Astro Duel Deluxe

It’s not feature rich, but Astro Duel Deluxe is another title making excellent use of Nintendo’s console vision.

Where it falls short on that title is the absence of a meaningful single player option (beyond duelling with AI), which the premium shift in price perhaps merited. Apart from that the retro-tastic soundtrack keeps all battles thrilling along with a smart, convenient control-scheme that makes any spare moment accessible for play. It's certainly one to consider for those seeking local multiplayer thrills on their Switch.

This game is meant to be played with a bunch of friends talking trash and taking each other out. If you find yourself in the company of like-minded friends on a semi-regular basis, this game could provide some great laughs and fun. I absolutely can see where, especially with a bit of liquid enhancement, it could make for a great party game. Unfortunately, if you’re generally only going to be able to play the game by yourself, or the people you can play with don’t roll retro, it is hard to give it a recommendation. Correctly scoring a game with such a laser-focus on a goal that it hits but that, by design, misses so much of the general audience is a challenge. I’ve tried my best to spell out its value proposition clearly and you’ll have to judge from there.

This is simply one of those games that has an uncomplicated premise, with a variety of game types that affect the win conditions more than the game itself. And that’s exactly what a game like this needs to be. While I wouldn’t recommend the game by its own right, I see this being in a lineup of a bunch of local multiplayer games on the Switch with friends. On its own, there isn’t much there for you.

It’s by no means bad, but Astro Duel Deluxe suffers because of the lack of an online option, and it just doesn’t have enough variety to keep you entertained for long.

Astro Duel Deluxe is easily the least impressive game visually on the console, does little to nothing to show off your fancy new tech, and it isn't all that fun for more than half an hour at a time. I will say it has a decent soundtrack -- not "$15 for short bursts of gameplay" decent -- but pretty good.