Tag Archives: Nintendo

BurgerTime Deluxe Review

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I could use a good burger right now. A triple cheeseburger, well done with extra bacon? Yes sirrrrrrr that sounds good. Playing a game like this definitely makes me hungry and it’s easy to see why because the ingredients all show up here. You even fight using black pepper! It’s a simple enough game but one that manages to stay fun all the way through so I had a good time.

The basic gameplay is that there are parts of the burger scattered across different floors. You have to send them all to the basement and you do that by walking on each ingredient. For example if there is a burger patty on the third floor and you walk on it, it will get sent down to the 2nd floor. Go to the 2nd floor and then it’ll go to the first floor. Finally, step on it there and it will land in the goal in the basement. Once you have gotten all pieces to the goal then you are all set for the races.

You can move around but you can’t jump which is a key thing to note. So if the enemy is behind you and there are no exits in front then you have just fallen into the trap and are doomed. At that point there is nothing you can do and you are absolutely finished. Always keep some black pepper around for times like this since you can throw it in the enemy’s face and then you will be safe. At this point that is all you can do but those vials are very rare so you won’t come across many of them.

The game definitely gets really difficult as you move through it. In some levels there are long segments where there is no backup exit meaning that getting those pieces is next to impossible. In the 6th world I couldn’t figure out how to get those pieces even with rewind. No matter where you went or how fast you walked, the enemies would catch up to you. The A.I. is actually really smart here. They will actually surround you and basically make traps all the way around the levels. So don’t underestimate them if you want to claim victory here.

I liked the simplicity of the gameplay and it reminds me of Pac Man to an extent. There are other games that are even more similar with the whole layered setup. This is the kind of game you could picture having a lot of fun with on a mobile device and a modern remake with a whole story would really be fun. There’s a ton of potential for this kind of game and I miss the simple arcade concepts. The artstyle has aged quite well here so the graphics are good.

The soundtrack is more forgettable but that’s how it goes. In terms of replay value, it seems like the game just keeps on going and paired with the difficulty you should definitely be here for a while. You can also try to just improve your score and efficiency in the levels as well. Definitely a lot to enjoy here and the fun never has to stop. Realistically I do think you will eventually call it a day because there are just too many other games to have fun with but this one does hold its own.

With a game like Burger Time I’m assuming you were thinking of something super low budget but that wasn’t the case here. I dare say that the developers really took this one seriously all the way through. No corners were cut. There’s not much else to say about the game due to the nature of the gameplay but it definitely does take real skill. If you are able to really predict your opponent’s movements and take advantage of them then you will be in a great spot without a doubt.

Overall, BurgerTime Deluxe is a good game. It would need a little something more to reach the next level but I was satisfied with the product. It can be reasonably addicting and when you lose you really want to keep on trying until you win. The difficulty level is really high but aside from the final level I was up to, it never really felt impossible. You just have to be very careful on your tactics and strategy. Once you go in one direction then you’ve really got to live with it because turning back just gives the enemy more time to catch you.

Overall 6/10

Metroid: Other M Review

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“Samus respond….responnnnnnndddddd!!” is something you will hear a whole lot of in this game. It’s the phrase that’s used when you die and I died quite a few times in the adventure. I thought it was kind of hilarious though. It’s the way the guy says the line, there’s something about it that’s just super funny. Hey, you gotta take the humor where you can and at the end of the day this is a pretty good game even if it is held back a bit by the control setup and Samus herself being wildly out of character.

The game starts with Samus responding to a distress signal in the middle of deep space. She enters a ship that has seemingly been abandoned to a bunch of giant monsters and then the Federation show up. The main problem is that the Federation are a bunch of jerks and they’re led by her old captain Adam. Adam explains that Samus will obey his orders now and so he quickly tells her not to use any of her stronger weapons which causes her to nearly die many times. Samus agrees because for some bizarre reason she still wants his approval. What she doesn’t realize is that this place is extremely dangerous.

Here is where you have to separate the story from the writing. The story itself is pretty good. You have a mystery here of who sent the SOS and what kind of crazy experiments were going on in this ship. You also learn a lot more about Samus’ past here and her time with the Federation. It’s all pretty interesting stuff so I appreciate this. Also there are a lot of cutscenes and full voice acting which I am a big fan of. These are all positives and it’s important to keep them in mind. Now where we have the problem is in Samus’ portrayal.

Samus is usually a hardened warrior. Someone who always gets the job done and is tough as nails. In this game she is instead rather nervous at times and less sure of herself. Why would she possibly agree to not use her weapons just because Adam says so? He literally has to tell her she can use the latest guns in boss fights where the enemies are unaffected. I can ignore some parts as gameplay mechanics but most of these instances are parts of the actual story. Samus panicking in front of Ridley has always been the most infamous scene in the game and I can see why. It makes no sense and takes away from her hype character.

So, I like to think this isn’t Samus at all. It’s a very weird portrayal but the game is good otherwise. The gameplay is on point with the platforming and shooting hybrid style. My only issue is they had to force in some motion controls so you have to point at the screen for various eye spy segments and also to shoot missiles. This usually results in the enemy landing a free hit while you locate your Wii sensor.

You do have a quick dodge/counter attack mechanic which is very handy though. I didn’t find out about it until super late in the game but there was no going back from there. It is easily the most efficient way to battle. Just keep tapping every control stick side on the d pad and when an enemy is close you will do a quick dodge. This amps up your blaster to the max and allows you to use the charge shot. You can keep on doing this over and over as you deal massive damage. Some attacks can be hard to time but for most you can just spam this with no real downside.

The game has its difficult moments to be sure though. Like I said, I died a whole lot. The enemies don’t play around here but it’s all rather balanced. There are a few annoying puzzles that will slow you down for a while but they’re not too numerous which I really appreciated. That would have made the whole thing overstay its welcome. In general the game is fairly short. You won’t take too long to complete it but they do manage to still have a lot of story in here.

The graphics have aged well, this looks like a really solid Wii game. It may not be as bright as something like Mario for example but even so this is a game that looks good. The soundtrack is also really good. You will probably recognize every track here. Other M was really inspiring, you will even recognize a Super Smash Bros moveset was really created from this game. It’s easy to see how this could have been the big reawakening of the Metroid franchise if it just got bigger and sold more units right away. I would have been a bit disappointed if it meant that this style of portrayal for Samus would be the new norm but on the whole she is still a good lead so I’d survive.

As a sidenote though, the game has a really terrible map. It’s hard to tell where a room starts or ends when you’re looking at the map. Additionally you can’t go to a specific floor in the map unless you pause, back space, back space again, and then select the floor. There are too many menus on what should be a very simple map screen. I don’t think this was a high priority for the team considering how smooth everything else is.

Overall, Metroid: Other M is a pretty good game. I do think it would have been an easy 8 without the motion controls though. I still think it’s crazy that the game goes out of its way to have you hold the remote sideways so you figure there won’t be any motion but for some reason locks the missiles to the motion side. Does that really make any sense? Well, you’re still going to have a really good time blasting the monsters and saving the world. Make sure you use the quick dodge, it immediately made the whole gameplay a lot faster and more intense. It was a real game changer to be honest. I liked how dynamic the gameplay was because Metroid is a series that you should equate to being intense. Even more than the other big Nintendo flagship titles. There’s so much you can always do with Sci-Fi and I look forward to getting more Metroid titles soon.

Overall 7/10

Kirby Tilt ‘n’ Tumble Review

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It’s time for my next Kirby experience. Typically these games are always a lot of fun. Kirby makes for a good lead and the platforming genre is always on point. Well, this time it’s a bit different because this isn’t your classic Kirby title. It’s actually using motion controls and we already know how that tends to pan out. It’s unfortunate…but I’m afraid that Tilt n Tumble is really not going to be able to stick with the all time greats.

The basic plot is that King Dedede seems to be off to some mischief so Kirby decides to stop him. We have no proof of any wrongdoing mind you, but Kirby has seen this guy around a lot before and he’s usually getting into all kinds of trouble. So why wait for the trouble to arrive when you can do something about it now right? Unfortunately the game’s ending doesn’t give much closure either, we get a handshake but that’s about it. So you’re not playing the game for its story but I suppose in a way it’s rare that you would be doing that.

So lets talk about the gameplay. Basically it’s like Monkey Ball. You have to roll Kirby past a bunch of obstacles so that he can get to the goal. This should be a pretty easy proposition right? Just focus up and get the job done! Unfortunately this is where the motion controls come in. You have to tilt your controller in order to move him and so you can’t even use the pro controller. The motion controls are super sensitive and tilting backwards too quickly will have you use the jump command by mistake.

The game is definitely harder than other Kirby games as a result. I found myself using the rewind feature as needed in several instances. It’s a game you could definitely beat without the rewind, it’ll just take a bit longer for the random points where you roll off the map. That’s always my problem with motion controls, I don’t mind losing because I messed up. But to lose because the controls weren’t precise and I rolled too far off the map? Nahhhhh that’s not satisfying at all. That just feels bad in the end. Whether I win or lose it should all come down to my own gaming skills.

So the gameplay itself had some potential with a proper control setup. I really liked the classic Monkey Ball games for Gamecube after all. They were the right balance of being really difficult and satisfying without ever being cheap or annoying. These were games that always kept you wanting to play no matter how many times you died. It took a ton of skill and you had nobody to blame but yourself. This game is different because half of the times you die, you will feel like you should have lived and the game messed you over. Yeah that might be you being a little on the salted side. I can’t argue with that but we will never know for sure.

The soundtrack is nice and pleasant though. It has all of the fun Kirby themes that you will recognize because of how iconic they always are. Then you have the graphics which are pretty good. The colorful vibes work well with the title as they always do. So I have no issues there and the technical elements really help to balance out the gameplay really well. At the very least it helps to mask my issues with the motion controls a little bit since I have less time to dwell on them. Instead I’m having fun listening to all of the tunes.

One last complement I will give to the game is that all of the boss battles are fun. The ground ones are all reskins so it’s the same boss over and over but I liked how you had to try and jump on him using your motion controls. It’s the one time I thought the style was actually rather clever. Then you had the aerial boss battles where you had to fly around and blast away at him with your air buster. That was a lot of fun and you had to balance being aggressive with grabbing another balloon so you could stay in the air. A lot of balance right there.

Overall, Kirby Tilt is a game that I won’t soon be forgetting but it’s too bad because it could and should have been way better. Motion controls don’t always have to automatically hurt a game but it does feel like more often than not they do a whole lot of damage. Just give me the traditional controls and I’m all set. Check this one out if you have the Switch Online but don’t expect that it’ll be all that great for you. It’s a unique experience but as with many other unique things, it’s a nice way of saying that it’s not as good as the standard option.

Overall 6/10

Super Mario Land Review

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It’s time for one of those really retro Mario games. In fact it’s so retro on the classic Game Boy that it’s even in black and white! But that’s crazy right? Well it’s definitely odd to be playing it without all the colors but it’s still a fun game. All of the classic Mario staples are there from great level designs to interesting and innovative enemies around every corner. Yeah this is some good stuff, it’s just a shame that it’s so short.

The game barely has a plot in terms of what you see in the game but officially there is a story thanks to the booklet. All you need to know is that Princess Daisy needs your help so it’s up to you to vanquish all of the enemies in your way. Can you pull it off? Well you better be able to or everything’s going to be falling sideways before long. Right off the bat it is fun to be fighting whole new opponents here compared to Bowser and friends. It was a good opportunity for Nintendo to flex their creative chops and have to come up with a whole new cast of fighters. So that was really cool.

The bosses were fun and the whole game really flies by. In part because the game is extremely short, you can complete it in around an hour, possibly less than that. It’s a mix of the stages being short, each world only having 3 stages, and the levels not being super difficult. Of course with the rewind feature you can feel free to rush in every time and if you make a mistake just rewind. If you have to play strategically then it might slow you down just a tad but even then I doubt it would be a big delay.

So you’re not here for a long time but for a good time. The game delivers there like I’ve been saying. The levels are all very diverse and you have to keep your wits about you with the various enemies running around. The graphics are decent, perhaps not as good as the other Mario games because they aren’t in color but they still look good. The soundtrack is also fun as always. Perhaps not on the level of Mario World but few things are.

There isn’t a ton of replay value which is the only thing you would want to consider if you were buying the game for a price. After beating the game there really isn’t anything to do except beating it again and all. Not a bad idea of course but yeah there’s not a lot of bonus content here. So if the game was 50 dollars or something like that then I’d say to skip it but as long as you have the Nintendo Switch Online and it’s free then you should definitely check it out. In a way you are finally getting to experience the lost entry in the Mario series. It certainly took me long enough to try it at any rate.

In a way because the game is so direct and straightforward there isn’t much to talk about though. So this will be a fairly small review. After all you can only explain how Nintendo did a great job with the gameplay, level design, and everything so many times. It’s a very complete title and it would be fun to see some of these enemies and levels come back someday. Some kind of big Mario remake project taking elements from all of the old titles. There’s really a ton Nintendo could do with that kind of premise someday. Hopefully we get something like that as a celebration.

Overall, Super Mario Land is a pretty fun game. It is extremely short which I assume was more of a console limitation however it still gives you a good time all the way through. I didn’t really have any problems with the game. The gravity and platforming gameplay themselves take a little getting used to compared to some of the newer games but you’re still ready to roll right from the jump. Just trust in your own gameplay abilities and you will really be dominating. Definitely check this out if you have the Nintendo Switch Online. You can’t beat free right?

Overall 7/10

Freedom Planet 2 Review

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It’s time to take a look at the big sequel to the original Freedom Planet. It’s cool to see all of the characters again and they do a good job of keeping the story really hype and exciting. There’s full voice acting here and a fun story which goes a long way. I’ll definitely be up for another game to wrap up the trilogy at some point. There’s definitely more you can do with the world building here but if not I can still be content with the big adventure here.

The game kicks off with a new threat emerging into the world. Her name is Merga and she is a water dragon like Lilac. No longer is the heroine the last of her kind but Merga explains that there was no accident or anything like that. Their people were wiped out by the Earth Dragons and she intends to have her revenge on the planet. Lilac knows that she has to save the world but defeating Merga would ensure that she is the last of her kind once more. Is there any way to prevent this from being the case?

I tend to give platformers a lot of grief for not having much of a story but I can safely say that it isn’t a concern this time around. This game has quite a lot of story within it and full voice acting like I mentioned earlier. This goes a looooong way to making the game extra memorable. You’re really eager to see what is going on with the case and how they will handle this. The story has twists and turns, it has drama and action. It’s a complete narrative that really pushes the characters.

Lilac is a great heroine as always and this game really let us see her leadership qualities. While the rest of the characters would be fighting and getting in each other’s way, she wasn’t getting distracted. Ultimately you can count on Lilac to make the right calls as needed. Meanwhile Carol is fun as always. Her big focus on being a free spirit does often put the characters in a bad spot but she is a loyal friend through it all. Milla has improved a great deal from the first game. She is still one of the weaker characters for me but there is a lot of potential with her banter with Serpentine.

Neera is a whole lot of fun on the hero side as well. She’s all on business which makes for a lot of arguments. Neera wants to protect the world at any cost and that absolutely makes for a great for a great contrast. The Magister that she serves is far less impressive though. He could definitely stand to be a more likable character. He strikes me as that shady guy who makes a ton of mistakes and doesn’t always pay for them. I mainly found him annoying here.

One character who gets the shaft this time is Spade. He basically shows up to get wrecked and doesn’t contribute much. I can get why Lilac is still mad at the guy because he is the opposite of reliable. Always ready to make a quick escape and look out for himself instead of helping the rest of the heroes out. The guy isn’t even a hero to be honest. I’d consider Serpentine to be more dependable at this point.

Serpentine is a great character all the way though. He has the best theme in the game and is an unpredictable wild card. You want to talk about a guy with aura and great one liners? He is the absolute best character in the game and I always looked forward to his theme song playing. You knew that fun things were in store. A true scene stealer all the way.

As for the villains, the roster was pretty strong here. The best villain was Merga which makes sense. She had some strong ideals and made for a very compelling character. Obviously she is evil and the game doesn’t try to make you think anything else but I can always go for a villain who is at least fighting for something they believe in as opposed to just being totally random. Then you have Askal who is a strong fighter and gets a good role here. I may not have liked how it ended but he was another powerful villain who helped to even things out here.

Aaa is the only villain that I didn’t care for. He panics a lot and is super weak so I didn’t think that we actually needed him here. He doesn’t add anything to the dynamic which is my main problem. Captain Kalaw was fun though. He could maybe be a bit over the top but I tend to like this character type. Finally you have Cory, whose role is much smaller than you would expect but she is still really solid. Definitely another fighter you can’t underestimate although she definitely had less personal stakes for helping the villains out.

I didn’t really talk about the gameplay much yet but it’s basically a 2D platformer like Sonic. I think that’s probably oversimplifying it a little bit though. You can also use an aerial spin move that’s like a boost which makes you temporarily invincible. It’s a huge part of how the gameplay here works so you need to use it a lot. You can also use martial arts with your attack button. There are way more boss fights than the average 2D platformer so get ready for that combat.

The game can be reasonably difficult as well so make sure you buy some good items. I personally liked the water damage upgrade a lot since the damage sticks with the enemy even after you have finished landing your hits. It’s extremely useful without a doubt. The final boss has like 10+ forms also so I hope that you have managed to save up a lot of gems. You’re definitely going to need them for this part. I’m not always a huge fan of the speed based 2D titles but the level designs here were pretty good. I may have gotten lost once or twice since they can be rather large but it worked out well enough.

Then of course you have the soundtrack which is definitely top tier. A lot of great tunes around every corner in this game. We also can’t forget the graphics which are well above average. The game looks very well polished. They didn’t skimp out on any of the technical aspects here. I guess in a way I focused mostly on the story because I was so impressed but the whole game was on point here. There isn’t a ton of replay value to be honest though so I guess the only issue could be that there isn’t a ton of content here. Still, it’s not like the game goes for $60 or anything like that though so it evens out well enough.

Overall, Freedom Planet 2 was definitely a great game. It really went a long way to maximizing the hype and enjoyment that you would expect after the first game. The story was excellent and I had a good time with the gameplay. This is definitely a game that you should pick up as soon as possible. You definitely will not regret it, I can tell you that! Gotta see what the next Switch game to get with the Eshop gift cards will be. Always lots of fun options out there.

Overall 8/10

Wrecking Crew ’98 Review

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It’s time to look at a game that I didn’t even know existed until very recently. The game has an actual story and everything which was cool, although sadly Nintendo didn’t translate the text so we’re missing out on that quality dialogue. Ultimately the gameplay itself is interesting and reasonably fun but it does get hurt by the implementation. I can see why this game was not originally licensed.

The basic plot involves Mario heading back to the Mushroom Kingdom but Bowser has developed something far more sinister than his old Koopa Hotels. Now he has whole towers and is taking over with a lot of corrupt builders. Mario quickly switches out his classic M hat for a construction one and gets to work. Can he really tear these buildings down and defeat Bowser or is this a fool’s errand? There’s only one way to find out.

So the story is fun of course and the art style has aged well for the cutscenes. The graphics within the game are fun too and it’s why a colorful artstyle like this will often beat a more realistic look that gets dated way quicker. You could have a game look like this in 2024 and I wouldn’t bat an eye because it would still be a fun look. Meanwhile the soundtrack is reasonable enough. It doesn’t quite have the popping themes of the mainline Mario games but it works well enough.

Unfortunately the weakness here is the gameplay and as all gamers will know, it can be hard to get around that. Think of this like Tetris. Technically there is another game type that is even more similar but you have blocks raining down from the top of the screen. Your goal is to match sets of 3 or more of the same type. This allows you to summon block to the opponent’s side of the screen. You win by getting their blocks to go past the ceiling and you lose if the same thing happens to you. One main difference this game has compared to other games of the style is you can jump from row to row and use levers to move the blocks across different spaces. It’s an interesting addition but unfortunately it paves the way for the game’s downfall.

Put it this way, the game is just too easy. You can keep on moving the blocks and breaking them as fast as they come down. The opponent can do this as well so even when you’re landing big combos, nobody ends up dying. The first stage took over 20 minutes before the enemy finally gave in and that felt more like a fluke than anything. The difficulty of the game really needs to be ramped up because otherwise the matches are too long. I imagine it would be even worse with a player who really knows what he is doing.

Now, I’m sure I would still lose against an expert player who is able to chain such long combos together than they would exceed my speed of destroying boxes but the single player mode is almost unplayable. It is possible that I have missed something but it seems to be that the only way to really defeat your opponent is to dial in and risk the big combos but it also means that you run the risk of being defeated. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense and so you are unlikely to keep on playing til the end.

There’s no real reason to do so when there are better versions of this game out there. Titles with a good sense of balance that let you progress a lot easier. Maybe the platforming elements are what doomed this one even if they made the title stand out more. It’s a shame but that’s just how it goes sometimes. It definitely keeps this game from having a whole lot of replay value.

Overall, At best I can say that with friends this game could be a little entertaining as everyone takes turns poking fun at the game. Look, I wouldn’t say that it’s downright bad either. There’s just no real reason to play it and that’s a really important factor. If you have the Switch Online then you may as well give it a try since the game is free but otherwise there’s no real reason to dive into this one.

Overall 5/10

Super Mario Party Review

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Mario Party is one of those really long running series that just keeps on going and it’s always impressive. It did hit a bit of a slump for a while there starting with Mario Party 8 but this one is getting on the right track. My main problem with it is just that the control scheme isn’t great. The fact that you can only use the single Joy Con and can’t use any of the actual controllers is rather puzzling to say the least. Why would you even do that? The only explanation I could think of it that maybe it would be slightly easier for 4 people to be in the same room playing buttttt I’m not sold on this because in theory if you had more standard controllers you could use the 2 Joy Cons and two wireless for an instant 4 player session. So yeah that was a little too bad.

When you boot up the game, you get the brief intro cutscene which is pretty much a remake of the first Mario Party at least in terms of the concept. Everyone is fighting to be recognized as the greatest superstar on the planet. To prove this, they will all compete in a bunch of minigames and so that sets the stage for all of the modes. There are a decently large amount of options to be had here outside of the normal party mode and it’s all connected within the hub world. You can quick travel to any area once you have unlocked it as well.

Interestingly the intro movie plays every time you boot up the game but you can skip it so that’s not a big deal. I suppose the first place you will likely go to is Party Mode which is always a safe bet. You are able to set each stage to 10 turns which is nice. That may sound like a given but believe it or not this isn’t the case. After playing through the original Mario Party titles I was reminded that you used to have to choose 15 turns. 10 turns is fairly long anyway so don’t worry about that. There are a ton of unskippable cutscenes on every turn and of course you can’t skip the CPU’s turns so that’s a lot of waiting time anyway. It’s why this is a game that is really meant to be played with friends.

There are 3 main maps and then a 4th one that you unlock by playing the first 3. A key thing to note is that you don’t have to beat these levels, just playing them is enough to unlock everything. By playing the 4th level you unlock a jewel. Gather all of the jewels to unlock the true ending. You do this by completing each mode. So aside from the party mode you also have co-op party mode. I’m not exactly sure what that entails but maybe if it’s a 2 v 2 the whole time, any stars and coins you obtain are merged? That means you need to hope you have a good teammate.

Another mode is music based. All of the minigames that you play in this one are build around timing and rhythm. So feel the beat as best you can and then you will be fine. This mode is the quickest by far and only has 3 levels to play through in order to unlock the gem. This time I think you do have to win but the games are fairly easy so you shouldn’t have a problem. Then there is the water-raft mode. This one feels the most pointless to me so far. Basically everyone is stuck on a boat as you try to maneuver your way to the end. Completing minigames adds more seconds to your timer so just keep on playing and you’ll make it to the end. I think part of what holds this one back is everyone is stuck together anyway so there’s no real competitive aspect to the game. It also feels really hard to lose. There’s just not much to it.

Outside of that you have the classic minigame modes, mini, minigames in Toad World, and you can check out the shop to buy advice. There’s a fairly large variety of content to be found within the game so I give the title a lot of respect there. There were still a lot of question marks within the game by the time I finished it. In terms of minigames, I unlocked nearly all of them, there are just 2 left. A great quality of life update is that the game prioritizes minigames that you haven’t unlocked yet when playing. The curser will intentionally stop on the question marked ones for any area where I was missing a game.

I can’t stress enough what a big deal that is. It saves an incredible amount of time and makes unlocking the games no chore at all. It could be rough in older games if the RNG wasn’t just right. There are also unlockable characters here which feels nostalgic since you don’t get to go through that process nearly as much anymore. Each character has different unlock criteria so I recommend looking that up online. Once you fulfill the criteria, just run around the hub world until you find that character. I ended up unlocking Dry Bones so I have 3 characters left to go through.

In terms of graphics, the game definitely looks nice and modern. I definitely have no issues there, no corners were cut here. Of course without much of a story it’s not like there is much to really test the game with either. For the soundtrack, it’s a bit more forgettable. I can’t say that any of the stage tunes really stood out to me. Fortunately this game really just needs fun minigames in order to succeed and those were good. I may not have been all that thrilled with the Wii tier motion controls running around but the traditional games were fun. There’s a really good soccer game and a lot of fun platforming ones. Running through a maze filled with bananas for example made for a very memorable stage. I certainly won’t forget it any time soon.

Overall, There are enough minigames here to keep you busy. So mix that in with the general replay value and you have a lot of bang for your buck. The fact that the game has a lot of unlockable content here is a pretty good trick to keep you interested for a long while. None of the unlockables are particularly grueling in terms of time to unlock either. So since you’ll be having a good time, it will fly by as you play through the next levels. Throw in the online modes and that’s pretty nice since it’s still a fairly new concept to be able to challenge people online. I’m not sure if it’s quite $60 good, but if you can get a bit of a deal on this game then I definitely recommend buying it.

Overall 7/10

Princess Peach: Showtime! Review

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I remember being unbelievably hyped for this game when it was first announced. Yeah, I know Peach already got a video game a long while ago but this time she was getting the home console experience. So that was a lot of fun to see. Ultimately I do think they could have gone in a more interesting direction with her but at the end of the day this game is still fun. It is a little on the short side and there isn’t a ton of replay value but you will have fun here.

The game starts off with Peach heading to the theater but the place is taken over by Grape. She’s one of the most powerful villains in creation and uses her reality warping abilities to cause a bunch of chaos. Peach must now jump into various shows and take over as the main character to get things back on track. She uses her various abilities to turn the staff back into their true forms and along the way she will also work to also put down Grape’s gang of villains. Does she have what it takes to do this without Mario around though?

I do think it is an absolutely massive missed opportunity to not have Mario and Luigi in here though. They should have shown up even briefly to get rolled by the villains and show just how high the stakes are. By not having them here, there are no real stakes. If Peach were to lose then she would just be kidnapped as she usually is and the game would turn into a classic Mario title. Now that could have been an amazing way to end the game. Like she beats Grape but then gets kidnapped by Bowser with a “To Be Continued” ending. It would have been a little rough for Peach fans to be sure but at the same time you can’t deny the potential there.

Ah well, story is not really why you are playing this game anyway. You are here for the gameplay and that part is mainly fun. It’s sort of like an anthology where each form has different gameplay. Peach has 10 different costumes here that all have fairly simple, but different styles. Because of that the game does feel almost like a minigame compilation at times though. Each costume gets 3 levels to it and they’re all rather quick so you’ll be blasting through them in no time flat.

The best costume is absolutely Mighty Peach. In this form she is able to throw meteors and land solid punches on all of her enemies. It’s a lot of fun and plays like a 2D beat em up. It’s definitely a true highlight. Another costume I liked a lot was Ninja Peach. In this mode you have to avoid enemy detection and then launch lethal counter hits. Really good stuff but you can tell that the game’s balance was not 100% because you could usually just run up and hit someone. It’s a one hit KO so they often don’t have time to sound the alarm. In a way that’s part of why it’s so good though because it ends up being very fast paced.

Then for a weaker one, we had Mermaid Peach. In this form you have to use singing to keep the fish at bay and you sort of attack with this but not really. Ultimately there just isn’t a whole lot to this one. It certainly didn’t keep me all that interested but then again I’m not a big underwater fan as it is. There is also baking Peach. It’s weak relative to the other costumes but still not bad I’d say. This is sort of how I would picture Cooking Mama to be in a lot of ways. The game is very lenient on your cake design skills so don’t worry about it being 1 to 1.

Then you have Detective Peach. This one’s also on the weaker side because it just feels a lot more slow paced. The mysteries are also really easy so while you are solving the case you are just waiting for the cutscenes to end so you can get to the end. It’s why you always want to be moving at a fast pace whenever possible. Figure Skater Peach is in a similar position. You aren’t able to speed up these levels and they aren’t the toughest ones out there so you are really just ready to move on.

A really good one was Kung Fu Peach though. The hand to hand attacks were great and reminded you of just what kind of game this could have been with this form as the mainstay. They did a great job with the combat and there are even quick time events here. There’s also Swordfighter Peach which is another really fun costume. Make sure you don’t miss the controls for this one because the parrying actually tripped me up for a little bit there. I got the controls backwards which was tricky. I really liked the speed effects used for this form.

Next up is Cowgirl Peach. This form’s fun, I’d put it around the middle. Mainly the issue with this one is that it is by far one of the easiest modes. So I do like the gameplay here but you can really beat the levels in your sleep. Then we have the toughest one which is Thief Peach. IN this form I actually had my one and only loss in the game. Some of the jumps in the last level actually take a whole lot of timing and get rather tricky. It made me really enjoy this form quite a bit.

Each costume has a boss battle as its third level and there are a bunch of bosses scattered in the normal levels but those tend to be mini bosses. I think the main problem the game had is that it spread itself a little too thin. It was trying to do too many things all at once and as a result there wasn’t a lot of time for any individual costume. Cut the amount in half so all of them have double the levels and then you’ve got yourself something. Additionally, with less development time for all the different styles, maybe you could actually quadruple the levels. Considering how small they are, there definitely should have been way more levels if you think about it.

In terms of graphics, the game definitely looks really solid. It’s definitely a AAA Nintendo game all the way. The soundtrack is more on the limited side but I did like a few of the tunes. You’re just going to hear them a lot since each costume effectively just has one theme. So if you don’t like any of the tunes then that will definitely hurt. Now there is replay value here even if there isn’t a ton of it. For example, you can work on getting all the collectibles and acing each level. It seems like that will unlock something but it’s hard to say what that is. So that’s still something to think about right? Hopefully with the Switch 2 Nintendo eventually adds trophies since that would be an automatic win right out of the gate for replay value.

Overall, Princess Peach makes for a decent main character in a pretty fun game. You’re just left feeling like this is really just a minigame showcase rather than a full game. It’s simply too short and while the simple nature of each costume makes this an easy game to pick up and play, there’s not a lot of depth to it. I will say that the game goes all out with the climax though. It really gets cosmic like in the Kirby games which was awesome. Definitely the strongest that Peach has ever looked. I do guarantee that you will have a lot of fun with the game though. It’s part of why we are all sad about the game being so short because it was a lot of fun to play through the whole time.

Overall 7/10

Snake Rattle ‘n’ Roll Review

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It’s time for another classic retro game. This one’s definitely fairly difficult with how the control scheme goes. Particularly in the last levels you wonder how anybody could pull this off in a reasonable amount of time. You have to be running and jumping while trying not to slip on the ice and it’s a really difficult task. I had to retry the sections so many times. There may only be 11 levels in here but let me tell you that the levels can take a while to complete.

The gameplay itself is fairly simple. You have to maneuver your way through the level until you reach the scale where stepping on it will cause the alarm to hit the ceiling. That means that you have put enough weight on it. At that point, the door at the end of the level opens and you can crawl through it. The way that you pick up weight is to eat the little balls that get shot out of a cannon somewhere in the level. The cannon also shoots out bombs that look similar but you must make sure not to pick up those or you will lose health instead. All the while you have to keep the timer in mind because if that goes to 0 then it is all over for you.

The timer is often the most difficult part to get around. The exception are the ice levels that I mentioned earlier, but it can just be really difficult to get big enough to break the scale before the time goes away. I suspect there is probably a better way to optimize how you eat the pellets since I was just button mashing though. All in all, it’s an interesting gimmick but it’s a gimmick that does get old quicker than standard platforming.

In terms of graphics this isn’t the most impressive Nintendo title. It looks good but it’s nothing to write home about. I do like the artstyle though. In terms of the soundtrack, eh it’s okay but also not super good. So all in all it is passable which is sort of how I would describe the whole game. It excites you a bit with how unique it is and by the end you start to get tired of it. I would say that’s what separates a good gimmick from one that gets old. As you see it used in more difficult contexts you have to ask yourself if this is still a lot of fun or if it’s getting in the way now. In this case it was the latter so then that’s an issue.

While there may not be much in the way of replay value, the 11 levels will take you longer than you might suspect so that’s not actually a big problem. Especially for back in the day when most games were super short. I’d say it’s why people loved RPGs and Mario titles because those were certainly way longer than the average title. It’s definitely quite impressive and I couldn’t appreciate that quite as deeply as I do now after playing all of the competitors. Who knows, maybe this will get a remake at some point, but in the meantime it’ll stay forgotten and that just makes sense to me. It needed to have a little more pop.

I guess my quick gameplay tip for this title is to remember that you are always moving in 4 directions. There is no way to move diagonally despite what the camera angles might indicate. So if you are having trouble getting somewhere, pick a direction and plunge straight ahead. It can be really tough to see exactly where you are going so this helped me a lot in the later levels. It doesn’t mean that things will suddenly get easier but it certainly helps.

Overall, Snake Rattle is a decent game but I do think that the level designs end up holding it back quite a lot. There needs to be less slipping and sliding. If you remove ice from the equation then the levels end up being a lot more pleasant but part of the problem is that you just don’t want to play through the later levels. You just spend too much time slipping around which takes away from the platforming. That’s where this game doesn’t really age well if you ask me. Give it a try if you have the Nintendo Switch Online but it’s not a game that you will be coming back to.

Overall 5/10

Godzilla Unleashed Review

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Godzilla is one of those franchises that has a big revival every few years and reminds the world why it is on top. This game is one of the only missing pieces of the franchise that I hadn’t gotten to experience yet. Well, I finally got to play it and it’s pretty fun. Personally I would say that it loses to the previous two big console Godzilla games but there’s a lot to enjoy here even with the Wii controls. Now those were an…interesting blast from the past.

The game actually has a story with full voice acting which I thought was really impressive. Seriously, it’s not like that’s a given or anything even in the Wii’s era. Basically crystals are appearing all across the planet and the Kaiju are being drawn towards them. These crystals are powering up the Kaiju and making them way more powerful. Who could be behind this crystal catastrophe? One thing’s for sure, the humans might need the help of the King of the Monsters for this one. They might need the help of….Godzilla!!!

The classic gameplay is mainly unchanged from the previous titles although it does have the downgrade of removing the Rage feature. Seriously, why would you remove that? It was pretty cool to be honest. The energy blasts in this game are motion controlled which means that they are virtually useless in the game so you should never bother firing off anything. Fighting in close quarters combat is also extremely not recommended. The enemy Kaiju will always break out mid combo and just knock the life out of you.

So….how do you fight? Well the best thing to do is pick up buildings and chuck them at the monsters. Each building takes out half of a health bar so just throw like 4 of those and you win. If there are no buildings to throw then you should throw the Kaiju which deals about the same amount of damage. Problem solved right? Trust me, follow these two easy steps and you will really be off to the races. I admit that it may feel like an odd way to fight but in the story mode campaign at least it is really the best way to do it.

So I think the multiplayer will end up being more fun from a pure gameplay standpoint but it’s definitely interesting. I’ve never really played a fighting game before that actively encourages you not to start fighting. Then a lot of the levels involve destroying crystals to end the level so you can go and shatter those instead of fighting the other Kaiju. Destroy the crystals and the level ends. Now this part does seem optional though. I didn’t totally get how this works but it seems like there are 3-4 factions in the game.

What you do in the levels increases or decreases your points in each area. There’s some kind of secret ending if you max them all out but I’m not sure exactly how this works. I even beat a few levels where I’m not even sure how I beat them. The complete message would just appear after a bit so it might have been time based. Hey, I’ll take it of course but I was a bit surprised. So the moral here is to really just jump in and things will work out. I flat out lost one level and I still moved on just fine so maybe winning is optional? Maybe that was just the first level though.

The character roster is pretty solid though and you see most of the classic Kaiju running around. The game was smart to save Orga for the final 2 levels since that guy is a beast and still the most underrated Kaiju of all time. Seriously, I’d argue that it’s not even close. I always get really impressed to see him running around. The graphics are also good. Perhaps not amazing but I’d say they get the job done. I also liked the soundtrack, quite a lot in fact. There’s a really solid rock theme for all of the menu screens that plays a lot.

In terms of replay value there is naturally a whole lot of it. You have Vs Mode for endless fun and you earn currency in the levels so I assume you can buy cool things in the shop. I didn’t really check it out yet but yeah there’s a good amount of content here. The game also goes for a fairly reasonable price on the Wii. If you want the PS2 version then that’s another story but that version is strictly a downgrade anyway with no story mode and less monsters so you would want to pass on it.

Back to the gameplay for a minute, I do like the extra detail of everything breaking when the Kaiju are running around. You see a big bridge? It gets crushed when you walk past, same with buildings, monuments, etc. Almost everything is destructible which really makes you feel like a Kaiju. You also have the government blasting you in the background with everything they’ve got and you don’t take much damage. The only weapon they have which gets tricky is the ice ray which completely immobilizes you. It’s a little RNG I’ll admit but one that I didn’t find annoying here since it wasn’t overplayed. You just feel like giving humanity some props for coming up with such a good weapon.

Overall, Godzilla Unleashed is a pretty good game. I had some issues with it and the direction the game went compared to something like Save The Earth but ultimately it is fun. At the end of the day, it does hold its own and it was pretty nostalgic to play this game. Controlling Kaiju and running around is surprisingly rare after all. There aren’t a whole lot of games like this. It is truly a fighting game that is meant for the multiplayer experience and that’s where you will end up having a ton of fun. I’d recommend checking it out, particularly since it feels like we won’t be getting another Godzilla game for a while at this point although they could surprise us.

Overall 7/10