The Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors (Switch)

Inspired by: Ninja Warriors, Final Fight...

They say you can never really go back – the game might still be there, but nostalgia mixes with memories and creates something more intoxicating in the mind than it really was. Go back to the SNES Ninja Warriors now and it’s still fun, but it’s stuck in the square box of a 4:3 screen, the animation doesn’t stand out like it did and one-player-only looks weak alongside the other Final Fight tribute acts of the day. But when you see The Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors, it’s somehow exactly what you remember: huge, lush backdrops, silky animation, and tight, mob-levelling ninja moves. It makes you feel like being a kid again and, as such, this game stands as yet another essential Switch release you really should own.

Octopath Traveler (Switch)

Inspired by: Classic 16-bit JRPGs

Octopath Traveler was developed by the Square Enix studio behind Bravely Default, and boy does it live up to those high expectations. From its dazzling art style to its mechanics, it's the kind of game that keeps an eye on the past while walking bravely into the future. All elements link together perfectly to make for a harmonious and immersive experience that you’ll find difficult to put down. We’d recommend Octopath Traveler to both fans and newcomers of RPGs; it does a fantastic job of straddling that line of accessibility and depth, satisfying both camps with its dizzying amount of content. Classic-inspired gameplay, an orchestrated soundtrack, and a unique approach to storytelling make this a game that you won’t want to miss. Don't forget about the fantastic sequel, Octopath Traveler II, either.

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Octopath Traveler
Octopath Traveler

River City Girls (Switch eShop)

Inspired by: River City Ransom and the Kunio-kun series

Whether you’re playing alone or teaming up with a friend in co-op mode, River City Girls is up there with Scott Pilgrim vs The World as a visually superb, aurally fantastic, out-and-out love letter to the beat 'em up genre. Fans of River City Ransom and other Kunio-kun games will adore how it respects the past but makes it relevant today, while those new to the series will simply find a hugely enjoyable and infectiously cheerful scrapper.

The Eternal Castle [Remastered] (Switch eShop)

Inspired by: Another World, Flashback and other cinematic platformers

The Eternal Castle [REMASTERED] is a neo-retro masterpiece. Even if you play the game from start to finish just once in a single sitting and never come back to it, this minimalist post-apocalyptic epic will stay with you for years to come. Obviously, if you're not a fan of classic 'cinematic' platformers like Another World and Flashback and their prioritising of look-and-feel over control responsiveness, then you may want to approach with caution. If you're looking for the next true evolution of that genre, though, look no further. They just don’t make them like this any more… and we found ourselves wondering 'why not?'.

Wallachia: Reign Of Dracula (Switch)

Inspired by: Castlevania, Contra

It might be more old-school than other similar games, but Wallachia: Reign of Dracula still offers rewarding action, skilful level design, and some excellent music. With Konami seemingly content to sleep on its popular Castlevania series for the time being – outside of smartphone games, of course – this (alongside the likes of Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon and its sequel) might be as close as we're likely to get to a brand-new "old-school" Castlevania outing on Switch. It's a good job, then, that Migami Games knows Konami's franchise so well that it has created a truly convincing imitation – but one which has enough ideas of its own to stand out from its inspiration.

Wallachia: Reign of Dracula
Wallachia: Reign of Dracula

Freedom Planet (Switch eShop)

Inspired by: Sega Genesis / Mega Drive platformers such as Sonic, Gunstar Heroes, and Ristar

Freedom Planet may have started as a mere Sonic copy, but to view the game as nothing more would be an enormously reductive judgment. Despite its ho-hum story and occasional difficulty spikes, Freedom Planet manages to rise above and become more than the sum of its parts, imbuing a well-trodden gameplay style with fresh ideas and concepts. We’d recommend that you give Freedom Planet a try, even if you've sampled the superb Sonic Mania; it’s clear that a substantial amount of care and work went into making this game, and it’s an excellent love letter to fans of action platformers.

If you love this one, then the sequel does even more to differentiate itself and improves upon the original in every single way,

Cyber Shadow (Switch eShop)

Inspired by: Ninja Gaiden

If you consider yourself a fan of retro action platformers, you owe it to yourself to pick up Cyber Shadow. It’s clear in virtually every facet of Cyber Shadow’s design that this project was a labour of love and that its designer is intimately familiar with what makes the stalwarts of this beloved genre so great. Well-built levels, authentic presentation, tight controls and a high difficulty all combine to make this a supreme and focused experience, and one that we can easily say is well worth your time. Mechanical Head Studios has set a high bar with its inaugural release.

Ghosts 'n Goblins Resurrection (Switch eShop)

Inspired by: *long stare*

A resurrection for a classic series, this gives you fewer mod-cons than you might be expecting — if you can’t stand the thought of tackling a game through an arduous process of restarts, walk away now. There are points in the campaign where it comes close to overstepping the mark, and you do wonder why some sections need to be quite so drawn out, but although its difficulty isn’t going to be for everyone, the game remains solidly coordinated, upholding the series ethos of practice-based progression via old disciplines and new processes.

Ghosts 'n Goblins Resurrection is Tokuro Fujiwara’s love letter to a thirty-five-year-old series that’s famous for burying mortal men, and it’s a job done exceptionally well. If challenge is what you live for, toughen up, don that mental armour, and take up the mantle like a lance. If you put in the time and effort, Ghosts ’n Goblins Resurrection will see you reap the most valuable of gaming accomplishments: the prestige of victory.

Steel Assault (Switch eShop)

Inspired by: Classic Castlevanias

Steel Assault is like a bite of an extremely delicious, well-seasoned steak. Just one bite. It lingers in your mind and makes you wish for more, yet in some respects, that’s much better than if you were given the whole thing and took it for granted. If you liked the snappy action and ridiculous difficulty of may old arcade classics, then Steel Assault is absolutely something you should look into. It’s absurd, it’s fun, it’s hard. And it’s short. It doesn’t offer up much more once you've reached the end, but what’s here is intensely well-executed, and we’d definitely recommend you give it a go.

Infernax (Switch eShop)

Inspired by: Ninja Gaiden, Zelda II, classic Castlevanias

While Infernax is tough, it's resolutely fair — you can't really make the game 'easy', but you can absolutely mitigate the difficulty or take a break doing something else when you get stuck. Don't expect a simple ride, though, and don't expect to take the right decisions on a first playthrough - not that anything seems particularly 'right' in this beautifully bloody little world. It's only familiarity that lets Infernax down — there's nothing really new here, but it's all done and delivered so well that you won't really care unless you're desperate for a completely fresh experience. In which case why play a faux-retro NES throwback to begin with? A cut above most efforts in the subgenre, Infernax both demands and requires attention.

Chained Echoes (Switch eShop)

Inspired by: Seminal 16-bit JRPGs

Chained Echoes is a wonderful mash-up of '90s JRPG tropes, masterfully woven together to produce an experience that feels simultaneously nostalgic and fresh. A well-paced story, unconventional progression system, tactical combat system, and expansive world all come together to make for a game that is shockingly one of the very best RPGs that we played in 2022. Really, there’s no place where it feels like Chained Echoes drops the ball, which is all the more impressive when you consider that the vast majority of it was put together by one person. If you consider yourself a fan of JRPGs, you owe it to yourself to pick this one up as soon as possible. It stands as a shining example of everything that makes RPGs great.

Arcade Paradise (Switch)

Inspired by: Arcade classics

We wholly recommend Arcade Paradise if you enjoy either simulation-style games or spent the '90s with a pocketful of quarters down at the local arcade. The narrative centred on a lazy young adult proving to their father they can run a successful business will never really grip you, and – believe it or not – laundering clothes and peeling gum off the machines becomes a bit tiresome. Yet the arcade games themselves and the sheer creativity and charm Nosebleed Interactive has packed into them more than makes up for the monotony. If we stumbled upon these games in the back of our local laundromat, we’d spend actual money there. But since that seems rather unlikely, we’re sure to boot up Arcade Paradise to try for some global rankings long after we’re done with laundering clothes.

Arcade Paradise
Arcade Paradise