Luigi's Mansion 3 is a fun time, but not without its fair share of faults. While the gameplay and presentation deserve my highest praises, there are elements I'm less high on. The good and underutilized floors keep going back and forth without there being a real consistent pattern. It doesn't exactly help that the game gives away its conclusion too soon, way before you even come close to it. The ScareScraper is a lovely time as well, though with content being strapped back for a singular, clean game mode. Players who want to continuously enjoy the game might be better off trying to 100% the Story Mode. The collectibles are nicer to deal with now, which makes exceeding those initial ten hours not even a problem. Oh, and that Slam attack is pretty incredible as well.

Dark Moon’s multiplayer is an incredible local experience that should have you shouting with your friends in no time. Online play, however, loses a bit of that experience’s immediacy. The only way to convey anything is to select one of four preset phrases from the D-pad, which hinders communication.

It's so good, you won't care that you don't have two-channel sound. I don't, which I think is a testament to how amazing the Guitar Hero experience is.

A lot of my interest in Ai was due to the writing talent: though he’s done things since, this is the first post-Zero Escape project from Uchikoshi that I’ve had the chance to play. I definitely want to see where Ai is going next, and just hope that the experience is a little smoother when it goes wide.

It might be tempting to skip Trails to Azure, but even set apart from the exceedingly large franchise it’s still another great RPG for the Switch. I’m looking forward to possibly replaying it with more knowledge of the events and try to take on more of the side content, since I had to take a hard critical path to get the review done. If I don’t decide to fill in some of those Trails story gaps this spring….

Challenging bosses, fun gameplay, and solid controls make this a tough one to pass up. The remixed Campaign+ might not be enough of a reason for previous owners of the game to jump back in, but the plethora of online leaderboards should entice the high-score chasers among us. The local multiplayer and ease of play are perfect reasons to bust this one out for group gaming sessions, too. Assault Android Cactus+ is an easy recommendation for Switch owners looking for an exciting arcade experience.

If you enjoy emotional stories with admittedly shallow gameplay, you absolutely should be giving Sumire a try.

I think this HD Collection is worth the double dip—if for nothing else, then for Chieftain Bob’s ending in the first game.

Movie buffs will adore its tongue-in-cheek style that lampoons a slew of classic films.

The small player base online may be a good reason to hesitate on buying Central Fiction on Switch, but it is nevertheless a stellar fighting game to have on the go. This remains one of Arc System Works’ best releases, and with flawless performance in handheld mode it’s never been easier to take the fight with you to a friend’s house. Though you may have already picked up Cross Tag Battle last year, you’d still do well by checking out this fully-featured mainline entry. Central Fiction is the best BlazBlue has ever been, and this may be the right time to join the battle if you haven’t already.

The mini-game drills are fun and a nice change of pace.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3D might not be the best version of this modern-day classic, but it’s a satisfactory way to play one of the boldest, biggest games in recent memory.

Sonic Mania is a delightful return to the 2D platforming style that first made the hedgehog a star. The love from the development team for 16-bit Sonic is evident in every moment of the game. Fans of classic Sonic must buy this game, but the excellent level design, music, and graphics will please all people who enjoy a well-thought-out sidescroller.

This is a fantastic game, even with the lame side quests and overworld. If you missed out back in the day or only have fuzzy decade-old memories, this Wii U remake is, no doubt, the new and best way to experience Twilight Princess.

The Nintendo Switch plays perfectly fine either way, even though Handheld Mode is the way to go. Pointer controls are a fun inclusion though, even though they should've made it easier to find. It is neat that you can play up to four people on the television, but the Mini Metro I like is personal and with me anywhere I go. The developers have done a good job translating the magic to the Nintendo Switch, which was honestly my biggest worry going in.

Cadence of Hyrule successfully earns its place in the pantheon of Zelda adventures by carving a distinctive rhythmic path that brings new ideas to the series while also hitting the right nostalgic keys.

While not an enormous step forward nor the celebration of the past we were promised, Monster Hunter Generations pushes its franchise forward with a number of combat enhancements that change the way Monster Hunter is played.

Radiant Historia is a fantastic game. As an RPG it tells a distinct and occasionally stirring story, from a unique (and non-linear) perspective.

Shantae: Risky's Revenge has turned out to be one of the best games on DSiWare, and also one of the best reasons to own a DSi. The 1,200 Nintendo Point price might be hefty for some, but I can guarantee that this game is a bargain at twice the price.

If you’ve yet to play a Castlevania game, I’d recommend Dawn of Sorrow over Portrait of Ruin because it’s a more appropriate entry into the series as future games will likely not feature the portraits.

Despite minor faults, Four Swords Anniversary Collection is an amazing game. I'm shocked that Nintendo put any effort-much less this amount of effort-into a free downloadable title. But good for them.

Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope takes the fantastic canvas that was Kingdom Battle and paints a masterpiece on it. The combat is as fun as it is strategic, and each world is a delight to roam through. The added freedom in terms of movement during battles and the light RPG elements pair exquisitely with the slapstick Rabbid humor and the whimsical music composed by industry titans Kirkhope, Shimomura, and Coker. The story serves its purpose well enough, even if the ending is a bit lackluster, but the gameplay is unassailable. If you liked its predecessor, you'll love Sparks of Hope. It sets a new bar for Mario-themed spinoffs, and I'm full of hope that the series doesn't end here.

As has been the case with quite a number of games I’ve enjoyed on the Switch to date I would gladly recommend Thumper to anyone, but would throw out two caveats as well. First, while I don’t think being good at rhythm games is necessarily essential to you being successful in the game, there’s no getting around the fact that being able to feel and anticipate the beats will help you immensely. The second is that this game gets to be extremely challenging, playing it has maxed out my personal intensity to the point that my thumb hurts from me mashing down the A button with apparently all of the force my hand can exert. I would expect that it is a game many people who decide to buy it won’t ever finish just because at some point the bar feels just a bit too high. Regardless, if you like its aesthetics, its pounding beats, and a stiff challenge, there’s really nothing holding me back from recommending it whole-heartedly.

With their powers combined, Nintendo and MercurySteam basically struck gold with this game. Samus Returns is a dynamite entry in the fabled series and deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Metroid: Zero Mission and Super Metroid. If you’ve been waiting for a new 2D Metroid game from Nintendo for more than a decade, you owe it to yourself to play this game.

Dragon Quest VIII is a magnificent RPG that is an absolute highlight and showcase of the entire genre. It’s a long journey, but it’s one worth taking, especially if you’ve never played it before. I know that, after getting through this game, I need to reassess my personal favorite RPGs of all time. This game is that damn good.

Even though the experience is strictly two-dimensional, has no menus, and essentially no on-screen text, the deep level of strategy that cooks underneath is nothing short of mesmerizing. While at times the difficulty can seem very intense, and all seems lost, Kingdom Two Crowns is designed so you can rebuild your empire after the toughest of invasions or the coldest of winters - and all achieved by the simplest of decrees: to build, expand, and defend.

Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake is a great package. Collectively I still think last year's remake of Dragon Quest III is stronger, but this is a fantastic companion and well worth diving into whether you've played the games before or just want to know the history and legacy.

Despite its relative obscurity, this game feels almost tailor-made for anyone eager to reconnect with the kind of fighting experience that's been in short supply on Nintendo consoles since the end of the 16-bit era. The outrageously fun but equally well-conceived fighting won't disappoint, and if you have friends you've just been longing to beat up with a giant transforming golden cigarette lighter robot, then Tatsunoko vs. Capcom carries the highest of recommendations. [JPN Import]

Ultimately Echoes of Wisdom excellently weaves itself into the grand tapestry of Zelda with surprising originality while being careful never to trample on what has come before.

MULLET MADJACK isn’t a game that asks for much. Pick it up, point your weapon at robots, and try not to blink too much. What it gives back in return is a relentlessly entertaining, aesthetically nostalgic slice of controlled chaos that somehow makes its repetition feel like a feature and not a shortfall. It's brutal, it's pretty silly, and it absolutely earns every second of your time.

Yakuza 0 is one of my favorite video games, and everything I love about it is fully intact for the Director’s Cut. It’s the perfect introduction to the story of Kazuma Kiryu, and you can’t go wrong with using this version as your starting point. That said, the Director’s Cut is easily skippable for existing fans unless you’re invested in the brand new English dub or extra languages the game has been translated into. The changes made to the story by the new cutscenes make me believe this is a worse version of the game than the original PS4 release that I played, but that is by a very small amount. If you’re a Nintendo fan who’s been looking for your chance to get started with the Like A Dragon franchise, this is the moment you’ve been waiting for.

Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition is a complete package that features all the content of past Street Fighter IV titles and more.

From the boring story, to the shallow single-player gameplay, to the dull characters, Mass Effect 3: Special Edition didn’t do anything for me to live up to its Wii U subtitle.

An extremely well conceived game. While some may complain that it is too much like past titles, it's hard not to get drawn into the charm and depth of the universe.

Ultimately, your experience with Legend of Heroes games will likely shape your enjoyment of Trails from Zero. While the background of the Trails in the Sky trilogy will help to explain certain events and moments, these three games simply aren't available on modern consoles; you'd probably need to play them on Steam. If you played Cold Steel 3 and 4, which came to Switch in 2020 and 2021, respectively, you may find that the more insulated first Crossbell game plays it a little too safe. Fortunately, Lloyd and the rest of the SSS make for likable characters that you can't help but root for. The dialogue-heavy second half of the game can drag a little bit, but the cumulative experience is still a positive one that I would recommend to RPG fans. With Trails to Azure coming in 2023, the stable of Falcom titles on Switch continues to grow, and there's Zero reason to be unhappy about that.

Quite simply, I had a ton of fun playing through Blaster Master Zero 2. It was pretty much exactly what I wanted in a sequel to a beloved game franchise of mine. The game progresses through and uncovers new abilities at a swift and balanced pace. The weapons are super fun to discover and mess with, and the very nature of what makes Blaster Master gameplay so excellent has never shone so bright and wonderful. If you love great retro games, you won’t want to miss out on Blaster Master Zero 2.

The Spring of 2019 has been a wonderful stroll down memory lane of Square Enix glory, and Final Fantasy XII is the high note it ends on. Featuring every quality-of-life improvement to date, and the ability to play in handheld or on a television at a moment’s notice, it’s an easy decision to call the Switch version the definitive experience. Final Fantasy XII may end up being the best of the franchise on Switch, but with so many titles still available, hopefully it won’t be the last.

Bravely Default is a massive game, and one of the best examples of the genre available on the 3DS. While it harkens back to a simpler time, it still offers more than enough complexity to keep players engaged for a long time.

With the growing library of roguelikes and card-based strategy games accumulating in the eShop, new entrants continuously need to find new ways to stand out from the crowd. Slay the Spire succeeds in this regard by foregoing a traditional story or narrative and allowing the player to become completely immersed in strategic thinking. It may not be the prettiest or flashiest roguelike out there, but it certainly has my attention.

Maybe it’s because of my age, but Crimzon Clover: World Explosion is one of the non-Ring Fit games where I felt exhausted after a session. It’s surprisingly demanding if you’re not used to these kinds of space shooters. I can see why the hardcore fans eat this game up, and it’s a very well designed game. It’s just not something I’d recommend for relaxing after a tough day at work.

At the end of the day, Bug Fables is wearing its inspirations proudly on it’s sleeve, and still adding on its own experiences that are both meaningful and fun for players. I had a blast with this game, and I highly recommend it to all kinds of players, whether they be looking to dive into a fun story with lovable characters, trying a more tangible, interactive combat-focused game, or just attempting a challenge. Bug Fables does not pull its punches, especially in it’s hard mode, but it gives such bountiful rewards, that I am simply left having to return the favor.

Overall, I would say that Paranormasight surprised me in a way I don’t think I have been in a long time. My only issues with the game are the controls which can feel sort of sluggish and unruly on a controller, though not to an obscene degree. If playing in handheld mode you can get around this by using touch controls, which I found worked just fine for the game’s purposes. The “horror mystery” also seems to steer away from the horror part at certain points, which might disappoint those hoping to see a lot of curse action, but the plot during these moments is just as interesting as when those curses are involved. I am happy my eye was pointed in Paranormasight’s direction, as I think it may already be one of my favorite experiences of the year, and if this kind of game sounds like it appeals to you, it just might be one of yours, too.

The story is great, the music is fine, and the game runs well in both docked and handheld mode. Night in the Woods did not really leave me with a lot of complaints. So if you’re interested in trying out a well-written story that is fairly relaxing in gameplay to get through, but also want to immerse yourself in an environment along the lines of something like Oxenfree, then Night in the Woods is definitely a must-have.

At its core, Assassin's Creed III is a very big game with an amazing setting, great exploration, solid gameplay, and a wonderful story. However, it constantly pokes holes in this experience with poor pacing and a myriad of minor issues. Despite this, I still recommend this game to every person who has an interest in the series or its revolutionary setting. It is a good game, but it could be so much better.

Even if it won't win any style points for its visuals or sound, qomp2 is an enjoyable and light experience that boils video games down to their essence. Bouncing a ball off paddles, through corridors, and around danger makes for a two or three-hour runtime that doesn't overstay its welcome and manages to hold your attention throughout. There's a familiarity to the proceedings that's deceptively comfortable, and therein lies qomp2’s greatest trick: it feels like something you've played, but you haven't. And while I don't have a problem with going back to Pong for a few rounds, I was happy to invest significantly more time than that in this oddly-named psuedo-sequel.

A few technical bugs aside, Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition is a great port of one of last year's great games.

By bringing back some of the complexity from the Super Famicom titles that the GBA games have lacked, and by catering to new players by compensating the difficulty level, Intelligent Systems have crafted a fine addition to the Fire Emblem name. [JPN Import]

I think the game is supremely enjoyable, but it’s not for everybody. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to travel through Mom’s Scarred Womb and destroy what appears to be a giant fetus before taking on Satan. Toodles!

Super Smash Bros. for 3DS doesn't try to change the formula in what made Smash Bros. great, but it keeps adding to the existing formula and in that, creates new experiences that continue to make the game worth investing time in.

Maboshi's Arcade is another in the line of quirky Nintendo-published WiiWare games with simple controls and great gameplay. Even though the difficulty is high, the variety amongst the three games and its DS Download Play make this title great.

Tony Hawk on the Game Boy is just as good as Tony Hawk on the GameCube (and other consoles).

Definitely look into it if you have a creative spark or just love rhythm games.



Overall, Cursed Castilla EX is a fantastic game that accurately recreates the brilliance of the 16 bit era. The whole time it felt like I was playing a classic SNES Virtual Console game, with a killer soundtrack and added 3D effects. If simple old-school gameplay, beautiful pixel art, and a hardcore difficulty is up your alley, then this game is a no-brainer. So take your sword and expel the curse of the land, not for the King, but for Castilla!


Cook, Serve, Delicious! 2!! caught my interest with its presentation and gradually won me over with a surprisingly comprehensive and diverse set of levels that are challenging without being unfair. If you can ride out an initial hump of stress in learning how to play, then much like leaving work at the end of a long shift, you’ll find a strong sense of satisfaction cooking and serving delicious digital food.

It's a stunning game that gamifies organization in a way that for some, like me, skews more pleasant than manic. The order required to succeed with Wilmot can quickly turn to chaos, holding this back slightly from being something I can wholeheartedly recommend to everyone. If the concept of sorting items and making your own patterns is appealing to you, then Wilmot's Warehouse is a unique puzzle game right up your Switch alley.

The sequel is not only more of the same, but also presents a compelling new way to experience its tried-and-true strategy gameplay. While I do like the new Commanders that have made their way into the fold, I would love to see the individual factions have a bit more uniqueness in terms of how they played or their strengths and weaknesses; they’re only distinguished by their appearance and their units names (which can sometimes be confusing). Nonetheless, strategy fans should rejoice at the opportunity to spend more time with a wonderful series that puts a fantasy twist on Advance Wars.

As a games-archivist myself, I cannot commend Digital Eclipse enough for having the ability and access to keep telling these stories in interactive and accessible formats. If you never grew up with a Commodore 64, I know how hard it can be to learn of this part of history. But the creators of Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter story allow you to make it as easy as opening an app on your phone. Not only that, but thanks to these additional contextual materials it allows the games to be understood and studied in the context of their time. It is something that archives, cultural institutions, libraries and perhaps even lawmakers should take note of.

Depending on how you play the story, you’ll solve Verity’s dilemma in a few hours. I had moments where I thought I had everything figured out and just needed to trigger the right dialogue options, but even still I wound up getting surprised more often than not. Expelled is a tightly wound narrative puzzle game that makes me excited that it’s labeled “An Overboard Game” because hopefully that means Inkle makes a game like this every few years to wrinkle my time-loop-loving brain and completely delight me.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is every bit the amazing game on Switch that it is everywhere else. While the Switch version does of course make compromises, the core vision and game design shine through, assuming you have the brightness turned up. While it is unfortunate that the route finding system is just as bad now as it was at launch, it is ultimately a tiny chip in an otherwise remarkable masterpiece.

My main Monster Hunter Rise file went into Sunbreak north of 230 hours, and I put another hundred into a hunter on an alternate profile that was used for review purposes. I don’t think I’ll double that time on my main before the next Monster Hunter comes out, but it might get close. Sunbreak is a must for anyone who’s ever stared down a Rathalos and lived to tell the tale.

On the whole, Octopath Traveler II is soundly an improvement on the original, but it’s been quite a long time since that first game and the impact of the visuals and ideas aren’t as fresh as they once were. This game will not solve the issues people who bounced off the first game want to see solved, as the stories are still disconnected and dungeons mostly amount to straight paths with treasure chests dotted along the way. However, if you really enjoyed Octopath Traveler and want a better, improved version of the combat and overall exploration, Octopath Traveler II will deliver that in spades. This is a strong RPG that I enjoyed my time with, but it’s not a bold new step forward. Instead, it moderately iterates on an enjoyable formula to good success.

It’s refreshing to find an entirely self-contained mobile game that doesn’t have in-app purchases and doesn’t require a constant internet connection. Sadly you can reach the end in one play session and it doesn’t take much longer for 100% completion, but it’s worth the price of entry for the joy of that Nintendo polish in mobile form.

Playing it is fun and quick, but the Lunar Ruins are tedious and are a task for completionists only. The biggest disappointment is the lack of a bonus ending for completing the Lunar Ruins, but fans of the game and/or series will still appreciate the added content.

An experience not to be missed. Personality drips from the television screen - personality you do not want to miss.

It’s as addictive as it is satisfying, and the hours I’ve spent with it have melted away like the cares of my newly-cured patients. Whether you’ve been in a simulation game coma like me or living it up as your tycoon of choice, Two Point Hospital more than lives up to its forebears. Let’s add eight more points to that title.

Overall, Professor Layton and the Curious Village is a very interesting game but it definitely caters to a niche audience. If you don't like brain-teasers, it's probably not for you.

It makes rather poor use of the dual screen displays (the map feature is largely useless), the touch screen control isn't exactly perfect, and it runs the risk of establishing a long trend of N64 ports that might crowd out original games on the system. Yet, on its own merits, SM64DS is an exciting, revamped version of a monumental game.

The game itself remains a remarkably deep RPG with well written characters, even if the story itself doesn’t grab you right away. This is a largely successful version of the game with a few caveats but it is certainly one of the best ways to play Cyberpunk 2077 on the go.

Whether this game is seen as the next great portable skateboarding game or a less visually pretty home console game, the most cogent point is that it plays incredibly and with so much to do across both of the remade games, this is one of the best skateboarding games ever made.

Hunters is really two games; one is fantastic, the other is not. One is easily worth buying if you have good access to wireless Internet, while the other feels slapped together to dupe hardcore Metroid fans and to put "Action-Packed Single-Player Mode!" on the back of the box.

Minishoot’ justifies the case for being worth your time in spades. This one may fly under the radar for most, but I beg of you to look up from the new triple A hotness and enjoy this fantastic diamond in the rough–for all the retro feels that it invokes, but also for doing something wholly new. Top to bottom, Minishoot shoots for the stars, and lands among game of the year material.

Mario Kart 7 isn't a huge leap forward for the series. Instead, it's another damn fine iteration in a proven series.

Doki Doki Literature Club doesn’t disappoint as an off-kilter visual novel. If you, like me, tend to avoid this genre, you might consider DDLC as an exception to the rule if you can handle some disturbing content.

Despite these problems, Darksiders II is an excellent, lovingly crafted game I wholeheartedly recommend, especially if you liked the first. From a production value perspective, it's at the top of its class, and my problems with the game are largely personal preference quibbles. Just like the first, Darksiders II is the Zelda game we never got.

It's a great package for fans of the band and die-hard fans of the Guitar Hero series starved for new music.

I wish the new playable content was more substantial or there was online play, but the additions are still an overall positive. The variety of difficulty settings makes the game harder if you want it to be, while also making it far more approachable for gamers of all skill levels. The controls don’t quite match the elegant design of the Wii U, but the tweaks here approximate it well enough. I know for me, as someone who played and enjoyed Pikmin 3 on Wii U, revisiting this game again was well worth the time. Pikmin 3 Deluxe is very close to being the definitive version of a modern classic. Now please, bring me more Pikmin adventures. I would like to visit more areas with these little plant aliens.

This game is difficult, even on the easiest setting. For those who have been craving a difficult game ever since the GBA titles held off, "Maniac" mode is waiting and it is positively brutal. [JPN Import]

The anime art style may not be everyone’s cup of tea but that’s a small thing that is easily overcome by everything else this game does right. In a year that we have Silksong incoming, I feel like Ender Magnolia is at serious risk of getting overshadowed but don’t sleep on this one. It’s a top to bottom fantastic experience.

The upshot is one of the best Wii games yet.

Dragon Quest Builders 2 features solid controls, attractive presentation, online multiplayer and limitless charm, but these don’t tell the whole story. Each element of the experience on its own would be less than impressive, but like a pile of wood, bricks, mortar, and steel before its shaped by human hands, the sum of its parts culminate in an impressive and memorable architecture.

An extremely well conceived game. While some may complain that it is too much like past titles, it's hard not to get drawn into the charm and depth of the universe.

The game is brutally, unrelentlessly difficult, and it very much expects you to play through the same levels and same situations over and over again until you get it right. [Import]

West of Loathing succeeds by making you giggly and happy while you play it. Treating this game like a super-serious RPG is the wrong way to go about it, as that’s where the holes start to emerge, whether it’s the middling combat or the mildly annoying quest and item management troubles. This is a comedy, pure and simple, and thankfully it’s one that’s clever and funny in a way that makes up for any lesser gameplay segments. It’s a great chaser between the ample supply of serious games out there, especially if you have Stupid Walking turned on.

I had some trepidation when Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 was announced. While the 1+2 remake was excellent, Activision’s track record with the series since the mid-2000s has been spotty at best. I’m thrilled that the skateboarding in this game feels just as good as it did 20+ years ago and that this goes beyond just a simple remake, with so many fun and enjoyable post-game challenges that builds off of the foundation. Something is lost in Tony Hawk 4’s transition to the 2-minute timer, but I still had a great time saving Painter Neal from the shark in San Francisco. And the quality of the original levels Iron Galaxy made makes me hopeful for the future of the series, whether it leads to a brand new game or an attempt at remaking Tony Hawk’s Underground. Regardless of whether or not you bring nostalgic baggage for the format from the fourth game, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 is an excellent video game that will keep you kickflipping and reverting to increasingly higher scores for a long time.

This is a game that simply must be played to be fully experienced, standing at the forefront of truly wonderful storytelling in videogames.

Overall, A Space for the Unbound is a must play for those that enjoy getting an emotional experience from their games. The puzzles are generally easy to understand, and the game does a good job of making each space dive throughout the story feel different from the last in some meaningful way, helping gameplay not get stale as you go. It may take a tad longer than it should to get to the various emotional payoffs, but those moments are well done and generally worth it.

The overall case is somewhat neat and tidy - it won’t take you much more than a few hours to solve the mystery - but the journey along the way is enjoyable. The voice acting and standout art and animation fits the distinctive characters very well, and with few exceptions, the puzzles and deduction sequences are engaging and brain-wrinkling. I hope this is the start of a new era in Detective Grimoire’s career, because I wouldn’t mind revisiting this world and gameplay style again soon.

It was an unparalleled experience in the early 90s and holds up remarkably well today.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land is far better than I could have imagined. Its ruined yet beautiful world carries a tone of wonder and amazement throughout the entire game, and HAL Laboratory undoubtedly stuck the landing while transitioning the series’ gameplay into 3D. Though I am disappointed in the small number of copy abilities, the game’s issues are mere bumps in the road compared to its many triumphs. It is the only game I can think of to make me cry from the sheer joy of how cute and heartwarming it can be, and it is in my opinion the best game Kirby’s name has ever been on.

Everything about NeuroVoider just feels good. As a fan of the RPG genre, I love how strategy based thinking has been perfectly mixed with heart pounding action. The biggest concern with Rougelike permadeath is avoiding the feeling of staleness and there is no concern of that here. For one of the best Indie experiences on the Switch so far, the small investment into learning the complexity of the inventory system is more than worth it.

Mutant Mudds has seen ports to just about every console under the sun (with good reason), so I figured it’d only be a matter of time before it graced the Nintendo Switch. What I didn’t expect was to get Mutant Mudds, Mutant Mudds Super Challenge, and Mudd Blocks all in one convenient package. With the great gameplay of three games present and brand new leaderboards for each game, this is the ultimately collection for anyone interested in the Mudds franchise. The lack of stereoscopic 3D is the only blemish, but hardly enough to diminish an otherwise fantastic offering.

Even while wading through some minor issues, Darkest Dungeon is enthralling. Even if I crave sunshine and rainbows after spending too much time in this world, it sticks in the back of my mind and I idly think about what team I’ll put together to try to mount my next dungeon crawl. It’s a dark and gloomy game, but the overall blend of combat, exploration, and town management adds up to a fantastic gameplay loop that sucks away time as you try to outwit the deadly creatures and obstructions all around the darkest dungeon.

Steins;Gate is already one of the most dynamic visual novels, and the added anime cutscenes of the Elite version makes it worth exploring. If you can handle a main character who is extremely delusional and doesn’t have a filter… you’re probably comfortable dealing with me. Either way, Steins;Gate Elite is the best pure visual novel we’ve got right now.

Even if you don't get into any of the bonus materials included in Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy, there's still well over 60 hours of whodunnit goodness and crime scene evidence to sift through. If you already finished the Phoenix trilogy and have been eager for more, don’t hesitate to dive into the Apollo trilogy. For some, the petition to get the two Ace Attorney Investigations titles and the Phoenix Wright crossover with Professor Layton will now begin in earnest. For me, I’m still trying to find times in my everyday life where I can shout “OBJECTION!”

Seeing Edgeworth, Dick Gumshoe, and newcomer Kay Faraday have their time in the spotlight makes for a pleasant detour from the affable Apollo and charismatic Phoenix. Ace Attorney Investigations Collection also contains built-in achievements, a music collection, a handful of design documents, 20 save files, and the ability to switch between the original pixel art or the updated HD visuals. If you're a fan of the Ace Attorney series, you owe it to yourself to give the Investigations Collection a shot, just don't use a loaded gun or you'll have Mr. Edgeworth giving you the business.

Order of Ecclesia is one of the best Castlevania games ever produced. It manages to differentiate itself from the blatant self-reference of most post-Symphony games, and uses its unique setting, cast of characters, and engrossing gameplay to stand almost totally apart from its predecessors.

Tetris Forever is required reading. Not just for those who engage with games on a daily basis, but especially for people who are unaware of why games are cultural heritage and deserve to be preserved and celebrated as more than just toys. The new inclusion of Tetris Timewarp makes for a fun Tetris variant and is particularly rewarding after learning about the series' wide and wild history. So put the game on like a documentary with the family, introduce it to your colleagues and make them understand that it won’t be just Tetris forever, but games forever as well.

It’s always a delight to discover what will end up being one of my favorite video games in real time, but The Hundred Line did it. With the storytelling prowess of two cult icons mixed with some fresh and exciting tactical gameplay, The Hundred Line manages to bring back things I love from both of its creators while feeling like a fresh new game. If you enjoy a good visual novel or if you enjoy tactics RPGs you owe it to yourself to play The Hundred Line - Last Defense Academy. It may not be for everyone, but it struck a major chord for me and quickly became one of my favorite games on Switch.