I think it’s very safe to say that if you like Fire Emblem, particularly the Game Boy Advance era of the franchise, you will almost certainly enjoy Dark Deity. It has some technical flaws, with some seriously lengthy loading times and the odd bug here and there, and it’s not quite as polished as Nintendo’s efforts. But it probably goes farther than any other indie effort I’ve seen in capturing that particular feel, and it’s very, very easy to start playing and find yourself unable to step away until you have just one more battle.

The biggest problem with Royal Frontier is in its difficulty curve. Once you’ve unlocked some of the better perks, and you inevitably will, it gets really hard to lose. You’ll be swimming in useful items and abilities to the point that rolling over its three worlds is a trifle. A bit of a sloggy trifle, but a trifle nonetheless. With how low the asking price is, it’s hard to feel too upset over how soon it all unravels. But unravel it does. With how stiff the competition is in this genre, it’s hard to recommend this one with much zeal.

If you haven’t played any Rune Factory games before and are thinking about dipping your toe in, I’d probably recommend Rune Factory 4 Special ahead of this game. It’s more polished, has more content, and is a bit easier to play. But if you’re a Rune Factory fan and have already plowed those fields, you’ll find enough to like in Rune Factory 5 to make it worth your attention. It feels like the seed of a new era for the series, but it’s going to take a bit more nurturing before the harvest is truly ready.

The basic concept of Dawn of the Monsters gives the game a big push at the start line, but it’s the solid gameplay mechanics that keep this machine moving. You get a nice mix of encounters and behaviors to deal with, and you have a fair number of options at your disposal. The sheer amount of content here will keep you playing for a long while, and although it can get a little repetitive over time, it really does take some time for that to set in. Fans of either beat-em-ups or giant monsters will want to grab this game sharpish and get to smashing and demolishing the enemy forces.

In terms of gameplay, this is a rail shooter that takes a couple of hours to play through and somehow feels like twenty. It’s too easy, and far too repetitive. Some may say that is the nature of the genre, but I’ve played plenty of rail shooters with more engaging mechanics than Gal*Gun Double Peace. If you do happen to get into it, there’s a lot here to do with multiple endings and extras to explore. But even with its goofy sense of humor and out-there premise carrying it forward, the flame flickers out on this game well before the candle melts down.

n a vacuum, Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure is a slam-dunk pick-up. It’s a wonderful, beloved table that has never had a home version before. It has all of the licensed bits intact, and that is harder to do with this property than most. It plays well, and has lots of options and features that will keep you coming back. It’s a good value, particularly compared to dropping coins in the real thing. But this isn’t a vacuum. You can get equally good tables like Medieval Madness for a fraction of the price, and that is something you’re going to have to consider before buying this. For both pinball and Indiana Jones die-hards, it’s an easy enough choice. Others will have to weigh their options carefully and hope they do not choose… poorly.

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax is a great fighter with a lot of modes and features to enjoy. While its presentation isn’t quite up to snuff with some of the other versions of the game, relative to other Switch games in the genre it carries itself well enough. Some missing online features will be of more concern to those who intend to take their battles into the digital space, but overall this is a strong pick-up for Persona fans and those looking for a little on-the-go pugilism alike.

Although Triangle Strategy might not be the second coming of Final Fantasy Tactics that some are hoping for, it’s an excellent entry into the tactical RPG genre that should have players enraptured for dozens of hours. Just be prepared to spend an awful lot of time with characters who have a tendency to talk too much and say too little. The plot itself is intriguing enough and the gameplay mechanics compelling enough to keep you coming back, but one can’t help but pine for the character work of the games that clearly inspired this one.

There’s something to be said about a puzzle game that knows exactly what kind of row it wants to hoe and focuses on doing it as best as it possibly can, and that’s just what The Last Cube has to offer.

What really hurts this one is in its performance in this Switch version. The system struggles to keep the game running smoothly, which hurts the impact of the visuals. There’s a decent enough game here, but one that is perhaps best enjoyed on another platform.

Dungeon Color is a simple game, but it’s earnest and works well enough. You have to use different-colored flames to open doors in order to reach your goal, planning each step carefully to ensure you can actually get where you need to go without blocking yourself in. Toss in a couple of other mechanics and you have a tangy yet mellow set of puzzles to chew on. It doesn’t take long to get through the game, the controls could be a bit more precise, and it starts to get a bit tiresome by the end, but you’ll get your money’s worth.

Young Souls is a very thoughtfully-designed game with a lot of satisfying systems to engage with. Taken together with its attention to making the game feel like a proper adventure, it’s almost enough to carry it all the way through. But at least for me, it felt like the game dragged on a couple of hours longer than I would have preferred. There are also some performance issues plaguing this game, and it even crashed on me a few times. None of this was enough to put me off of Young Souls, but it certainly curbed some of my enthusiasm for it as a whole.

Ultimately, The Cruel King and the Great Hero is still worth playing for those who are attracted to its cute storybook stylings. RPG fans will likely find less to be enthused with here, thanks to its plodding pace and somewhat banal battling. I can’t help but feel there may have been a better vehicle for this charming little fairy tale, but I’m nevertheless happy I got to experience it.

Sure, you can probably find a better pure game of pinball, and all the roguelite caveats apply here. The procedural generation can swing for or against you, and things can get a little repetitive after a while. But broadly speaking, this bit of pinball with a purpose offers up plenty of fun zombie smashing and loot gathering to keep you whacking away for hours on end. Zombie Rollerz: Pinball Heroes has its tongue in its cheek and its hand on… someone or something’s heart, and that’s good enough for me.

The biggest problem with A Musical Story comes in its gameplay mechanics, though. You play the tunes in sliced out sections, and you have to hit every note perfectly before the game will let you move on. And unless you’re really good with audio cues, you’re going to fail a lot. The worst thing is that once you’ve missed a note, you know you can’t succeed but you still have to finish out the slice anyway. It’s aggravating in the worst way. You never get that feeling of being one with the music that you get with better rhythm games. Great music, an uneven story, and unpleasant gameplay make for a very rocky road trip indeed.

Some of the puzzles in Primordia can be really hard to figure out logically, which is one of the bad ways it can feel old-school. Some people may not resonate with the setting or some elements of the story, and those are such a big factor in this genre that it always needs to be considered. Other than those things, I’m hard-pressed to find too many things to complain about here. This Switch version handles the controls as you would expect. You can move the cursor around with the stick or use touch controls. Adventure game fans should enjoy it quite a bit, but be ready to get a little frustrated with some puzzles that feel borderline farcical in their design.

It’s a quality game with a very affordable ad removal fee, and we’re not so swimming in dungeon-plunging riches that we should pass that kind of thing up just because of some slightly wonky controls.

After a few content updates, GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon has the potential to be an essential in the genre. Right now, it still feels like an early access game and one that has annoying technical issues on Nintendo Switch. Its biggest draw is the aesthetic and combat, but it needs to be polished and tweaked in its current state to be an easy recommendation when you have much better games in the genre on Nintendo Switch priced similarly.

Puzzle & Dragons: Nintendo Switch Edition is still quite fun, and it’s certainly better than Puzzle & Dragons Gold was, but this is still a needlessly limited take on the concept that removes one of the core aspects that makes the original game so great. I wish I could understand how we ended up with the monetization structure of the free-to-play mobile version while changing some of the things that have made it such a big hit for so many years. For less than a fiver you’ll get your fun out of this, but it could have been more.

Aksys Games has been selecting some superb otome visual novels to localize in recent years and Variable Barricade is one of the best in the genre on Nintendo Switch. With each newer release, it feels like the genre is becoming more accessible to those who aren’t fans of pure visual novels. If you’re a fan of otome games, you need to get Variable Barricade. For newcomers, this light-hearted experience might finally get you into the genre.

There’s a certain basic joy to the whole affair, and some of the unlockable characters are weird and funny. But the game shows most of its hand really early, making the later stages start to feel a bit repetitive. Given how little there is on the bone to begin with here, it’s easy to get tired of To the Top, Mammoth!. It also feels very much like it is structured around a grind, making clear its origins as a free-to-play mobile game. Good for a bit of idle entertainment now and then, but it doesn’t quite have what it takes for longer-term thrills.

As top-down racers go, it’s okay. Not great, but it’s functional. There are lots of races, and some interesting multiplayer features for those with local buddies to play with. The extra data afforded by the CD format wasn’t exactly put to stellar use, and the presentation is rather unimpressive on the whole. Adding some awkward-to-use weapons to the Super Spring format doesn’t do a ton for the experience, and this is nowhere near other contemporary racers like R.C. Pro-Am or Rock ‘n Roll Racing. Not the most striking of starts for Ratalaika’s foray into the PC Engine library. Let’s hope better things await.

I’m sure the title will tip you off, but Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream is best appreciated by those who have already played the first game and enjoyed its characters and mechanics. There’s a little story catch-up here for those coming in fresh, and you will survive even if this is your first Atelier game. But the game certainly means to build on the foundations set in the first game, particularly with regards to Sophie and Plachta. As such, I’d advise you to play that first game before this one. That caveat aside, Atelier Sophie 2 does everything a sequel ought to and will assuredly provide Atelier fans with their regular dose of light-hearted RPG adventure.

While this may not be the definitive version of Final Fantasy VI, it’s close enough to the best to be worth it. It handily replaces the previous version we had on mobile, and some of its improvements make it worth another trip for those who have already played it in any of its other forms. Some of the lingering faults found in previous Pixel Remasters frustratingly reoccur here, and the whole exercise does have a vague sense of pointlessness about it in light of just how little it improves on the original. Still a great version of an all-timer, and that’s more than enough.

If you can accept its scope, accept that it falls short of its intentions almost as often as it realizes them, there is something in Monark to enjoy. The way it explores the ideas of personality traits and the dangers of excesses can be very intriguing, and the combat can be satisfying for a while. The localization is solid, with some sharp bits of writing here and there. And yes, there is just enough of a whiff of Persona about it that it might at least lightly scratch the itch for more Atlus-ish RPG enjoyment. But one can’t help but wonder what this could have been if the developers had had more resources to play with.

Sol Cresta is a game that you need to chew on for a bit before it shows its true value. But stick with it, learn its idiosyncrasies, and you’ll find a unique, satisfying entry into the crowded shoot-em-up genre. Is it an all-timer? Probably not, but considering Platinum just waltzed into this club for the first time, it has done an exemplary job.

It’s always nice to see a game that never made it out of Japan back in the day get a wider release, and even nicer when it’s handled well. The actual links with River City Girls, both in terms of story and gameplay, are tenuous but River City Girls Zero makes the most of them. The mechanics do the job decently, and the story side of it certainly distinguishes the experience from most other brawlers of its era. It’s no Streets of Rage or even Final Fight, but those who are invested in the characters will likely have a good time.

Combine the game itself feeling somewhat undercooked in terms of modes and features and the atrocious technical performance, and you have a rather bitter pill for any Switch-owning Dynasty Warriors fans that choose to swallow it. I won’t say you can’t mine some enjoyment out of this version of the game, but you’re going to have to be more forgiving than you’ve had to be with any prior Warriors game on the platform.