Overall Her Majesty’s SPIFFING was a pleasant surprise, full of cracking humor and some suitably absurd puzzle-solving. It may feel a bit on the short side but given its price the length is fair and I would prefer it over too soon rather than overstaying its welcome. For people searching for a game that is light, not terribly demanding, and can just be enjoyed for quite a few hours it’s pretty easy to recommend.

Black Hole does, honestly, some tricks that nobody else does. The fixed screen with the gravitational pull is an unique concept that keeps you sharp. The act of playing the game is awesome, and nothing should be taken away from it. After 40 levels though, there is nothing for most players to return to. Sure, there is room to improve on your runs, but that really depends on the type of person you are. As for myself, I’ll probably end up going back to it now and again.

Upon completing INK, I felt as one does after enjoying a perfectly-cooked steak: satisfied and satiated. In this case, I do want more, but not because INK didn’t give me enough. Rather, it gave me exactly what I wanted; this time, with a splash of colour.

Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy is a loyal interpretation of an early 2000s classic, now on Nintendo Switch. Once again with this series on this platform, the nostalgia is strong with those who stick by this as an example of what gaming should be today, but new players should be aware of what this game actually is, so that their expectations can be properly tempered. Jedi Academy takes the foundation of its previous game and uses player customization to provide polish and a deeper engagement with the story in a 10-12 hour experience, but it falls short in providing meaningful options in both side missions and online play. If that earns your purchase, then the question remains: what kind of Jedi will you become?

Once I got over the initial hump and learned its systems, Evolution genuinely surprised me with its depth of strategy and breadth of content. The Switch version leaves a lot to be desired in terms of performance, and for now, despite my usual misgivings of the platform, I’d honestly recommend the mobile version. But if Evolution wants to survive on Switch in the wilds of the eShop, it would be wise to take a queue from nature and find a way to adapt.

Redout: Space Assault, while a generally fun game, seems to miss out on a few of the concepts that make the genre work. Arcade style games like this should be based on skill, with missions that continually pit the player against more complex piloting and shooting challenges. While this almost gets there, it falls back on artificial padding based on grinding out upgrades for your ship. That being said, when it does hit its stride, Redout: Space Assault has some truly thrilling moments.

While I can say that the pacing and gameplay never fully clicked with me, it might for others. There’s quality in the world of Rosantica and things to appreciate about its story, art, and characters. That being said, this game has potential hidden under some lackluster stages and unbalanced combat. I would love to see another story told in this world with some further polish on the gameplay if Studio Thunderhorse was ever to make a second showing. Should the slower pace not be a bother to you, there’s a lot that Flynn Son of Crimson has to offer. But amongst a sea of similar genre entries on Switch, I’d be hard pressed to recommend this one.

Paw Patrol World is a smartly made entry-level open-world video game that does a good job of capturing the appeal of Paw Patrol in video game form. It’s primarily for the younger sect, but it does that by being a playground to explore as opposed to a steep challenge. You play in the world of the TV show in a way that makes this a gateway to the wider world of (mostly quality) video games. As a parent I sometimes need to make compromises. If my kids want to play the cop dog game instead of Roblox, I’ll chalk it up as a win.

Firefighting Simulator - The Squad is a great representation of what it takes to be a firefighter, and the effective tutorial guarantees that any player should be able to figure out how to succeed at any mission in the game. I’d love to get a full squad together and tackle a house fire together with maximum efficiency, but the difficulty I had in finding a squad takes a lot of the wind out of Firefighting Simulator’s sails. This is the ideal form of a simulator game for me, but it’s sadly near impossible to play it under ideal circumstances.

Obviously the simplest solution to get some Uchikoshi-helmed escape games would be if the Zero Escape trilogy were cleaned up a bit and brought out on modern Nintendo hardware. But in lieu of that, No Sleep for Kaname Date will probably keep you up for a bit as you try and puzzle through some of the nastier puzzles.

You can’t go through half a steam store page without tripping over a Metroidvania. Lots of great experiences to be had exploring wide ranging maps with hard stop gates you can only cross once you get that next special ability. The Prisoning: Fletcher’s Quest decided to step in that pond but stayed in the shallow end of map travel. There’s some comedy that oversteps the bounds of where my humor lies. Bluntly, in these spaces, a little bit of editing could go a long way. That said, when the jokes do hit, they’re really funny. When Elden Pixels tees up a gameplay surprise, it’s pure joy. When you get to that next boss, you’re going to feel good about dispatching them. The Prisoning: Fletcher’s Quest is a game whose highs are in the atmosphere, and is short enough where the flaws aren’t felt for long.

Treasure World is an interesting experiment that is successful in what it sets out to accomplish. However, for most players the content is too thin to be enjoyable.

In general, Lydia is an interesting game with a well put together setting and an art style you probably won’t soon forget, but overall it’s just sort of a slightly underwhelming experience. Over the course of its 45 to 60-minute runtime, you will experience what is obviously a deeply personal story for the creators, leading to a choice that I honestly found very well done in the end. It’s a story of abuse and neglect and how somebody so small is forced to deal with it, and while the gameplay is nothing to write home about, it’s definitely a narrative that will probably stick with me even if just for a little while.

Snack World: The Dungeon Crawl - Gold is a journey with highs and lows. The gameplay itself is quite entertaining with cool weapons and slick movement. On the other end, it is also very grindy, with dialogue that can become real grating. Some of these problems fade away in multiplayer, which makes it such a missed opportunity to make that aspect a bigger focus. Snack World isn't a bad game, but it’s somewhat misguided in how it wants to present itself. If you can deal with the frustration, you will find that the dungeons themselves can be fairly entertaining.

Banjo Pilot's biggest problem is the simplicity of its design. It feels like you are flying the same tracks over and over (and often you are, though in reverse), and there is no feeling of connection to the physics because it doesn't really matter what kind of level you're racing on.

A great concept that is very entertaining on the surface falls on its face extremely quickly due to lack of content.

Rising Board 3D is a fantastic pick-up-and-play game that shows how the 3DS can make those quick mobile experiences normally found on iOS and Android into something similar yet different, and reminds me of games such as Balloon Fight (specifically Balloon Trip) and NiGHTS.

Without a doubt, I can appreciate another party game entry for the speed demon in all of us. In single player mode, it is sparse; it needs multiplayer to be fun, and online mode delivers the goods. On the other side, with games like Mario Kart and Rocket League you can find yourself with some AI opposition to make things interesting when riding solo. While online play is the focus of Crash Drive 3, the offline mode could stand to be more engaging. All in all, Crash Drive 3 continues its tradition of open-area multiplayer madness by offering more vehicles and more game types than its previous entries. A more in-depth single player mode with AI competition would be a very welcome addition, though.

As a complete package Clusterpuck 99 relies heavily on your access to as many other people as possible to maximize the fun. If you regularly have some friends over and everyone enjoys some light competition that’s easy to pick up and understand it very well may be a big hit. If, on the other hand, you’re normally playing by yourself if will no doubt run out of steam quickly. Thus, results and enjoyment are likely to vary wildly with this one.

I actually would recommend it if you’re a fan of Waifu Hack ‘n’ Slashers, but the Switch’s framerate issues keep me from issuing a full-throated endorsement. If you have access to other modern consoles, maybe check out some gameplay videos. If it’s way smoother during combat situations, maybe go for that version. I’m enjoying the game on Switch, and will be buying some of the DLC, but it suffers a lot on the performance side. That and the terrible platforming segments that, thankfully, are pretty rare.

Turnip Boy Robs A Bank offers a lighthearted roguelite romp in the pursuit of Stinky’s riches, hidden within the bowels of the Botanical Bank. The gameplay loop is pretty fun, and finding new weapons to dispatch the security flora and fauna standing in the way of your heist manages to entertain, at least up until the final parts of the game. The performance on Switch also leaves something to be desired, with more detailed areas of the bank leading to noticeable frame drops. If you wanted a bit more action from your Turnip Boy escapades, this follow up might be the serving of veggies you’re craving. That said, it doesn’t quite do enough to rise to the upper echelons of roguelites already available on the eShop.

The thing that really shakes me about Table Tennis, though, is that Rockstar did virtually nothing to spice up the sport. Like I said before, there are no actual players or Career-type mode. There are no power-ups, and no stat improvements. The closest thing to "technique" you’ll find is in putting spin on the ball and using your focus meter, which actually doesn’t help very much. In all, Table Tennis is a game that just screams "lack of effort."

While it may be more substantial than the majority of the existing Labo experiences, ultimately this is more an educational craft project than a game. As such, much of the enjoyment of Labo hinges on the participants enjoyment of making the Toy-Con itself. As for myself, I had a lot of fun building the Robot Kit, but I question whether it felt like $79.99 worth of fun. With only one project the Robot Kit might be best saved for Labo enthusiasts.

If you’re thirsty for a bloody, in-depth strategy title, Immortal Realms: Vampire Wars may just slake your thirst. That’s if the combat segments don’t put a stake through your heart first.

Fortune Street is a deep board game experience that is great if you have people to play with, but it can overstay its welcome in single-player. If you have friends that love Monopoly, or if you want a deep and lasting experience for the Wii, Fortune Street is one of the best of its genre on the system.

If you are a shoot-em-up fan, you won’t leave this game disappointed.

At the end of the day, Battle for New York isn’t worth the cash if you’ve already played one of the other DS games, and since it looks like they’ll be using the same engine in the future, you might as well hold out if you haven’t experienced any of the previous titles. Sorry, Spidey.

While NHL Hitz 2003 would be a great mini game in a console game, maybe something one would see in a Midway adaptation of "Animal Crossing," it’s not a deep or fun enough game worthy of a $40 purchase.