sfb

@Kidfunkadelic83 my recommendation for you is Jamestown+. Multiple difficulty levels, very enjoyable core gameplay, tons of unlockables and modes, fully uses the widescreen orientation. Nice aesthetics as well IMO

To me, the combat system seems very interesting. Might turn out well in that aspect, depending on game balance and design.

Lately I have been playing Star Renegades, and recently finished playing Cosmic Star Heroine. Lately I am drawn to turn-based games with original or unusual combat systems. So this one seems intriguing to me.

FYI, this person was the developer of some standout early arcade games — including Time Pilot and Gyruss for Konami, and 1942 for Capcom. And various other Capcom games, like Son Son

An unsung hero of the video game history, IMO

@Screen I’m curious, are you referring to the Threes/2048 controversy, or something else?

@getyourak I agree. I’ve enjoyed the small bit of Barrage Fantasia I’ve played so far.

Shout out to another game from the same publisher: Dezatopia. Really good one, this time a horizontal scroller. Feels like a lost Sega Saturn title, in the best possible way. Very unusual mechanics and systems, but it all fits together somehow.

Ved's dead, baby. Ved's dead

“Unable” to patch... or unwilling?

Treasurenauts when

On-topic, I enjoyed and recommend Xeodrifter. Nice bite-sized Metroidvania

Some intriguing puzzlers this week:

Flipon appears to be a riff on Panel de Pon, aka Pokémon Puzzle League - might be good

Infection is a re-skin of a little-known arcade title called Ataxx, pretty fun board game

Petal Crash, don’t quite follow what’s going on in the trailer, but looks potentially worthwhile

I suggest adding Faeria to the list. The prompts are especially inscrutable in handheld mode. Thank goodness for the zoom feature in the Switch OS.

That said, I really enjoy Faeria despite this issue. And despite the mandatory online connection. The core game appeals to me that much, even as a single-player experience.

@Ooyah There also were two Taito collections on PS2. Both have good selections, but the second is especially good for fans of 2D shooters. Several nice ones on there.

I’ve played some of Orangepixel’s games on other platforms, and generally like them. Their two Gunslugs games are on 3DS.

Meganoid looks like a lot of fun. I’ll most likely get it. However, note that Spelunky 2 is coming soon (at least to PS4 and Steam.... hopefully to Switch at some reasonable date afterwards).

@Gamehendge I was wondering about single-player support too — so I looked at some Steam reviews for Faeria and found this:

“Another thing I really like about this game is the offline support it has. This game has really good bot support and full on campaigns that can be played completely solo. I think it would be nice if you could maybe tune the bots difficulty a bit, but for someone like me this is heaven.”

“ Most won't pull up a site and study the historical sales data and tell their friend 'Ok I’ll play this in the next 30-65 days as I feel we’re close to a highest discount ever trend'. Some DO though!" “

I feel personally attacked

@Blooper987 Congrats on getting JS&B. That game is fun, challenging, and inventive. So much variety in the bullet patterns. I didn’t know they were adding even more songs; I thought the Shovel Knight update might have been the final one.

Excellent review, Mark (as always). I appreciate your clear and detailed description of play mechanics.

@vio All three were on PC (Steam specifically). I don’t know whether they appeared on other platforms also

Think there (or was) a demo for Dex on PS4

Tried it years ago. Liked it somewhat, can see its appeal, but wasn’t sufficiently interested to purchase.

Haven’t tried this game, but I think the comments here demonstrate two points:

1. Each person’s experience of a given game (or film, book, etc.) is highly subjective. People might react very differently to the same thing, for any number of reasons.

2. With great love and respect to dearest Alex — given the above, the idea that numerical scores grant reviews some measure of objectivity is pretty silly. A measurement of 4 meters is objective; we can agree on the criteria. A score of 4/10 for a game is anything but. Ultimately it’s a gut call — which is totally OK, so long as we recognize it as such.

Haven’t tried Cat Girl yet — but for those seeking a new horizontal shooter with several inventive gameplay elements, and a more durable challenge, check out Dezatopia. Just started playing it yesterday. Very tightly designed for what it is.

Strangely, Dezatopia reminds me of some of the old Saturn-era shooters, maybe because of the transparency effects. But it plays uniquely, with different weapons mounted on the forward, upper, lower, and rear portions of your ship. So far, a healthy number of levels, paths, bosses, scoring elements, etc.

I believe I played a demo of this on Switch. The eShop might still have the demo available.

Not something I felt any desire to play beyond the demo, but I can see why some really enjoy it. “Laid-back” definitely applies here. Light-hearted experience with gentle humor.

My kind of game. Maybe not for everyone, but certainly for me.

Great time for games, when there are so many different types to suit all kinds of tastes.

Still some gaps in the Switch library, but overall a healthy variety, hopefully satisfying for most.

@WhyN0t Congratulations on the game. I’m eager to try it next month. Hope you have a great launch.

Looks good. Reminds me of Luftrausers

@Ogbert @BenAV Heist is my favorite SW game as well — but knowing I&G’s penchant for switching genres, I half-expect something like SteamWorld Basketball or SteamWorld: Modern Warfare.

Kidding aside — no surprise that they’re working on a new game. If not a Heist sequel, I’d guess something in the 2D realm, extending the lore yet again — but who knows with these guys.

Distinctive art style. With aging eyes, I struggle with games that use so much darkness. Hope there’s a bit more light in the final game.

Reminds me of “flow” from thatgamecompany (who later developed flower and Journey)

I’m enjoying the Steam version. Looking forward to the Switch version next week. Feels like a nice evolution of Devil’s Crush. I agree that the rule set is slightly inscrutable, but that generally doesn’t bother me. I’ll probably figure most of it out eventually.

Pinball FX3 is also great, but quite a different set of experiences. I can’t dispute that Pinball FX3 and especially the Star Wars Pinball package on Switch represent better values. But for me, the experiences are so different that it makes sense to have all of these.

Demon’s Tilt really does reproduce the 16-bit pacing and action in a sense that Zen Studio’s titles don’t, excellent as they are in many other respects.

Played this on Steam. Wild and fun game. It really is reminiscent of Devil’s Crush in various ways. Looking forward to the Switch version in a couple of weeks.

@Stocksy good one! I watched Knight Rider back in the day.

FYI - Believe it or not, we’ve already seen Shovel Knight riding a vehicle — he is an unlockable character in Road Redemption. I was pretty surprised when he popped up there

@geox30 I like your comment, and find it ironic — as Horizon Chase seems like one of the few games where Shovel Knight hasn’t made a cameo

Started playing this yesterday. Very impressed how it retains the feel of games like Smash TV despite having larger spites, lower resolution, and different mechanics (fewer enemies, more hits needed to take down an enemy, upgradable ability, the dodge roll, limited ammo).

I’d go as far to say the pacing and challenge of Xeno Crisis is more reminiscent of the feel of early twin-stick than is Galaxy Champions TV, which superficially bears a much closer resemblance to Smash TV. Both are challenging games, but Xeno Crisis seem to have more urgent pacing from the jump, moment-to-moment.

Looks pretty good; reminds me of Super Stardust

Not throwing any shade on Shinobi, or any other Sega Ages releases to date (or announced). That said, I have to agree with others who would love to (also!) see other, newer segments of Sega’s library released for current systems such as the Switch. So much good stuff there, much of which was never released outside the arcade, or not released outside of Japan, or unseen for many years.

Again, much respect for the earlier Sega titles, but many of us also would love to revisit other areas of Sega’s legacy as well.

I can only conclude that there is a fundamental disconnect between the Sega fan base (particularly in the West) and the decision-making at Sega and/or M2. Or they’re just determined to work on what they prefer, regardless of consumer interest.

Sounds intriguing to me, from what little I’ve seen and heard of the battle system. Also, FWIW, I enjoyed Pocket Card Jockey quite a bit. Hope this turns out well.

Need one that says “Hello there lovely people”

@RadNitro89 Interesting, I don’t think I ever tried Metal Slug Advance — I’ll have to check that out

I like the idea of a “traditional” one-hit mode and a “contemporary” life bar mode with a few hit points, as Oda suggested. If designed properly, this might offer the best chance of satisfying both types of gamers.

Well I guess we’re gonna have to take control

Interesting moral compass. From the examples provided, I’m inferring that the X-axis represents practicality, with Utilitarianism/Machiavellian choices being more so, and Existentialist/Nihilist being less.

As to the Y-axis, I’m guessing it indicates the extent to which one’s actions are coherent with a conventional moral code — with U/E being more so, and M/N quite clearly less so.

Not sure I agree with using the term Existentialist in this context. Maybe materialist? In fairness, it has been a few decades since my philosophy degree, so I might not be most informed resource on this topic.

@CatalinZZ Thanks for replying to my comment! And congratulations on the game.

And thanks for telling me about the personality system; I wasn’t aware of that. That really reflects the original sense of role-playing.

@ThanosReXXX Agree that a touch of humility would be a better look. That said, it can be surprisingly tricky to write decent ad copy — and I’m guessing the core development staff either isn’t close to the publicity, and/or PR isn’t one of their main skill sets.

Just my opinion. In any case, the game looks intriguing. From a macro perspective, it strikes me as odd that this genre has come to be known as “action RPG” — considering what role-playing originally meant, back in the days of tabletop D&D. Ah well, it’s just a label after all.

Dogs of the AMS. Time they made their move.

The theme of social class, though potentially controversial, might be interesting if handled thoughtfully. Not a topic we often see explored in gaming.

I still remember his video where he created a “portable” Wii U.

He basically sewed a battery pack and the console itself into a jacket, so he could walk around while holding/pocketing the Wii U gamepad.

@PhilKenSebben @N64-ROX Thank you both for your comments. Recently I have been binging Into The Breach, and I am stunned at how well-considered all of the elements are — especially the challenge/solvability of each level.

Overland does seem intriguing, but I am very wary it could come close to ITB in terms of overall game balance. As one of you said, there’s practically always some way, however unorthodox, to get through the level. Absolutely critical for a rogue-lite/like, and maybe one of the toughest things for a game to get right — or even come close.

@brandonbwii Totally fair comment — but, FWIW, I totally enjoyed this game as a single-player experience/challenge on Steam. I might even re-buy this for the Switch — and I’m not even a fan of this genre.

Fight N Rage does a lot of little things right, from the visuals to the movesets/controls to the unlockables, branching paths, etc.

Again, totally fair if you decide to pass — if multiplayer is central to your enjoyment, I suspect this will have very few online participants at any given time, given its relative lack of marketing.

Risk of Rain, Risk of Rain....
I only wanted to see you laughing in the Risk of Rain

Loved the first game, haven’t played the sequel yet. Slightly concerned when @Leostacks said “I get blind sided by enemies I couldn't have possibly seen coming” — sounds like me attempting to play almost any game in a 3-dimensional space. Not my strongest suit! But I will give this a try, given its pedigree.

I picked this up when it was shadow-dropped in the Switch some months ago, I believe around the start of E3.

The text of the review accurately captures the difficulty and (initial) inscrutability of the game. Took me a good while to wrap my head around the mechanics. Eventually I was visibly improving, and even put some scores on the first page of the leaderboards (top 6 for each difficulty level, or “Tear”).

Also, as you can see, Jaycee (the developer) is super friendly, and has a welcoming Discord channel. Nice little community there. Some occasional tournaments, though I haven’t participated in those.

Sounds like the RNG is strong with this one.

I think the best rogue-lites/likes use RNG to unexpectedly throttle the level of challenges — while still making nearly all challenges surmountable, given sufficient skill and planning. I fear this balance might not have been well-calibrated in this case, given what I’ve read here & in Steam reviews.