but I’ve also played Duel Masters and Shadowverse. I like to think of myself as a bit of a veteran but I never got into the Pokemon one. I felt like the rules just didn’t make a lot of sense to me initially and it didn’t seem as fun. My opinions on it haven’t changed a lot as I consider this to still be the weakest of the trading card games but this title still does a reasonably good job with it. The fact that there is a story mode at all is definitely a plus as that is never a full guarantee.

The basic goal is to defeat all of the club leaders and then take on the elite four. The terms are slightly different from the main games but it’s really the same effect here. You start off by choosing a trial/starter deck from one of the main 3 types and then go from there. Whenever you defeat an opponent, you randomly get 10-20 cards. Some leaders will require you to defeat 3 trainers before you can fight them while others will fight you right away. Keep this in mind for when you are picking which leader to fight next. Since I had a fire deck, I naturally went for the grass gym first.

The initial deck took me pretty far, I was able to beat 3 leaders before I had to start doing a lot of tweaking. By the end of the game I had a balanced fire and psychic type deck. I find the Abra line to be absolutely busted in this game. They just have so many cool abilities and not a lot of weaknesses since the dark type wasn’t out yet. Some of the type advantages are quite a bit different from the original games so you should definitely keep that in mind or you will be in for a really big surprise. That definitely got me a few times so after a while I would start looking at the weaknesses. At any point you can freely inspect every card so that’s not a problem.

I should note that the game is reasonably difficult and I would even say incredibly so at times. It all depend son your deck though. For example it took me over 50 tries to defeat the psychic gym leader but then the Pokemon champion only took me 2 tries. It all depends on the deck that you have built for yourself. This is a game that is really big on type advantages and disadvantages so you have to keep that all in mind. If you underestimate that element of the game then you will really be in for a rude surprise here.

Also the game is insulated against rewinding. I believe the reason for this is that the coin flips are all pre determined even 2 turns in advance. So no matter how many times you try it, the opponent is going to keep hitting his lucky heads to knock you flat. At the end of the day there just isn’t a whole lot that you will be able to do against this technique. So make sure you have a good deck and you will just have to absorb some losses. A good deal of the game is luck based and so if the opponent wins a lot of flips then you’re just going to lose.

I will say this is definitely the weakest part of the Pokemon trading card game to me. I understand a little RNG of course but it feels like virtually every ability is related to a coin flip and so you are going to see a ton of those. It also slows down the pacing of the game by a longshot. None of these animations are skippable after all and you will be seeing them over and over and over again. I also think the games would be really annoying when the opponent would happen to draw the one card that is needed to stop you. It might make you slightly grin at how the enemies have main character levels of plot armor but that will fade when you have to do the whole thing over again.

The graphics aren’t bad. They do remind me a lot of the mainline games and for its time you could tell that they put in a lot of effort. The soundtrack is also not bad, there’s some actual variety here. It’s got nothing on the main Pokemon games to be sure but it’s also more memorable than the average spinoff which is also impressive. I keep saying this but that’s why even if the game wasn’t exactly my speed, it’s clear that this wasn’t a bottom effort cash-in or anything like that. I think they could easily make a new version that would sell really well if they put in the same kind of effort with today’s tech. Maybe just remove some of the coin flips and luck stuff unless it’s extremely ingrained into the card game itself.

Overall, Pokemon’s trading card game has a lot of depth to it. I don’t think it’s amazing but at the same time it would probably be better with some quality of life updates. The game itself is older and does feel dated in some ways. It’s like how Yugioh wasn’t ultra fun in some games because they weren’t optimized so I can acknowledge that’s part of the issue here as well. It still feels like it needs something more to spice up the game but at least now I can say that I know how to play it. If you’re looking for an intense trading card game then this could be a decent one to check out though. Not much to lose and it’s not every day that you get to see a bonus Pokemon storyline.

Overall 6/10