Mining Mechs (PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, X/S, PC)
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Posted on October 2nd, 2024 by
Drive robot mechs underground as you search for treasure in Mining Mechs. It’s a 2D action adventure game and kind of reminds me of Steamworld Dig mixed with elements of Terraria. It’s available on all current consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.
Bare Butt Boxing (Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, X/S, PC)
Posted on September 30th, 2024 by
Box all sorts of crazy characters in this madcap multiplayer romp. Play as a frog, fish, skeleton, robots, and more as you punch other players into warp holes for points. Bare Butt Boxing is available on all current consoles and PC, but reviewed on Switch here.
Bakeru (Switch, PC)
Posted on September 27th, 2024 by
Well this game certainly took me by surprise, as it’s one of the best games I’ve played this year so far! Bakeru is set in an alternate version of Japan, where fairy tale heroes are real. You play as Bakeru, a shape-shifting tanuki who attacks enemies with taiko drumsticks in his human form. You’ll travel around this cartoony version of Japan in a 3D platformer style adventure. The Japanese themes remind me a lot of games like Okami and the Goemon games (Mystical Ninja in the US). In fact, Good Feel made Bakeru, and one of the guys who founded that company used to work for Konami and made a lot of the Goemon games. So many people say that Bakeru is like a spiritual successor to those. Good Feel also made many games for Nintendo, some of which include Wario Land: Shake it, Kirby’s Epic Yarn, and Yoshi’s Woolly World. And Bakeru is just as good as anything Nintendo has produced this year so far, and it’s available on Switch and PC, but reviewed on Switch here.
Cooking (Switch)
Posted on September 25th, 2024 by
This game may have the most unoriginal title ever, but at least you know what you’re getting. Cooking on Switch looks and plays nearly identical to a game I reviewed a few months back called Tokyo Cooking, except they improved on it in every way. Kind of makes me wonder why they released that one first when they could’ve just done this one. Anyway, you can probably guess what kind of game this is.
SokoPenguin (PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, X/S, PC)
Posted on September 23rd, 2024 by
Pengo was one of my favorite arcade games and was one of the few that could pull me away from Pac-Man. So I’m drawn to any type of game starring a block pushing penguin. SokoPenguin is more of a puzzle game where you must push blocks around to make a path so a little penguin can reach its igloo house. It’s available on all current consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.
Shadow of the Ninja — Reborn (PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, X/S, PC)
Posted on September 20th, 2024 by
One of my biggest gaming regrets is that when I got my Super Nintendo back in August of 1991 when it first came out, I kind of abandoned my old NES. Sure I might’ve brought it out again if I rented a new Mega Man game or something, but for the most part, I was just focused on the 16-bit stuff after that. Which is a shame because a lot of really good NES games came out after that, and I either didn’t play them until much, much later or missed out on them entirely. Shadow of the Ninja was one such game. I’m not sure if I would’ve played it much myself, but I might’ve rented it to play with my best friend at the time, since we both enjoyed playing other titles like Ninja Gaiden together. But now you can play a remake of the game with improved graphics and such, and it’s available on all current consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here. It’s also made by the same team who did remakes of other Natsume and Taito titles like The Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors and Pocky and Rocky Reshrined.
Ikki Unite (Switch, PC)
Posted on September 18th, 2024 by
In Japan during the 80s there was an arcade game called Ikki by Sunsoft. Ikki means ‘peasant revolution’ and that’s exactly what you did in the game. You play as a poor farmer as you run around fields collecting money and throwing sickles at evil ninjas. It never came to the US, probably because American kids didn’t want to play a game about a peasant revolution, and who wants to play a game called “Icky” anyway? Ikki was also ported to the Japanese NES, or Famicom as well. There it gained notoriety as a really bad game, but since it came out during the Famicom’s big heyday, it still sold well. It was one of Sunsoft’s first Famicom games, and was probably a good stepping stone for them as they would eventually become one of Nintendo’s best developers for the 8-bit system. And now, nearly 40 years later, you can play a new Ikki game with Ikki Unite. It’s a multiplayer version of the game that adds elements from popular titles like Vampire Survivor. It’s available on Switch and PC, but reviewed on Switch here.
Unplugged: The Quest Kids (Boardgame)
Posted on September 17th, 2024 by
Do you like adventure games but your kids are a bit too young to be fighting dragons that poisons them and hinders their movement by 5 feet? The Quest Kids is a dungeon-crawling board game aimed squarely at that no-quite-yet reading level or above. Players search a dungeon, discarding the appropriate cards if they need to “scare off” a monster and collect its loot. Once the dungeon is cleared, the player with the most stars (from treasure and defeated monsters) wins the game. The Quest Kids is a pretty cool achievement for its age range, managing to bring in much of that dungeon-crawl fun without a heavy rules overhead. I happen to bring it up now as there is a Kickstarter for an expansion ending very soon.
The Quest Kids
Designer: Dustin McMillian
Publisher: Treasure Falls Games
Players: 2-4
Ages: 5+
Time: 20-45 min
(review copy provided by publisher)
SokoMage (Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, X/S, PC)
Posted on September 16th, 2024 by
Help a wizard reach a magical crystal in a forest in the puzzle game SokoMage. It’s a block pushing puzzler available on all current consoles and PC, but reviewed on Switch here.
Thank Goodness You’re Here! (Switch, PS4, PS5, PC)
Posted on September 13th, 2024 by
Oh wow, what game did I just play? What game did I just play?!? Thank Goodness You’re Here! is one of the weirdest games I’ve played in a long time. It was published by the same folks who also published Untitled Goose Game and the PlayDate, if that gives you any indication of what this game might be like. You are a little man, only reaching knee high to everyone else in the game. Your boss tasks you to meet with the mayor of another town to sell what your business provides. But the mayor is busy for a few hours, so you pass the time by helping out the townspeople. You do this by walking around, sometimes in an overhead perspective and sometimes in a 2D platforming fashion. You can jump with one button and slap with the other button. Yes that’s how you interact with things and talk with people is by slapping them. The game is like playing an interactive cartoon and it’s so chock full of British humor that I swear my Switch was going to start oozing bangers and mash. The game is available on Switch, PlayStation consoles, and PC, but reviewed on Switch here.
