The New Denpa Men (Switch)
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Posted on September 11th, 2024 by
One of the things I liked about the Nintendo 3DS handheld is how much the games used the innovative features of the console. A lot of games would read WiFi signals and pings from other nearby 3DS owners (they called that StreetPass) and would do things with them. One of the games that did stuff like this was The Denpa Men. In that game, you could catch these little guys that looked like a cross between a Mii and a Pikmin, and then you’d send them off on dungeon crawling turn based RPG adventures. They made like, three of these games on the 3DS! I vaguely remember playing one, although I think I just played a demo of it and decided I didn’t like it enough to invest more time in it. But now there’s a new one on the Switch called The New Denpa Men. It’s free to play, so I decided I’d at least check it out and write a review of it.
Gravitators (PS4, PS5, Xbox One, X/S)
Posted on September 9th, 2024 by
Gravitators is a twin stick shooter where you pilot a variety of ships as you blast enemies, navigate tricky mazes, pick up objects, and solve puzzles. It’s available on current PlayStation and Xbox consoles but reviewed on PS4 here.
Tiny Pixels vol. 1: Ninpo Blast (PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, X/S, PC)
Posted on September 4th, 2024 by
You are a ninja riding a hoverbike shooting stars and knives at bugs and other weird critters in Ninpo Blast. It’s a super simple vertically scrolling shooter and is available on all current consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.
Cattie (PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, X/S, PC)
Posted on September 2nd, 2024 by
Help a cat make it to the exit in this challenging 2D precision platformer. It features retro black and white graphics that remind me of the games I used to play on my Apple ][+. Catie is available on all current consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.
Aero the Acro-Bat (PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, X/S)
Posted on August 28th, 2024 by
Back in the early to mid 90s, 2D platformers starring a cartoony animal mascot with attitude were all the rage, thanks to the popularity of Sonic the Hedgehog. One of the more prolific ones was Aero the Acro-Bat. His game got a sequel, a spinoff starring one of the antagonists (Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel), and an enhanced port of the first game on Game Boy Advance many years later. I actually rented the first one back in the day, and I honestly didn’t like it that much. I didn’t remember much about it except the goals were a bit unclear. But at the time, I was getting pretty tired of all those mascot platformers (I didn’t even like a lot of the Sonic games), and I really only got back into those kinds of games once Klonoa came around on the PlayStation. Plus at the time I was more into 16-bit RPGs (it’s kind of the opposite now). But I’m willing to give Aero the Acro-Bat a second chance, because now you can play it on all modern consoles (reviewed on PS4 here). I think this is the Super Nintendo version because of the Mode 7 bonus stages. The cool thing is that later this year, we’ll be able to play the other games in the series on modern consoles, too!
EvoMon (Switch)
Posted on August 26th, 2024 by
Way back in the 90s when I wrote game reviews for The Dallas Morning News, I got to see first hand how Nintendo was going to market Pokémon in the US, and I knew it would be big. So I called my editor and requested that I cover anything Pokémon related, and for a few years he kept that promise. I like to say that Pokémon helped pay my way through college. Anyway, not only did I get to review and cover everything Pokémon related, but also any rip-offs and copies riding the coattails of its popularity. This included things like DigiMon, Monster Rancher, etc. EvoMon on Nintendo Switch reminds me of some of those knock-offs, and it even looks and feels like something that would’ve been on the Game Boy Color or NEO GEO Pocket Color, two handhelds out at the time! In EvoMon, you’ll play mini-games to train and evolve your monsters so they can battle others and you can win badges!
Music Box (Switch)
Posted on August 21st, 2024 by
Compose your own drum licks on the Nintendo Switch with Music Box. Yup, that’s it.
Retro Revengers (PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, X/S, PC)
Posted on August 19th, 2024 by
I really don’t keep up with the game streaming business, but apparently it’s very popular. Some streamers even have their own characters and products and stuff. Such is the case with a group of streamers in Japan that I’ve never heard of, but now they have their own game with Retro Revengers. Play as the characters from the streaming videos in a retro styled 2D platformer. But really what sold me on this game was that the music was done by the same composer who did the tunes for Mega Man and Shovel Knight (the music isn’t as good here, but you can tell that’s who did it at least). Anyway, Retro Revengers is available on all current consoles and PC, but reviewed on Switch here.
The Mini-Games of Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble
Posted on August 16th, 2024 by
I’ve been a big fan of the Super Monkey Ball games ever since the GameCube ones and the original arcade game (which was called just Monkey Ball and the joystick was a banana you had to hold…kind of embarrassing). The series is still going strong today and SEGA recently released Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble on Switch. So I though I’d do a little review of it and go over the mini-games and even talk about what’s in the “Legendary Banana Edition” you can get at launch. So let’s roll!
Fit My Dog (Switch)
Posted on August 14th, 2024 by
First there were cats, then zoo animals, and now dogs. In Fit My Dog, you must arrange canines of varying shapes onto a bed so they can take a nap together. It reminds me of those tanogram puzzles and is available on Nintendo Switch.
