The Scribblenauts Mega Pack is a great reminder of just how unique and ambitious the series once was. While Scribblenauts Unlimited is arguably the better overall game, the DC inspired version is interesting if not just to see Batman duke it out with a giant purple Tyrannosaurus rex. These games might be silly, sometimes clumsy and even a little too ambitious for their own good at times, but overall it’s hard to argue the fun to be had from a series that allows you to literally conjure up whatever pops up in your brain.

The Sonic the Hedgehog series has never been one too timid to try out something new and while those experiments have varied wildly in quality over the years between the excellence of Generations and Colours to the miserable Sonic ’06 and Boom, you can chalk Sonic Frontiers up in the former group. Rough around the edges and disappointing in more than one area but an exciting new direction for SEGA’s blue mascot nonetheless, one that Sonic Team would be smart to stick with and refine and explore further.

All in all, if you have played any of the other Football Manager Touch games on the Nintendo Switch, then you will have a good understanding of what you are getting here. This is a game for the Football Manager player with less time on their hands than they used to – consider it Football Manager Lite. It’s a decent upgrade from last year’s version, but nothing more. So, if you were hoping for more, then maybe next year’s version – which the developers are touting as a new era – might be worth holding out for.

I had my ups and downs with Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. It is an amazing looking game with a brilliant soundtrack to back it up. It has an engaging and touching story and a cast of genuinely likeable and fun characters. The only real downside is the combat. While it is fun and new, to begin with, it slowly starts to lose its appeal the more battles you get into to, to the point where it ends up feeling more like a chore.

Rock of Ages 2: Bigger and Boulder manages to combine conflicting genres with a truly weird and wonderful aesthetic style. Unfortunately, the Switch release stumbles in a few areas namely its visuals and the lack of local multiplayer. Still, if you’re looking for something truly left field then Rock of Ages 2: Bigger and Boulder is a funny and entertaining ride sure to raise a smile or two.

GRIP: Combat Racing is an entertaining racer for the Nintendo Switch. It isn’t the best racing title the system has to offer, but as a tribute and a throwback to arcade racers of the old days, it certainly succeeds in achieving its goal.

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 Road To Boruto is just as fun now on the Nintendo Switch as it was back when it launched. It’s another impressive port for the portable home console’s library that doesn’t seem like it’ll ever slow down.

Donkey Kong is a true landmark in video game history and to some, that reason alone may be enough to check out this arcade classic. Sure the game is starting to show its age but with competitive leaderboards and a number of options and versions to try out, this is easily the best way to experience Donkey Kong.

Three Fourths Home: Extended Edition is a different experience to many of the offerings that the Nintendo eShop has to offer. It doesn’t quite hit the emotional hammer that something like Last Day of June does, but it’s all very well written enough to be able to take a common piece of cake from it. I do think it’s a very hard game to review as it’s not a game in any way, shape or form in the conventional sense. If I was to see it as a game, it would be a terrible one. But, as a way to tell a story, it’s certainly effective enough to work as intended.

Disney Epic Mickey Rebrushed is a decent update of one of the Wii’s much-beloved adventures. As a Disney fan, playing through with my son was an absolute delight, smiling with glee as we registered rides from the theme parks and leaping off the sofa whenever we crossed paths with a well-known face. As a gamer though, my experience was – as much as I hate to say it – good but not great filled with intriguing worlds to explore and dated tasks to accomplish. Still, I had a great time overall and Rebrushed is easily the best way to experience Disney’s weirdly wonderful adventure.

The arcade racing subgenre isn’t as buoyant as it once was with new examples few and far between so it’s always exciting when one does drift into view and delivers thrills in high doses. Cruis’n Blast is a truly wild ride of a game packed with plenty of fun and equally wild extras. It’s simple but electrifying and during a time where games are vying to offer season passes, realistic physics and always online experiences it’s truly welcome and refreshing to come across a game that just wants to be an old-school great time.

Raji: An Ancient Epic stands apart from its competition thanks to the game’s mythological exploration, but the unpolished state that it has arrived in detracts from its clear successes. Even if it doesn’t wholeheartedly deliver on its potential, there’s still much to admire from the adventure looking back from its conclusion.

I may have started this review stating that Pato Box is a straight up Punch-Out!! clone, and at its core it certainly is. However, while the abstract world where a fighting Duck seeks answers is a setup that just doesn’t make sense, it happens to mould nicely with its presentation. It’s far from a perfect game, and the filler sections in between predictably never live up to the actual fights themselves. Yet, in spite of all this, Mexican developer Bromio has managed to make decent use out of the Punch-Out!! formula to craft something unique enough to separate itself from other clones that came before it.

Rise: Race the Future is a visually impressive arcade experience whose futuristic setting makes for plenty of fast-paced action with some interesting twists too. A lack of multiplayer and niggling control issues aside, Rise: Race the Future still makes for a thrilling change of pace especially if you’re starting to feel a little burned out on kart racers.

Bottom line, Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection is a fantastic documentary, but in its current state, it is a somewhat flawed way to play many of these games. I think the selection of titles is good enough, but the non-functional and threadbare online play, combined with various emulation issues and bugs, drags down what should have been an incredible overall package. Even with all of that, I think a lot of people will find the games playable enough for their needs. Digital Eclipse has already pushed out one hotfix that addressed some problems, and I hope some of this stuff gets fixed. At this point, it’s neither flawless nor a fatality.

I think Pokémon Champions has some potential, despite its many shortcomings at the moment. It’s carried by the excellent Pokémon battle system, to be sure. As the number of Pokémon available to use increases and the game gets more filled out, this could eventually grow into the true competitive scene that Pokémon could use. I at least appreciate that the current monetization method limits what you can spend and largely avoids potential pay-to-win problems. Still, there’s no denying that this feels somewhat undercooked, both technically and in terms of what’s actually included here. Hopefully Pokemon Champions can, over time, grind its way to living up to its name.

Shadow Bug is a decent, but short little game to kill some spare time with. While I didn’t find it a particularly difficult to play through, the extra challenges in place can raise the bar a little bit higher. Besides the fun but temperamental Joy-Con pointing feature, it is a game best suited to the touch screen in Handheld mode.

I adore both of these games, and if you have the stomach for their contents I think they could be as formative to you as they were for me. They’re thought-provoking and beautiful games that spoke to me in a time when I needed them. But the issues introduced with these official Nintendo Switch releases make it hard to give them a glowing recommendation as they are now. Some of these problems, like Chaos;Head not having speaker tags, aren’t really something that could be fixed. I get it, but there are strange oversights I think could be addressed in a patch. Will they be? I’m not entirely sure. What I do know is that these games are great at their core, and deserve better.

Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training for Nintendo Switch – besides being quite the mouthful – is a welcome return for the series and a great fit for the console. Sure it’s a rather predictable experience but it’s one that in spite of its few hiccups manages to challenge and entertain in equal measures.

Ys Memoire: Revelations in Celceta is a slightly spiffed-up version of a game that is very much of its time and place in the history of the series. While it’s not the best Ys game you can play on the Switch, or even the second-best, going on a journey with Adol rarely shortchanges the player on thrills. Those using a Switch 2 will find this to be a particularly comfortable handheld experience, but there’s a satisfying quality to it wherever or however you choose to play it.

As far as compilations go and the extra features that usually come with them, it’s hard to justify the vanilla presentation when others out there have made much more of an effort at a lower price point.

Many of the games across the two-volume library have the potential of chewing away dozens of hours obsessively besting that last high score, or reaching that little bit further – especially under the default and recommended conditions of three lives and two continues. Furthermore, to be able to legally own forgotten treasures such as these so easily from a studio that no longer exists is always both an honour and a privilege.

Picross S6 is another reliable entry in the series delivering hundreds of puzzles across a familiar range of modes. Solving Picross continues to be as addicting as it’s always been, however, it’s hard not to feel a little disappointed at another entry that does little to surprise or refresh the series.

Funny, entertaining and charming, Kirby’s Dream Buffet is a delightful little package. Could it do with some more content? Sure. Is it odd you can’t play four-player split-screen? Definitely. But like the many delicious-looking treats it features, Kirby’s Dream Buffet is a short but ever so sweet time and something you’ll find yourself coming back to for one more bite.

Dillon’s Dead-Heat Breakers is a welcome return for the Red Flash, but sees the muted armadillo roll back into our lives with an inconsistent gameplay experience that has many flashes of thrilling brilliance that are let down by an otherwise heavily repetitive setup.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses Cindered Shadows is one of those downloadable add-ons that’s solid enough. Overall this feels more in line with earlier entries in the series, stripping away most of the exciting newer features demonstrated in the original release. This makes for an experience that’s enjoyable but also rather unsurprising and straightforward. As far as story expansions go though, Cindered Shadows will likely have you hooked on Fire Emblem once again. It’s just hard not to be a little disappointed given how excellent Fire Emblem: Three Houses was.

Rock of Ages 3: Make and Break rarely rolls far from the well-worn formula of its predecessors that alone might have made this a tougher recommendation. The inclusion of a level creation tool, however, gives the series the jolt of excitement it sorely needed. Three games in and what Rock of Ages 3: Make and Break might lack in terms of surprise at this point, it makes up for by giving players the keys to create surprises of their own.

Sure the combat can feel a little repetitive or the difficulty uneven. Sure you’ll fight with the camera amongst the villains themselves but at the end of the day, these are problems that irritate rather than ruin your time spent playing. In essence, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order is like the movie summer blockbusters it’s trying hard to imitate. It’s big, it’s silly, it’s sometimes shallow but every time I pick up the controller I’m always left entertained.