Switch eShop, Switch Game Reviews scoring 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6/10
Review Physical Contact: 2048 (Switch eShop)
Double up
Not long after the bizarrely-named and pretty dull card game Physical Contact: SPEED made its way onto the Nintendo Switch eShop with little fanfare in July, other than a weird and slapdash trailer, Collavier is at it again with a similarly (bizarrely) named sequel of sorts, this time focusing on the number puzzle genre. Despite sounding...
Review 36 Fragments of Midnight (Switch eShop)
A (very) quick stroll in the moonlight
The Nintendo eShop is a weird and wonderful place; some games are absolute gems, some are whatever-the-opposite-of-gems-is, and some leave you with more questions after completion than when you first started. 36 Fragments of Midnight falls into that latter category and, whilst it might work successfully if...
Just don't play the co-op with your ex...
The shmup genre is understandably much loved by some gamers, as it boils down the basics of gaming. Often intense yet simple to play, difficult but easy to grasp, shoot 'em ups were fundamental in the retro arcade scene and continue to entertain us on modern systems, often as download games or budget retail...
Review Lichtspeer: Double Speer Edition (Switch eShop)
Grab your speer and get to Kraftwerk
Chasing high scores and facing off against waves of enemies is usually the kind of instant, twitchy action reserved for the neon of arcades and a classic gaming mentality. We're so used to engaging stories and cinematic experiences that sometimes we just need a moment to sit back, relax, and hurl some bright pink...
Review R.B.I. Baseball 17 (Switch)
A real grounder
R.B.I. Baseball has a long history with Nintendo consoles, first appearing on the original NES in 1986. The series was annualized following the release of R.B.I. Baseball 2 for the NES in 1990, until taking a 19 year break following Super R.B.I. Baseball’s 1995 release on the Super NES. Fast forward to 2017 and the series is...
Review Kingdom: New Lands (Switch eShop)
The price is knight
Something of a cult hit when it appeared on Steam, and more recently on XLBA, NOIO and Liquorice games' (published by Raw Fury) Kingdom: New Lands makes its way to Nintendo Switch. A 2D sidescrolling micromanagement simulator in a pixellated medieval landscape, it tests attention, patience and strategy in equal measure. A...
Review Double Dragon 4 (Switch eShop)
Double trouble
Double Dragon is one of the most famous fighting games of all time, but it's very of its time, too. For a side-scrolling brawler in the '80s, it set the bar high with a complex move-set, loads of enemies on-screen at once and a great soundtrack; its status was amplified by some excellent NES ports and the almost compulsory terrible...
Review Blue's Journey (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)
Unremarkable trip
Pollution caused by the Daruma tribe is causing great harm to the planet Raguy and it’s up to you as Blue to partake in a platforming adventure to defeat this menace and save the Princess Fa. There was no shortage of platformers in the 1990s, but one appearing on the Neo Geo was unusual and with its leaf-stun mechanic and ability...
Review Physical Contact: SPEED (Switch eShop)
Not so wild card
The Nintendo Wii brought a new demographic to the world of video games. Suddenly, everyone from Mum and Dad, Nan and Grandad were subject to waggle, stray remotes flying into TVs, plastic balance boards and mini steering wheels. Unfortunately, for every Galaxy and Prime example of the console's library, the Wii was engulfed in what...
Review Sky Ride (Switch eShop)
Sky’s quite limited
When you first boot up Sky Ride, you’d be forgiven for thinking you’d accidentally downloaded an early alpha version by mistake. After selecting it from your Switch home menu you get a brief loading screen and are then immediately presented with your character sitting there, ready to go with a basic title logo up in the...
Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube768k Watch on YouTube Review Super Sidekicks (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)
International so-so Soccer
Although primarily known for its fighters, the Neo Geo did host games in a number of other genres and indeed Hamster’s ACA releases have included puzzlers, run and gun titles, shooters and a golf game. Now they bring us football (or "soccer" if you're reading this in North America) simulator Super Sidekicks. The aim of...
Review Puzzled (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)
Blocking our enjoyment
Not all Neo Geo games are created equal. Although the majority of titles on SNK’s system offer great blasts of arcade goodness, there were also a number of Neo Geo games back in the day that didn’t quite meet the high standards set by other gems like The King Of Fighters or Metal Slug. Puzzled, sadly, is a perfect example...
Review Magician Lord (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)
Casts ‘impedimentia’ too often
It’s funny how over the years some big titles can fade completely into obscurity. There’s a good chance most modern gamers will never have heard of Magician Lord, but back in the early ‘90s it was actually quite a well-known title. That’s because in the early days of the Neo Geo, Magician Lord was one of...
Review Fatal Fury 2 (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)
Not quite Special enough
Back in the day, the power of the Neo Geo meant that SNK was the first publisher to release home console games that were over 100 Mb in size (that’s megabits, so around 12.5 MB). It commemorated this by launching the 100-Mega Shock series, which basically involved slapping a lovely splash screen at the start of any game...
Review Metal Slug 2 (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)
Slow Vehicle – 001/II
For those seeking enjoyable run and gun action the first and third Metal Slug games are already available on the Switch’s eShop and now Metal Slug 2 gets the ACA treatment, faithfully recreating the sights, sounds and feel of the original game. Unfortunately, this also includes the extreme slowdown. It doesn’t take much...
Leave this Troll under the bridge
There's evident potential in Troll and I. Initially developed as part of a crowdfunding program run by Square Enix, it is an intriguing action game starring a Scandinavian boy named Otto who, after finding his village aflame and being separated from his mother, stumbles upon a large creature during his hasty retreat...
Review Ultra Hyperball (Switch eShop)
Not very ultra
If humanity has given the world anything, it’s the ability to turn even the most mundane games into a sport. Rock/Paper/Scissors, the epitome of what you do when you can’t decide who gets to do something unsavoury, now has world championships. Not content with merely kicking a soccer ball into a net, folk now insert themselves...
Not as infectious as one may hope
Homages to our childhood are very much at the forefront of gaming right now, with so many titles playing on our sense of nostalgia. Rainy Night Creations is aiming for that effect with its take on the '90s survival-horror genre. Harking back to the days of Resident Evil and Dino Crisis, Vaccine intends to make its...
Review Flip Wars (Switch eShop)
Bomberman meets ChuChu Rocket
Flip Wars began as a little project by the name of Project Mekuru, a game developed with the Unity Engine in which players could duke out a war for tile-based dominance while using their own Mii character. Since then its brand has naturally evolved in localisation, but the Miis have been replaced with characters...
Review Cars 3: Driven to Win (Switch)
Cruisin' in 3rd gear
Nintendo systems often get tie-ins for popular family movies, fleshing out the multi-platform offerings that are available. It's absolutely understandable considering the fact that young audiences do get drawn to Nintendo hardware, and that's continuing with the Switch. Cars 3: Driven to Win is an early contender in this...
Review Galaxy Fight: Universal Warriors (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)
In space, no one can hear you yawn
When the one-on-one fighting game gold rush took place in the '90s it seemed that practically every developer or publisher had their own take on the genre, and as you might expect, not all of these efforts turned out to be classics. Sunsoft fared better than most - Waku Waku 7 remains one of the most unique...
Review Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas (Switch eShop)
Horn of plenty?
When Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas was unveiled for mobile devices a couple of years ago, it wasn't hard to draw comparisons to a certain iconic Nintendo franchise. Since that time it's enjoyed some success and made its way to other platforms, now including the Switch eShop; the question is whether the transition to dedicated...
Review Sengoku (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)
Hacked off
Hamster Corp's dedication to mining the back catalogue of the Neo Geo on Switch is commendable, but it does throw up some issues - namely that as time goes on the company is going to have to dig deeper and deeper into the library of the system, and that means having to endure some less-than-classic titles. While we wouldn't say that...
Review Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers (Switch)
"Now I will find a better challenge!"
Like Tetris, Doom and Minecraft., Street Fighter II is one of those games which will forever have a special place in the history of video games. Upon its initial launch in 1992 it captured the hearts and minds of an entire generation of players, triggering a genre explosion which would last for the remainder of...
Review Dark Witch Music Episode: Rudymical (Switch eShop)
An abundance of Boing-Boings
Originally developed for iOS and Android devices, Dark Witch Music Episode: Rudymical is a spin-off from The Legend of Dark Witch series that was playable on Nintendo 3DS. In a complete detour from the two previous titles – The Legend of Dark Witch and The Legend of Dark Witch - Episode 2: The Price of Desire ??
Review Over Top (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)
Let's go next stage!!
The Neo Geo was famous for its staggering selection of fighting games, but it was less blessed when it came to racing titles. Only a handful were ever released during the console's lengthy lifespan - hardly a massive shock when you consider that the 2D nature of the console made realistic driving games tricky - and of that...
Review Mr. Shifty (Switch eShop)
SHIFT+DELETE
There's a brief message at the bottom of every game page on the Switch eShop. In short, it's a disclaimer that is designed to protect Nintendo and other developers from liability in the event that players suffer from a seizure caused by gameplay. You've probably seen the message, and you've probably ignored it. You probably also haven't...
Review Fatal Fury (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)
Hungry like the wolf
While SNK's premier fighting game series is King of Fighters, the company tested the waters of the one-on-one combat genre with 1991's Fatal Fury, a title designed by none other than Takashi Nishiyama, the man behind Capcom's original 1987 Street Fighter. Street Fighter II was the game which kickstarted interest in this style of...
Review LEGO City: Undercover (Switch)
Chasing more sales
LEGO City: Undercover, understandably, was considered a big deal by Nintendo when it came to the Wii U exclusively back in early 2013. While it was a welcome arrival, it struggled - like various other titles - to arrest the early slump in system sales, and though Nintendo published the title it was evidently not locked down...
Review Has-Been Heroes (Switch)
Past its prime
After working on the Trine trilogy of physics-based adventure games, it's safe to say that Frozenbyte knows its way around the fantasy genre. Continuing in the grand tradition of sending three adventurers off on a harrowing quest, Nintendo Switch has now been graced with Has-Been Heroes, an RPG that blends elements of the roguelike...
