If you’re down with all sorts of in-jokes and spent way too much time online in the late 2000s, you probably already picked up Treachery in Beatdown City. If you’re still on the fence, it’s a brisk experience with a unique style of gameplay, and the dialogue is as skippable as you need it to be. It’s a good debut game from a studio I’ll be keeping an eye on going forward.

I really wanted to like this game, and I really hope the rune-drawing system is used again for a different title, because it really is fantastic, but the RTS mechanics are unresponsive, and the timed missions are more of a hindrance than a challenge.

Magnetica is so difficult that I find it hard to recommend not only to the people Nintendo is targeting with their Touch Generations line, but also to anybody else.

Jump Start: Escape from Adventure Island has good intentions and a noble goal: to teach via the fun and accessibility of the Wii. But its gameplay feels rushed, and its less-than-inspired presentation put a very disappointing damper on things.

Saturday Morning RPG has a lot to like. The presentation is top notch, the gameplay is excellent, and the vast amount of ‘80s references sprinkled throughout the episodes are fun, promoting a positive vibe. I wish the world had a bit more depth, and the difficulty spikes get annoying fast. But with Saturday Morning RPG, the positives end up outweighing the negatives.

Perhaps the greatest offering in the series as of yet. The only blemish on the overall game completeness is its lack of an online leaderboard and the removal of the Famicom's multiplayer mode.

If you can put yourself in an academic, emotionless state of mind, there really is some fun to be had, arguably moreso than in Gal*Gun 2. But you do have to wade through some…questionable…content.

The usual bells and whistles are here, including a digitized manual, different NGPC skins, and a rewind feature. As in the previous games, there’s a distinct lack of a moves list, so you’ll have to resort to repeatedly opening the manual, writing things down, or going to GameFAQs. Being able to play with a friend on a single system is nice, though, although The Last Blade won’t give you the multiplayer mileage than Smash Bros. does. The Last Blade is fun, and another good NGPC game to add to your list.

I’ll give credit where it’s due; I appreciate that Super Bomberman R 2 does try a few new things with its Story mode that we haven’t really seen in previous entries, including a progression system where you actually level up rather than just collecting the standard power-ups. Even though moving from area to area just to round up all the Ellons gets old pretty quick, it’s definitely novel for a Bomberman game. Unfortunately, what’s meant to be the star of the show, Castle mode, just isn’t a very compelling addition. Even for diehard fans, I’d find R 2 to be a difficult recommendation. I may break it out from time to time for a few online matches, but I doubt I’ll spend even a fraction of the time I did with Super Bomberman R Online on this latest game. It may just be time to re-invent Bomberman for the modern era, and while I’m eager to see what that might look like, unfortunately for now, your Bomberman is in another castle.

This is an enjoyable, thought-provoking, and stylish RPG that stands on the shoulders of the developer’s previous efforts. Pacing issues and a lack of variety hold it back from being truly great, but Oninaki is absolutely worth a playthrough, if you’re not averse to the solemn subject matter. The stellar combat feels almost like hack-and-slash, and the overall story compels you through the experience. If this is the reincarnation of Tokyo RPG Factory, they’ve come back less a factory and more an artisan.

Super Beat Sports is a fun, but overall very simple compilation of games. While many of the modes have multiple single-player challenges to complete, they quickly become repetitive and are missing the charm, range, and cleverness that you might find in a Rhythm Heaven game. This mini-game collection is best when played with friends and family who want to test their reflexes in a musical fashion. It might not be a game you play a lot, but it can provide an hour of fun when you have company over.

However, like the first Rolling Western game, it demands a lot of your attention, and since the sequel is just that much bigger, one has to wonder whether The Last Ranger's relentless pace is just a little too much game to handle.

This game ambitiously combines several gameplay ideas but never figures out how to balance them against each other for a refined experience. If you're the kind of gamer who can be taken in by artful storytelling even in the absence of polished gameplay, give it a shot.

I still had fun with Here Be Dragons, mostly due to the art style and quirky satirical story, but the overall simplicity of the turn-based combat made it so dice rolls could easily sink your good time. This is a novel game, but go to it for the humor, not the technical gameplay mastery.

Ultimately, The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road is a unique take on the franchise and an enjoyable RPG experience. If you are looking for a unique RPG and don't mind that the game deviates from the original Wizard of Oz story, then this title is highly recommended.

You’ll want to check out Rad for its unique concept, addicting gameplay and beautiful style, you just may want to consider it on a different console. The Switch version has too many aesthetical issues for me to feel confident that it represents its true potential. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t — it still plays great and personally, I’m going to keep perfecting my runs to, maybe eventually, become rad.

If you’re coming to NBA 2K22 to play some basketball, it’s a tremendous game on Switch. The shooting and dribbling are both reworked in positive ways and games are more realistic and approachable than ever. Outside of regular seasons, though, the modes you play that basketball in are trending downward in quality. Unless you’re ready to live your life one pack of virtual cards at a time, there isn’t much of value in MyCareer, MyGM, or MyLeague. Here’s hoping NBA 2K23 takes the refined gameplay and brings about more exciting variation in the modes.

It should be no surprise that "Feel the Magic: XX/YY"'s sequel, The Rub Rabbits (a.k.a. Where Do Babies Come From? in Japan) lives up to its predecessor in every way shape and form, and even manages to surpass it in most aspects. [JPN Import]

Loot-driven action RPGs can find themselves in a pattern of being repetitive, relying on the desire for the next shiny piece of armor to keep players engaged. Lapis x Labyrinth certainly falls into that category, but unfortunately despite the huge number of items you earn, many tend to be downgrades. However, the diversity in each character type works to its advantage, promoting mixing and matching party members to help reduce the feeling of grinding in this outrageously stylistic 2D Action RPG.

Azkend 2 is a perfectly satisfactory match-three puzzle game that adds enough of a twist to be better than the average puzzle game. The hidden object portion isn’t that great, but spending a few hours completing objectives and collecting items while matching like tiles is a totally fine time.

Skylanders: Swap Force on 3DS is not the best version of what will most likely be one of this year’s hottest games, but it is a version that can fulfill the needs of the gamer on the go. It may lack some of the quirks that make the console versions so appealing, but with plenty to do and plenty of Skylanders to collect, Skylanders: Swap Force will keep you reasonably entertained for quite a while.

The storyline is adorable and fun, and the game does a great job of breaking up the monotony with different ideas. It might be a bit simplistic, but it's still a solid game with a lot to do.

While it doesn't offer the zany game types or interesting visuals of Tetris DS, this is a better offering than Tetris Axis by far.

The most disappointing part of this game, is that outside the main game and a survival mode, there really is not much else to keep you busy. Some game specific achievements are added in but not something that will keep you occupied that long. In fact, Sparkle 2, which came out a few months prior, has more modes than this. It seems like this is just more of level expansion to that game. Sparkle Unleashed does a lot right. Its gameplay is solid, the music is great, and it does have a lot of levels, but the lack of different modes and extras hampers the experience a bit, especially since it’s the same price as Sparkle 2.

The skill management system is a broken, confusing mess is what I’m saying. If any of you figure out how it’s supposed to work, please let me know. And that’s pretty much the whole game. Go on missions, kill some aliens, grab some loot, and craft your way to victory. Everything except the human characters looks great and there are some nifty graphical effects here and there. Control is smooth and combat is fun, especially the bonuses you get for random things like attacking from behind, destroying enemy shields, etc. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I like the loot/crafting system largely because it happens organically and you’re not hunting anything down. Earth Wars is a fun game, well worth the ridiculously cheap price (five bucks). It’s not perfect but it’s a spirited attempt to imitate Muramasa.

Given the likely polarizing nature of the game’s controls, Manual Samuel gets a highly conditional recommendation. If you’re willing to roll with the punches, there’s definitely a unique good time to be had here, just be very aware of its intent to make controlling just about anything more challenging than you’d ever imagine.

Degrees of Separation could be a much better game. A ton of work went into creating a bedtime story in game form, and it succeeds. Some of the puzzles are good, and some of the variety in game worlds helps introduce new experiences at a regular cadence. However, too many negatives just leave you underwhelmed. Whether it’s the lack of polish, the short playtime length, or the number of weird bugs that can leave you completely frustrated. As it is, there are too many good 2D platformers on Switch to recommend it unless you’re playing it with someone who really finds the presentation speaks to them.

The daffy silliness of Speaking Simulator is the beating heart of this video game robot. When that’s allowed to be the focus, laughter courses through its circuitry. Sometimes the wiring of this robot obscures the best parts, though, as the dizzying amounts of QWOP-esque systems draw the focus off the heart and onto the brain, where the controls and mechanics reside. This strained, faulty metaphor might best sum up Speaking Simulator, as this game tries its best but winds up being sloppy in a way that diverts attention from the most enjoyable parts.