Wii U eShop Game Reviews
Review Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire (Wii U eShop / GBA)
Not just a load of balls
Following on from the highly enjoyable Pokémon Pinball on the original Game Boy and Game Boy Color, Nintendo released a successor to coincide with the release of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire. Now, with Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire firmly secured by many a 3DS owner, Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire
Review Mighty Final Fight (Wii U eShop / NES)
Looks can be deceiving
At first glance, it would be easy to mistake Capcom's Mighty Final Fight as a cheap cash-in of a superior arcade beat 'em up, with its chibi-styled characters and its seemingly limited 8-bit presentation. But while Mighty Final Fight may appear simpler than other entries in the series — game history buffs would be interested...
Review GetClose: A Game for RIVALS (Wii U eShop)
Cheek to cheek
If you're wondering how Wombat Source came up with the title for GetClose: A Game for RIVALS, just imagine the proximity of two people who must hold opposite sides of a Wii U GamePad in order to control their respective characters on the TV screen. Not clear enough? What about two people on either side of a Wii U Pro Controller? Now...
Review Shiny The Firefly (Wii U eShop)
Glow or no?
In this reviewer’s opinion, any game that claims ‘funny faces’ as being a unique selling point in its advertising should be handled with caution, so without further ado let’s plunge into the realms of Shiny the Firefly. You control Shiny, the titular firefly in an effort to save its tiny firefly children that were scared by a...
Review Tested With Robots! (Wii U eShop)
Let it rust
It's no secret that Nintendo has relaxed its criteria for independent publishers to release their games on their eShop, and for better or for worse it looks like that policy is here for the foreseeable future. It's this relaxed attitude that is responsible for one of the latest releases on the eShop. Tested With Robots! is themed in a...
Silly rabbit! Heptrix is for... wait, who IS it for?
Given the recent influx of shovelware on the Nintendo eShop — both on the 3DS and Wii U — it seems like the right time for new developers to ask themselves an important question before taking the plunge into the indie scene: why? There are already hundreds of thousands of games out there in...
Review Shadow of the Ninja (Wii U eShop / NES)
Go ninja, go ninja GO!
Ninjas really were a hot ticket back in the '90s. The Turtles were making TV and toy executives money hand over fist, and children became so caught up in the craze they had the sheer gall to drag their parents into the cinema to watch dreck like Surf Ninjas. Yep, it was a great time to be a kid. The trend bled into gaming and...
Review S.C.A.T.: Special Cybernetic Attack Team (Wii U eShop / NES)
I'm a scatman
Right, let's get this dealt with from the start; S.C.A.T is an awful name for a game — we won't go into why here, but it actually stands for Special Cybernetic Attack Team. Interestingly, the cart shipped in Europe as Action in New York. That's a much better title, although the game has as much to do with the Big Apple as mushy peas...
Review Crash 'n the Boys: Street Challenge (Wii U eShop / NES)
Crashing with the boys
After another success at the track-meet Crash and the Boys from Southside High are issued a street challenge by a jealous rival; now they and teams from four other schools compete in a series of no-holds barred sporting events to find who really is the greatest. Crash ‘n the Boys: Street Challenge differs from other sporting...
Review Alphadia Genesis (Wii U eShop)
Alphadia Generic
Like every other game genre, there's no one set of generally agreed-upon rules for what makes a Japanese RPG good. Some people simply can't stand turn-based gameplay, feeling it's an obsolete relic of an era gone past; others get misty-eyed with nostalgia and/or prefer its more deliberate pacing. Then there are gamers who debate...
Review Snake Den (Wii U eShop)
Snake? Snake?! SNAAAAAAAAAKE!
When revisiting a well-worn concept, it's important to bring something new to the table. After all, we've reached a point in the gaming industry where certain genres — first-person shooter, platformer and adventure, just to name a few — have been pioneered and perfected over the years by generations of developers...
Review Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! (Wii U eShop / SNES)
Donkey wish your girlfriend was Kong like me?
Having stunned audiences with Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest, Rare had an awful lot to live up to on the final entry of the original Donkey Kong Country trilogy. Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble! sees the titular hero take centre stage after being second to the delightful...
Review Thomas Was Alone (Wii U eShop)
Simple brilliance
We're in the middle of one of the most diverse, intriguing periods in video game history. The rise of download games, small 'indie' developers and stores like the Wii U eShop have shifted how we think about content; we're a long way from the retail-only culture of the '90s or even early 2000s. One modern trend is for low-fi...
Review Natsume Championship Wrestling (Wii U eShop / SNES)
Tapped out
Let's be honest here: wrestling is essentially one big television drama, and that's no way an attempt to belittle the incredible athleticism of the men and women involved. It's Eastenders with a mullet and tight pants, complete with plot twists and a cast of larger than life characters to root for. These heels and faces are the reason we...
Review Sportsball (Wii U eShop)
No harm, no fowl
Nintendo has been highlighting TOO DX's Sportsball at various shows and conferences as one of several particularly strong "indie games" available on the Wii U eShop, promoting it as a quality party game. Though at first it looks like a primitive, simplistic Joust clone, its charms quickly become apparent with fast-paced gameplay and...
X-cruciating
In the world of platformers, the name of the game is control. That is to say, nothing speaks to a platform game's quality quite like the level of control the player feels they have over their character. Of course, control alone does not guarantee a successful product — creative level design that makes intuitive use of the mechanics is...
Review Mario Kart Super Circuit (Wii U eShop / GBA)
Good for another lap
When the Nintendo 64 hit the market and suggested that 2D games had gone the way of the dodo, many of us that were fond of fancy sprite-work were forced to dust off elderly hardware to scratch our itch for the classic genres we held dear — until the Game Boy Advance came along, that is. Often reflected upon as the second...
Review Shuttle Rush (Wii U eShop)
Breath and taxes
Sometimes a game comes at you and everything seems fully as you expect… almost. It looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck. It’s definitely a duck. But then it moos a little and you’re forced to take a step back. That’s Shuttle Rush. General gameplay here is very straightforward: this is a...
Review PING 1.5+ (Wii U eShop)
All over the place
Ping 1.5+ is a puzzle game that’s all about aiming and shooting a tiny white cube at a circular orange target. Of course that’s easier said than done, as you’ll need to judge the right angle, bank the cube off walls, and avoid colliding with obstacles to reach the target within the indicated number of bounces and/or moves...
Above the fold
Development studio Nyamyam prides itself on being founded with the primary purpose of making games that are fun and meaningful. This is a company that openly states that through great love and attention, it strives to create beautifully crafted games that bring a little magic into people’s lives. This is a small band of Rare alumni...
Review Angry Bunnies: Colossal Carrot Crusade (Wii U eShop)
Colossal Clone Catastrophe
More and more cheap titles on the Wii U eShop are being released with amateurish production and design, and Cypronia's Angry Bunnies: Colossal Carrot Crusade is only a half-step up. A port of a 3DS Angry Birds clone, Colossal Carrot Crusade contains the exact content of its 3DS counterpart, but with added online...
Review The Swapper (Wii U eShop)
A clone in the dark?
With the Wii U eShop’s recent flurry of sci-fi titles such as Master Reboot and The Fall finding a home on the digital service, what does it take for yet another game set in space to stand out from the crowd? Puzzles. Yep, but not just any old puzzles — spatial physics-based conundrums that’ll give your brain a thorough...
Review SDK Paint (Wii U eShop)
Just OK Paint
SDK Paint has an interesting history. Its developer, Hullbreach Studios, began making JavaScript applications for Wii, Nintendo DSi, and Nintendo 3DS using their respective Internet browsers. These include both the initial versions of SDK Paint — DSi Paint and 3DS Paint — as well as a full-fledged browser-based MMORPG called...
Review Chests O' Booty (Wii U eShop)
Pieces of 2048
You can hardly swing a stylus without hitting a match-three game on the 3DS eShop these days, but so far the relentless tide of phoned-in puzzlers has mostly sidestepped the Wii U’s digital storefront. And while Chests O’ Booty might at first look like a pirate-themed take on more of the same, it’s actually a surprisingly unique...
Review Costume Quest 2 (Wii U eShop)
Fine, but not double fine
As RPGs go, the original Costume Quest was never a particularly complex affair. The same thing can be said about its sequel, Costume Quest 2, which takes the two trouble-seeking children into another Halloween adventure, but this time in different periods of recent history. You control Wren and Reynold, two marginally...
Review Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (Wii U eShop / GBA)
The best for last?
Konami's Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow is the third and final Castlevania title for the GBA, and arguably the strongest. A departure from the typical period drama involving the extended and ever-complicated Belmont clan, Aria of Sorrow introduces new characters and mythology into the series while also building on what has made...
Review Flapp & Zegeta (Wii U eShop)
What the Flapp?
On Denysoft's official website, Flapp & Zegeta comes with a disclaimer reproduced here verbatim: "Warning: this may be one of the most challenging games of all times it may require a high level of intelligence and reflexes to get through." Rest assured, Flapp & Zegeta is challenging. In fact, it probably does meet its lofty...
Review Rock Zombie (Wii U eShop)
B movie beat 'em up
It's always a pleasant surprise when a game surpasses your expectations. Suffice it to say, this reviewer's expectations were modest going into Rock Zombie — the goofy synthesized guitars, expressionless character models and mangled English dialogue all seemed to lead in one direction: pain. But you can't go into every game...
Review Falling Skies: The Game (Wii U eShop)
Falling to pieces
Video games have relied on the standard 'alien invasion' plot since the very beginning. It takes a unique twist to make it work in this day and age, whether it's a new gameplay style or a refreshingly original storyline, and that isn't an easy task. Falling Skies: The Game takes fun, tactical gameplay and blends it with the...
Review Pixel Paint (Wii U eShop)
Almost pixel-perfect
Let’s face it: at some point, every gamer has been caught off guard by the alluring retro beauty of pixel art. Say what you will about its overuse in today’s onslaught of independent games — chances are you still love it. There’s something majestic about the way tens, hundreds, or thousands of tiny dots come together to...
