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I suspect this site’s favorable Sky Rogue review is helping its performance in this poll. It has a slight lead in the early voting (80 total votes so far).

I’ve been enjoying other airplane/flight games on Switch lately, including Manticore, Wings of Fury DX, and Rogue Aces. I likely will get Sky Rogue as well, based on what I read in the review yesterday.

I enjoyed this on Vita. Nice variety of objectives and levels, for this type of game.

@PhilKenSebben I’m not crazy about the art style myself, but was able to look past that & focus on the action. YMMV, of course

I haven’t played this, but far as Irem arcade games go, I still would love to see “In The Hunt” on the Switch. Would nicely complement the other 2D shooters on the system.

Here in my garage...

Next question: are the Marvel and Star Wars tables ever coming to Switch? Those are some of the best ones from Zen!

Putting that aside — this is good news. From my perspective, it’s true that Zen historically has been good about product quality and customer relations. Hope the patch works, and everyone is happy with it.

FWIW, having played Zen pinball products on other platforms, I did notice the low frame frame rate on Switch undocked. Certainly playable IMO, but feels like a quantum step backwards to me.

See that girl
Watch that scene
Diggin’ the Packet Queen #

I hope that Sengoku Blade is brought to the Switch at some point — one of the very few (only?) horizontal shmups from Psikyo.

@Lroy You’re welcome! Actually, your comment inspired me to play a quick bit of Snow Bros 2 just now. Still lots of fun, and far less stressful than Flinthook!

@PhilKenSebben Indeed, the greatest horror is in the spelling itself.

@Lroy I echo the comments of @RetroGamerAndrew - I’ve enjoyed both Snow Bros and Flinthook, but they play quite differently.

Flinthook is indeed a difficult game, but more than just “arcade” difficult. In the vein of many other rogue-lites, the skill development curve is fairly steep, and some of your runs will be perilously brief. Of course, therein lies the satisfaction one gets from achieving even minor milestones in Flinthook; such increments of progress are hard-won victories.

I might re-buy Flinthook on the Switch for its accessibility. But as Andrew wrote, the difficulty/fairness balance becomes a little questionable after a few levels. Not sure if I’m truly up to facing that again.

@techdude FYI, Totes the Goat is also on iOS as a free-to-play game, if you’d like to check it out. Similar to Q*Bert, but much slower-paced. Given the developer (Atooi), I’d expect/hope that the Switch version is not FTP, but I don’t know.

Great news. Looking forward to this.

Also hoping we get a Switch UI update sometime, enabling me to make a folder for all these 2D shooters. Get it more!

Actually I’m intrigued by the rebalancing. I somewhat enjoyed this on PS4 - it’s certainly my kind of game - but I hit a wall around the 3rd stage, despite numerous attempts. Felt like progress depended a bit much on the RNG of power-ups. Admittedly my skills are not the greatest, so maybe it’s just me.

@Qun_Mang Good point - would be nice to at least have a “bundle” option for some of these older arcade games on the Switch. Maybe someday.

PSA: Gunbird has returned to the North American Switch e-Shop.

@Fred13 The combat in Radiant Historia is indeed turn-based, but with some unique wrinkles. It is described very well in the recent review of the 3DS version on this site.

In brief: enemies appear in a 3x3 grid, and some of your attacks can move one (or more) of them left, right, back, or forward — which modify both their attacks, and the effectiveness of your own attack options. I am not an RPG expert, but it is a unique system within my own experience. Personally, I found the combat pretty novel and fun.

I played through most of the DS original, until I hit a surprising difficulty spike... then got distracted by some other games/activities and never got back to it. In fairness, this is a very common pattern with me, and my skills are often questionable — so please don’t take that as a reflection on the game!

I greatly enjoyed my time with the DS version up to that point. It is the sort of game that is well crafted in many respects - in its systems, as well as its aesthetics. Also, I usually don’t pay much attention to story elements in games - but I found the branching narrative in this game rather compelling. Overall, I think it entirely deserved the praise it received around the time of its release.

I’m slightly tempted to get the 3DS version, given the added story content and modes - but so many other games beckon.

I’ve been enjoying this on PS4. Also enjoyed the previous game, Sky Force Anniversary, on PS4/Vita. The two games are quite similar, with Reloaded having a few additional minor features, and a higher stage count.

This game certainly requires grinding for upgrades in order to progress. It’s true that this diminishes the “pure skill” proposition of the game, which tends to be central for this genre. And yet, I still feel compelled to continue playing.

I suppose I enjoy the intangible “feel” and aesthetics of the game, above all else. Having played 2D shmups for decades, it’s the kind of game I can easily step into & for short or longer periods - either zoning out a bit, or playing with more concentration.

Games like this illustrate the limitations of assigning numeric scores to game reviews.

I personally agree with @JHDK and others on this thread who get a lot of enjoyment, challenge, and replay value from this game. For us, a score in the 8-10 range is a reasonable reflection of our experiences.

Likewise, I certainly can understand this reviewer’s perspective. I can see many people not getting the appeal of this game, and thinking of it as average at best. So I understand the 5/10 as well.

Clearly, this is a game for score chasers, arcade mavens, and fans of certain retro tropes and styles. For that audience, it seems the developer pretty much nailed it. Others certainly have valid perspectives; I suspect they likely would not be converted by any such game - which is totally fine!

The great news is that there are tons of available games for people of all tastes to enjoy. So I have no quarrel with anyone who expresses a different viewpoint. As @admwllms wrote above, this is all quite subjective.

Main character kinda-sorta resembles my wife.

@keihtg Hips don’t lie

I liked this game on the 3DS. Thought is was well-designed. I recall reading a Gamasutra article, explaining that is was developed rather quickly, during a period when Renegade Kid realize it wasn’t going to complete other projects fast enough to generate incremental revenue streams by year-end. So (IIRC) they decided to postpone Treasurenauts and get this into market.

While I understand the frustration with waiting for Treasurenauts (must be years by now), I think this game came out rather well for such a quick project. I enjoyed it, for what it is. The timeline also helps me understand why the game is on the short side. That didn’t bother me, but I do think the game lacks replay value. IIRC, the only motivation to return after completion is to max out skill points & thus try other abilities.

As far as the single boss - that didn’t bother me, because each instance of the boss had different attacks (at least somewhat). Granted, it might have been more satisfying if each boss battle had a different-looking enemy, or a dramatically different battle.

I enjoyed this game on PS4. Very muchin the roguelite mold, with gradual upgrade unlocks, but you still need to refine your skills to anywhere. My kind of game, though I don’t claim to be a great player!

I personally found it fairly difficult, paticularly some of the boos battles, and certain rooms - but it kept me coming back for a decent period. I felt the mechanics of moving with the grapple hook required a little bit of getting used to, but that’s probably my lack of skill talking. Your mileage likely will vary.

One thing about this game’s visuals: I like the pastel, chunky aesthetic - but found that one has to look somewhat closely to avoid some of the spikes/ hazards. Occasionally, I found myself tagged by something I didn’t realize was there. Not a dealbreaker, and might have been patched by now - just be aware, this game requires fairly close attention.

@Judas_Krimson My thoughts are similar to yours. I invested dozens of hours into Enter the Gungeon on PS4. I was disappointed when the Vita version was cancelled - but very happy when I heard it was coming to the Switch! Problem (eventually) solved! Finally, I can Gungeon on the go.

I think the port has turned out very well, and I am enjoying it. Looking forward to the “Advanced Gungeons and Dragons” DLC later this year. I wonder what that might include.

Love the game on PC. Even though it runs so-so on my machine (my graphics card is integrated), it might be my most-played game in my Steam library. Very much looking forward to the Switch version, which should run the game better than my GPD Win 1, with a larger display.

@audiobraniac Dead Cells does have permadeath, but with gradual equipment unlocks. But you still need to find the equipment during your run, much like Enter The Gungeon, Isaac, etc. - in other words, the starting build remains unchanged. Personally, I am a fan of roguelits with permadeath -but if you are not, this might not be the game for you. For what it’s worth, the “feel” and combat in the game are extremely on-point; it controls very well and plays fluidly (even with my gimped graphics setup!).

@mister_magnus

I don’t have any first-hand feedback on Starbound, but you might want to read some user/curator reviews on Steam, and/or reviews on Metacritic. IIRC, Starbound has various features that Terraria does not, but technically might not be in a completed state. Been a while since I looked into it, though, so my recollection might be no longer accurate.

FYI, Starbound is in my Steam library, but I haven’t played it, aside from booting it up once or twice. That’s not a reflection on the game itself: my gaming PC is a handheld GPD WIN, not ideal for that type of game, so I usually gravitate towards simpler games when playing on PC.

Not only am I excited for Space Dave, I also am looking forward to the following (theoretically possible) sequels in the franchise:

Achtung Dave!
Frantic Dave
Undersea Dave
DavZ
What Remains of Dave
That Dragon, Dave

@Heavyarms55 For what it’s worth, I think the reviewer is on point when he said the controls are unusual, but it doesn’t take long to get acclimated. At least that was my experience with the Dreamcast version years ago - the controls became second nature before too long.

Haven’t tried the Switch version yet, probably will do so soon.

Tried this a bit on another platform, but it didn’t click with me, even though I’m partial to twin-stick shooters. Might go back and give it another try sometime.

@Steel76 Agreed, Nex Machina was extremely well done. Sad to hear that Housemarque decided to stop producing arcade-style games, but I understand why they made that move.

@HauntedNostril I’m one who enjoys twin-stick shooters, but I can’t say whether I’m part of a large constituency. For me - as a somewhat older person (48) - this genre is a natural evolution of many of the arcade and console games I enjoyed in the 70s/80s/90s. I’m not only thinking of Robotron, but also of regular 2D shmups: for me personally, these games are a dimensional expansion of the type of action I always enjoyed.

With that said, I certainly can see why many gamers feel tired of twin-stick shooters. Totally understandable. I guess each of us has different sensibilities & preferences (and histories).

I have this game on iOS. I’m generally not into auto-runners, but this is one of the better ones I’ve tried. Snappy little game, with challenging, bite-size levels. A very good fit for the iOS platform, with fairly responsive touch controls.

Given the breadth of the Switch audience, I can see some people enjoying this on the Switch as well. Granted, the price point is not the best — ultimately, though, the Switch is a different market & a different business model than mobile.

@ZoinkGames That’s flipping awesome!

@mister_magnus You might be thinking of Starbound. IIRC, one of the artists who worked on Terraria is the lead designer of Starbound. Years ago, there was talk of Starbound coming to consoles, but I don’t think it has (yet).

@JHDK That is a fantastic score. I’ve also spent lots of time with the game, but don’t have such an impressive record! I think my high might be three dollars and change.

For me, Woah Dave felt like the best Atari 2600 game that never existed. I’m not necessarily saying that the 2600 could run the game, but the blocky aesthetic and absurdly rapid pace reminded me of the games I enjoyed on that console, way back in the day.

Space Dave looks like another winner from Choice Provisions. Looking forward to it.

Played the 3DS version. This review is very much on point. Nice, enjoyable game, with some clever wrinkles throughout. However, some levels seem to have exceptionally low tolerance for error, as though there might be only one valid “solution”, as in a puzzle game. Still, I enjoyed it — until I couldn’t progress any further!

Played the iOS version. Nice little game; good match for that platform. Controls aside, I imagine the Switch version is very similar.

Good review, as well. I think one’s enjoyment of this game would depend on one’s affinity for rogue-style games. It is quite true to that form.

Nice additions. The IREM game I’d most like to see on Switch is “In the Hunt.” The action is unusually slow-paced for a 2D shooter of its era, but I always found it absorbing and challenging.

@Jason9mm I agree with your comments. One theory is that there’s a positive selection bias for user gamer reviews — I.e., people who decided to buy the game are more likely to be favorably disposed to it than the general gaming population.

By the way, I suppose I’m a somewhat uncommon breed of gamer, having enjoyed 10tons’ puzzle/physics games (King Oddball) as well as twin-stick shooters (JYDGE, Time Recoil) across various platforms. Kudos to the developers across the board!