Buena Vista does a remarkable job in setting the difficulty level at a place in which older players like myself are not turned off, while still making sure the experience isn’t so hard as to alienate the younger demographic it outwardly targets.

The controls in the game take some getting used to, as they try and follow the basic platform layout, but at the same time try and do something a bit more Zelda-esque.

Though I can’t freely tell everyone to go out and buy A-Train, I think that any player looking for a steep challenge and elaborate system of controls and menus to learn will have a blast with this game.

Overall, Spelunker Party! is a solid time. It’s easy to pick up and play, which is good for a title that clearly wants multiple people joining in. The cheap deaths that the game subjects players to can be real momentum killers, but once you find yourself in a groove, it’s hard to not want to keep going from stage to stage. With over 100 stages to explore and no micro transactions to speak of, this is a much better value than its predecessor and helps make Spelunker Party! another worthy addition to Switch’s library.

Overall, I am very pleased to see the Pikmin series getting more attention and finding a larger audience. The slow and steady, steps-focused progression makes the game the app a great motivator for easy exercise. But Pikmin Bloom is best described as an app that gets you walking more, rather than a hit new game. It has plenty of thoughtful features that will likely have you checking in on it daily, but its various minor flaws leave me a little disappointed that the precious little Pikmin didn’t quite get the app that I think they deserve.

Casual RPGers may or may not latch onto this one, but longtime fans of the genre will should pick up Opoona without hesitation.

The game only loses points because of limited replayablility and a poor story.

Where most titles stress the importance in challenge in completing a level, Yoshi's Story emphasizes challenge in exploration--something rarely done in two-dimensional games. While Yoshi's Story isn't Yoshi's Island II, it is another shining example of simple, unadulterated entertainment in gaming.

Mazes Of Fate is more a love letter from its developers to the beloved PC adventure games of yore than an enjoyable experience.

Yoshi’s New Island suffers from a few issues, mainly the lackluster soundtrack and some new features feeling flat and shallow, but at its core this is a fun title that takes the classic platforming formula from the SNES game before it and brings it to 3DS. A pleasing art style, fun enemy encounters, and solid controls make Yoshi’s New Island a good, but not great, experience that’s worth your time overall.

All in all, this is probably the worst Dragon Ball game available, and there is no reason as to why this game wasn’t given the attention it deserved.

Regardless of whether or not the setlist is everybody’s cup of tea, Band Hero’s many additions and mechanical enhancements easily make it the most solid of the franchise’s handheld iterations.

In the end, Where the Wild Things Are delivers a far more passionate experience than one might expect. Griptonite Games went with a wholly original plot that is far darker and, in many respects, more compelling than the movie’s take, but the developer does so at some risk.

Great visuals and over-the-top hack-n-slash awesomeness.

The lack of depth is rather disconcerting when there are so many bigger games out there carrying the same price tag.

The fleshing out of the Dig Dug world in story mode was enjoyable, I only wish that the gameplay was a bit deeper, or at least more challenging.

With a little extra time and resources, I imagine Poi could be made into a tighter, and all around better experience. That being said, it still does suffer from a general lack of creativity. Despite having its own aesthetic and musical sensibilities, Poi’s structure and mechanics are simply so close to those of Mario 64 that it’s impossible to avoid making comparisons. Also, it feels somewhat unfair to Poi that if was released in such close proximity to Mario Odyssey. However, putting it all into perspective, we are left with a perfectly decent game. Poi does nothing to move its genre forward and even though its wanting for polish in many areas, its faults are small enough that they will likely prove little more than minor annoyances for those looking to kill some time after they complete Mario’s latest.

None of the problems seem too large or frustrating, but together, take away from the entertaining base experience. The arcade action, variety of characters and shooting aspect all work so well that it's disappointing to see the skill system not fully polished nor is online expanded upon further. That's why Mercenaries 3D is merely a good game, with the future prospects of becoming great on 3DS.

Ultimately, I found solving Ghost of the Dusk’s mysteries to be a tad rote by the end. Still, despite some slight repetition, the mechanics here are soundly implemented and I rather liked my time in Jake Hunter’s world. There are multiple extra cases (which were formerly mobile releases in Japan) available to play, including a hilarious bonus that depicts Jake in a chibi form, which should keep players busy for a good, long time. Don’t sleep on Ghost in the Dusk; it’s a pleasant addition to the 3DS library of games.

Onimusha Tactics wouldn't be that bad if there weren't so many strategy games already available to the GBA. But there are. And compared to the rest of the flock, Onimusha sucks.

Still, it's not so much that Spyborgs is bad -- just incredibly generic.

As a mini-game compilation, Go Vacation falls short of the standard set by Wii Sports Resort due to its middling selection of activities and its frustrating motion controls; as a sandbox game, however, it fares significantly better, offering up four expansive resorts to explore and a myriad of collectibles to find. While its extensive use of gesture commands nearly ruins the entire experience, there is still quite a bit of fun to be had with the title, particularly if you have a companion to share it with.

The online multiplayer especially is leaps and bounds better than that of the first game, a welcome change. Overall, Conduit 2 is one of the few decent hardcore games to come down the pipeline in awhile and it's worth a look, especially for those who like their sci-fi shooters.

The presentation could have been a little cleaner, especially with the colored box units that are present throughout entire battles, and the forced combination of touch screen and button control could be a stumbling block for some players.

Simple and colorful, perfect for that rugrat who just crawled from his Fisher-Price collection to his brother's N64--but he's the only one who'll really enjoy it.

The love and care that Next Level Games put into Federation Force is evident throughout.

While Time Hollow doesn't necessarily bring a ton of new ideas to the adventure genre, it does provide a satisfying, if somewhat short, experience for fans of investigative gameplay and time travel story lines.

It's just a shame that Tekken 3D Prime Edition is so lacking in features, both in terms of single player and multiplayer. For an entry from a heralded fighting series almost unheard of on Nintendo platforms (remember Tekken Advance?), this one seems to be half-hearted at best.

The Lion King 1.5 isn’t a bad game. I actually thought it was a lot of fun. It is well-animated and entertaining, but it was just unforgivably easy.

If you enjoy exploring vibrant, cartoony worlds, and have a friend around to join you on your quest (not to mention have a tolerance for some vague gameplay objectives), then you'll eke some fun out of Epic Mickey 2's flawed journey. If you found any of these elements cumbersome or frustrating in the past, then this sequel won't do anything to persuade you otherwise.

After every punishing stage I finished in Oniken, I felt completely drained; my nerves shot. I would force myself to take a break, jumping into a less emotionally taxing game before heading back. That feeling clearly won’t be for everyone and the game’s over-the-top violence will definitely scare off some gamers. However, the personal satisfaction that comes from finishing each of the game’s stages cannot be overstated. Oniken: Unstoppable Edition is meant for a certain kind of NES fan; those that revel in that sort of old-school challenge will find little else like it on Switch.

Sluggish controls, poorly designed weapons, lousy online functionality.

Sonic CD alone would be a good reason to own this collection. If Mega Collection has left you hungry for more Sonic, Gems Collection has got everything else between it and Sonic Adventure DX. Sonic Gems Collection completes the continuum of Sonic history available for GC.

The game is perfectly playable and there will undoubtedly be more than a few moments of genuine platforming pleasure, but along the way you’re going to have to make your way through a lot of ho-hum running and jumping that’s occasionally punctuated by bouts of frustration due to stiff mechanics and needlessly cheap level design.

However, for the adventure fans still looking for a fix, go back and give Twilight Princess another playthrough instead.

For 700 Wii Points, Pop is overpriced.

R2R redeems itself with the training mode but it isn't enough to save this game. PIUU!!! And I thought my feet smelled bad, this cartridge needs some Lysol!

A very well executed game. Gameplay is tight, and the overall experience is a good one. However, the game is just too short.

Tappingo’s gameplay doesn’t disappoint and offers hours of content, making it an excellent addition to the 3DS eShop library.

Kids who just can’t get enough of High School Musical will eat up Sing It!. But fans of the karaoke genre, and even those same kids who worship the ground Sharpay and Chad dance on, might want to think twice before plunking down their $60 to purchase the game and microphone bundle -- there just isn’t enough content to justify the price of the game, not to mention a few flaws.

Best of all, the game's even more party-friendly, and skeptical male gamers who weren't willing to try a cheerleading game can no longer use the excuse that there aren't any male characters to play as.

While the graphics and sound aren't exactly anything to write home about, especially considering most of the former consists of the same graphics overlayed repeatedly and most of the latter consists of squeaks and cheers, that's not really necessary in a game like this.

Its graphics, art style, physics, and overall presentation values are great, and its gameplay is quite alluring. It also makes excellent use of the GamePad, though requiring Wii Remotes for multiplayer feels obtuse. If you have friends that live close-by and regularly game locally, then Chasing Aurora seems worth the price of admission. For those who like to fly solo, or have friends that do not live near enough to get together in-person, it'd be hard to recommend this purchase as there just won't be enough in it for you.

It's always nice to see developers support Wii with quality titles, and certainly this fits the description of a quality title - Sid Meier's Pirates is arguably one of the best games of the last decade. At the same time, the Wii version is - despite the IR and motion controls - probably the weakest of the game's many incarnations, despite being the most expensive.

Players who enjoy bite-sized puzzlers (with a bit of challenge to boot) and the ability to create their own levels might find this worth trying out. If you’re looking for something deeper, though, be mindful that, in this case, you’re not going to get much more than you’re paying for.

Even with those drawbacks, though, Imageepoch gets serious props for doing what no developer has yet seen fit to do; namely, give Wii owners a party-based RPG free of gimmicks.

A great alternative to GTA and TMB on the GameCube. While certainly not as stellar as these two hallmark titles, we’ll just have to stop complaining that there are no extremely violent games on the GameCube.

WayForward clearly aimed to put out something more than the cheap cash-in and in the process produced probably the best of the Thor games and one of the better movie tie-ins in recent memory.

The Biggest Loser is a very poor game; the presentation is pathetic and there is no real interactivity to keep gamers interested.

InnerSpace is definitely a game that earns plenty of kudos for the sheer effort and creativity put into it. The art direction is truly gorgeous and the spherical worlds present both visual and gameplay concepts unlike anything else out there. When you take the gameplay into account, however, this unique experience is marred by a sense of disorientation. Ultimately, InnerSpace could have benefited from more gameplay diversity than the constant relic hunting as well as some sort of mapping or guidance system to make navigating its unnatural worlds easier to acclimate to. So, while the game presents a creative concept that will undoubtedly appeal to many gamers, that same ingenuity comes at a cost to the core gameplay.

The game does a lot, looks nice and offers some interesting options such as Wi-Fi downloads and slick trading cards that unlock new Spectrobes; but the game is ultimately more tedious than it is worth. It's also low on fun, which should be the basis of most games.

If there’s any other significant complaint to levy against The World Next Door, it would be that it’s so short. Duration of a game is always tricky to weigh in a review: there’s no set number of hours that a game has to be, after all, so saying a title is or isn’t too long is frustratingly subjective and hard to convey to other people. What I can say is that The World Next Door is so unique and entertaining that it’s a shame to see Jun’s adventure come to a close when it does.

Eragon will take about six to seven hours to beat with little reason to go back and do it all again. The game looks fantastic despite being a run-of-the-mill action/adventure game.

Super Monkey Ball Touch & Roll is a game that had high expectations from its fans, but ultimately lets everybody down.

Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion looks great and controls well, boasting some inspiring Disney stages, but there just aren't enough of them. Overall, the title struggles to find its stride but also possesses a unique charm that demands attention.

As brief as it is shallow -- pacing the gamer through six modest levels of gameplay -- there is little to no reason for you to invest in this title.

Has several shining moments, but overall it is plagued by poor level design and artificial challenges. The mediocre game is balanced out by the superb story, however. The acting is incredible.

One of those great games that has enough objectives to keep you busy for a long time and an enjoyable feel that will keep you playing long after you have smashed every record.

If you’re a huge fan, it’s worth a look. If you’re anything less than a hardcore Spidey follower, however, you’ll be better off taking a pass on this title.

Red Steel's FPS control style is superior to a standard console controller, but that's a credit to the Wii, not the game; Red Steel does its best to ruin what the system provides.

Regardless of what you’re looking for, Lost in Harmony does a good job finding different ways to appease players of different interests and skill levels. It’s also filled with catchy music and solid controls and, in the rhythm genre, there’s not much more you can ask for.

It's an excellent game for kids, with just enough challenge and depth to give them a truly fulfilling experience.

If you look on the bright side, the game is better than "Dark Tomorrow." However, it’s worse than the old Batman the Movie coin-op.

Don’t bother buying Altered Beast. It isn’t worth it unless your idea of fun is pressing two or three buttons through 20 levels of bland, uninspired environments and continually dying along the way.

Mega Man Battle Network 6 still has its underlying concepts straight, but can't quite shake off that sixth-game curse, which means it doesn't quite deserve that last tenth of a point.

Sonic Lost World is not a fundamentally bad game, it’s one that borders on greatness. If not for some fatal flaws, this could be a truly compelling experience– but it still has those flaws.

One of the most entertaining games I have played in a long time.

Tactical Assault hits the balance between staying true to the series while making an entertaining and challenging video game.

Another huge, glaring error on the controls in PN03 is that controlling Vanessa is like controlling an open jar of molasses through Omaha Beach.

I found this freedom to be restricted by tight controls. Put plainly, the D-pad sucks. Had the controls been more sensitive, Oscar's movement would have been more fluid, players would have gotten a better representation of the underwater environment, and my hands would hurt much less.

Thankfully, the enhanced, head tracking New 3DS easily resolves this issue and makes playing either version of Assault Horizon Legacy with the 3D turned all the way up a much more accessible and enjoyable experience.

The variety of powers you can control and the humorous and likable characters can really bring out the "hero" in you. It offers more than your typical platformer.

All in all, Dragonology is something of a mixed bag.

Though it cannot entertain the same kind of technological prowess as Vengeance and Sin Tzu Senior, the sadly forgotten Sin Tzu Advance attains numerous merits that put it a cut above its bulkier console brethren.

An excellent compilation of two good Dreamcast RPGs which didn’t get as much recognition as they should have received.

It’s a tad rough, but outside of some okay tunes and likely divisive graphics, Arc System Works nailed Knights of Justice. It’s an addictive blend of RPG and brawler mechanics with a charming story and a wealth of Kunio characters to utilize and interact with. It’s digital-only, so there’s no excuse to pass this one by; everyone should consider giving Knights of Justice the download it deserves, as it’s proof positive that, at six years old, 3DS is still home to some of the most fun and innovative games on the market.

An uncomfortable, awkward attempt at a platform adventure title.

The game, with its remixed story line, random objectives, and Zelda-esque gameplay isn’t enough to keep newcomers to the series interested.

Taking all the good with the bad, Wooden Sen’SeY proves to be a good game, even if it doesn’t manage to climb to the top of what has become a highly competitive genre.

Bakugan Battle Brawlers is ultimately a silly game based on a silly premise, but the end product's decent enough to satisfy plenty of kids who think the show and cards are the greatest thing since the last monster-collecting/card-battling anime fad.

GBA users really get the short end of the stick here, since DS owners can get three games -- Uno, Skip-Bo and Uno Freefall -- all on one cartridge for roughly the same price as this game, plus wireless multiplayer to boot.

I wanted to love The Coma: Recut. Despite the game’s issues, I did enjoy my time with it. Like any good horror game should, the title left me feeling unnerved during play sessions, and the fantastic sound and visuals greatly added to the experience. Unfortunately, the main villain makes navigation painfully unfun, and the responsiveness of the controls are an unfair disadvantage. With some minor tweaks, The Coma: Recut could have been a masterpiece, but, as it stands, it’s just a fun horror title for those that can overlook its flaws.

Overall, Lost Ember isn’t a terrible game; it does, however, strive to be profound and ultimately is not quite so. The narrative is ambitious but never strays from the beaten path. Navigation is problematic and leaves players lost when it shouldn’t. Performance is also far from optimized for Switch. While the body swapping and visual design are solid, the former is let down by linear traversal and the latter isn’t enough to make up for the other flaws. Hopefully a patch will come along to tackle some of these problems, but in the meantime consider Lost Ember if you’re willing to put up with a number of different issues.

The idea is solid, solid enough that it should be revisited in the future, even if the execution this time around is lacking.

Did the world need a Digimon kart racer? Not particularly. But as "Mario Kart" clones go, this one's pretty decent.

It may be subtle, but they add a spritz of freshness to what many feel is a stale series, and is reason enough to purchase Mario Party 8, especially for those holding out for something new in the franchise.

Much of the gameplay is stale, the story is simple, and the presentation is devoid of character.

Superstars eschews a lot of the Mario-centric quirkiness of previous games, focusing more on the sports and less on the Mushroom Kingdom. Whether that matters or not will depend on the player, but I personally wished there was a little bit more fan service beyond the characters themselves. In short, Superstars is a solid game that perhaps bit off more than it could chew, and is tethered to a limiting Amiibo card system that holds players back needlessly. I do hope that Nintendo comes back to Superstars in some form on Switch, but for now this is a decent option for sports fans on the go.

For what it is, PokéPark Wii is an endearing little game that is sure to incite nostalgia in longtime fans of the series.

Even with a budget price, Gridmaster falls short of delivering basic expectations that sudokuholics (and even novice players) have for an electronic game of numbered crosswords.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa is a great example of a kid’s property done right.

Games of this nature need to decide, up front, who their intended audience is. Otherwise, you end up with a game that tries to be accessible to children, yet provide enough depth to please older gamers.

The restrictions put on car selection, unlockable content, and course layout act as a leash on the player. This ultimately makes the game frustrating, as you struggle to escape the leash. Then it makes it boring, as you accept the fact that you can't change the game.

A fun game, but with its relatively short length and simple visual design, it may not be attractive to most gamers out there. No cartridge save feature marks the final nail in the coffin.

A better-than-average game for kids, and one that will keep them on their mental toes, to boot.

You'll sincerely want to accomplish goals, unlock characters, and share the experience with friends, but the game's got so much on its spinning plate there's no way to grow reasonably accustomed to any one aspect, and it's far too frenetic to be pick-up-and-play friendly.

Line Rider 2: Unbound is a fairly decent port of an interesting Flash game, but there are some problems keeping the Wii experience from fully living up to its potential.

The game is ridiculously easy, but proves to be extraordinarily addictive.