Notes on Switch Games

Notes on Nintendo Switch games.

※ [demo] after a game's title indicates the opinions are based only on the eShop-downloadable demo.
※ [trial] after a game's title indicates the opinions are based only on a Nintendo Switch Online trial.

Notes

Ace Angler / 釣りスピリッツ (Fishing Spirits)	also on: Arcade
Over-the-top, videogamey version of that Japanese pond fishing thing. It's wild. There are two main modes, that play a bit differently. There's a story mode that's pretty cruisey, kinda like a phone game, but well paced so you don't have to grind stuff to buy stronger rods or do tasks for the aquarium thing. Then there's 'Medal Mode', which I assume is based on the arcade game. Catching stuff works differently, with you getting much less information, and you have to spend medals to do anything. Still, you tend to end up with plenty, and you use those to unlock new modes and ponds and things. Asian and Japanese versions now include English! You can get it in a pack with an uncomfortable fishing reel shell too.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons
It's kinda the best and the worst Animal Crossing game. It's so pretty (though running at 30 FPS bugs me more than I thought), and has so many nice additions that make it a really smooth experience, but that's the problem too. I don't play AC for some kinda power fantasy where I control and island and everyone on it. I just want to hang out with some weirdos.

Another Code Recollection `[demo]`
Baby game. Who even writes stories and characters like this, like the how is any of this human. The voice actors who play the 14 year0ikd girls and the grizzled sea captain sound the same age.

Arms `[demo]`
Feels too messy for me. I haven't played Splatoon (I since have played 2, and quite liked it!), but I have similar feelings about it. Is kinda appealing visually, but as a player-versus-player multiplayer game it seems really inelegant.

Astebreed	also on: PS4, Win


ASTLIBRA Revision `[demo]`
Games parts seemed okay, but there was way too much talking.

Atelier Lulua ~The Scion of Arland~	also on: PS4, Win
Animey RPG where you collect a bunch of stuff? Demo didn't have English, but…I liked it enough to grab a copy. People have very shiny legs. Oh gosh there're a lot of these games.

Chameleon	also on: Arcade, DS, PSP¹⁾
Kinda neat versus puzzle game where you have to capture tiles/territory by switching colour. There are different kinds of stage goals and strategies. Main mode is really easy. Nothing special, but bought it with gold points.

Chants of Sennaar `[demo]`
I like the idea of having to learn the game's language to solve puzzles, but it's too hand-holdy (like they confirm your guesses about the meaning of words instead of making interesting puzzles out of ambiguities) and the puzzles are pretty lever pulling and stealth shit.

Color Your World `[demo]`
Really don't enjoy this kinda game/puzzle. Sliding ice block puzzle, or whatever it's called. The difference between the player character and how they're represented in the opening cutscene is fun.

Contra: Operation Galuga `[demo]`
Didn't think much of this. Feels sloppy, light stages are too long and enemy placement isn't as well thought-out as the original. I've been playing the first Contra on the Famicom a bit recent to test different rapid-fire controllers, so it's pretty fresh in my memory. In the demo the Story mode bugs out (why is there even a story mode?), but arcade mode works. It's cool that you can be the Probotector robots.

Crying Suns `[demo]`	also on: Android, iOS, Mac, Windows
Don't like the graphics (bad colours, no faces—), but ended up playing through the demo twice. I don't keep-up with Rogue-lights, just play one for a bit every now and then I guess; Dungeon of the Endless, Shiren The Wanderer. You run a space ship, scavenge for items, fight other ships, talk too much. I dunno.

Crypt of the Serpent King `[demo]`	also on: PS4, Win, XB1
Oh wow, it's terrible!

Daemon X Machina `[demo]`
Been playing this a bit and enjoying it. The character creator is pretty nice! Tentative and early reaction is that I would like to buy this at some point. Needs better indication / feel for when I hit things though.

Desktop Football 2 `[demo]`
Real bad football game. Only interesting thing was a ditch with obstacles all over it. There are some other Desktop games too, seen a basketball one at least.

Detention `[demo]`	also on: Android, Linux, Mac, PS4, Windows
Been really curious about this for a while, just because the 1960s Taiwan school setting fits in nicely with some films I really like, especially A Brighter Summer Day. I was really enjoying the demo. It has a nice way of handling a point-and-click adventure game without any pointing or clicking. But then the horror stuff came in, and the demo ended. Until then it had nice Disaster Report vibes, walking round solving problems, heavy rain. But the horror stuff doesn't interest me at all.

Disaster Report 4: Summer Memories	also on: PS4
The frame rate isn't great, but it doesn't bother me. Like Raw Danger!, despite the big disaster spectacle, it's a real nice hang/chillout game you can take at your own pace. One of my faves.

DoDonPachi Resurrection
Hasn't really clocked with me yet. I like it a bunch, but I'd rather play Espgaluda 2.

Drive Drift X
A bit different visually to the other SAT-BOX games I've tried, but also not very good.

Earth Defence Force World Brothers `[demo]`	also on PS4, Win
Kinda killed me enthusiasm for the game. Switching characters just feels like busywork (except it was kinda fun during the kaiju fights [and they made them way less bullet-spongey]), and none of them are much fun to use on their own. The different versions of the wingdiver all feel pretty shit, like the flight’s all wrong, and everyone else is uselessly slow. It’s still a bunch better than the other not-Sandlot games, so I will probably grab it on PC when it goes for cheap, but :( :( :( Also I’m completely rubbish at playing these kinds’f things with a controller now.

Espgaluda 2 -Be Ascension. The Third Bright Stone of Birth-
So good. I think it instantly became my favourite Shooter on the Switch.

Fatum Betula	also on: Windows, XBO
Was curious about this for a while, as I kept seeing the Switch version for cheap. I dunno. There's a whole slew of this kinda games that have a bit of imagination, a PSX skin, a put-on weirdness, and not much else going on. It's just a nothing game. Get item, use it on thingo, get other item, use it on guy, get item …

Fire Emblem: Engage


Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Surprised how much I've enjoyed all the running round town stuff.
Coming back to this several months after first playing it sure is hard, I have no idea what I was doing and there are a whole bunch of systems I've forgotten about. I had notes on how I wanted to train people, but that's it.

Gravity Thrust `[demo]`
Cave flyer. Short levels with different challenges/objectives. There's a race mode too that's fun, and gives you a goodway to get good at controlling the ship.

Hatsune Miku Logic Paint S	also on: Windows
I bought this 'cause I thought it was by Jupiter. Whoops. Seems alright though. I wish there were more option for assists. You can say you don't want any, but it still applies one that'll fill in the crosses when you complete a line, and it'll still tell you when you make a mistake.

Hotshot Racing	also on: PS4, Win, XBO
It's really nice-looking (except the extraneous characters), but it's really let-own by forgettable track design. Usually not into boost in racing games, but this does a neat thing where you earn it by drifting, and that works well.

IDEA `[demo]`
An interesting idea seems to be the main thing this is lacking.

Immortals Fenyx Rising `[demo]`
Does Breath of the Wild crossed with Pixar sound good to you? No, of course not. It blows.

Katamari Damacy Reroll `[trial]`
Feels weird with an asymmetrical controller, and PS2→USB adapters don't seem to work, plus the stick sensitivity is different. But otherwise it seems like a good port.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land
Breezy Kirby game with nice animations and colours and big shoes.

Lapis x Labyrinth	also on: PS4


Legend Bowl `[demo]`
The tutorial was boring as fuck so I gave up, though it was kinda neat how they swapped player characters for different gameplay modes.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
I was a bit suss on all the praise this'd received, so wasn't in a rush to play it. Started a save taking a break from Monster Hunter and have barely put it down. It's bursting with neat stuff, and I can't recommended it highly enough. A great benefit of waiting four years is the I can't remember anything I'd read about it!

Load Runner Legacy `[demo]`
This is pretty neat! Plus, in the full game, you can make your own avatars and stages.

Lost Lands: The Golden Curse `[demo]`	Mac, Win
I've been curious about these hidden object games for a bit. There are heaps of them. This one wasn't that different to playing a point-and-click kinda thing, except the puzzles were a bit more elaborate, the graphics overwrought, and the setting was some fantasy trash. Kinda chill, would play another one for free for an hour or two :)

Mad Carnage	also on: Windows
I thought this would be more interesting. I watched a video where you could shoot big missiles, and I thought they'd persist over turns so you could use them to control space, but they disappear after a turn. Feels really limited tactically. Was only a few cents, but not even worth paying that.

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle
The extra movement options (compared to other tactics games) are really neat, and it generally feels pretty brisk. Though the game'd be more appealing if the Rabbid and Marioverse characters weren't in there.

Master Key `[demo]`
Seems fun. Very Link's Awakening inspired. A bit cutesy, by more difficult than I expected, though when you die you get warped back to a checkpoint with all your money and stuff still in your pockets. Having the sword attack happen on releasing the button instead of pressing it makes it feel a bit sluggish though. Graphics can be a bit hard to parse.

Merry Christmas Snowball Bubble
Some kinda not-at all challenging Puzzle Bobble-esque thing where you uncover pictures but matching colours.

Millie and Molly `[demo]`
Grid-based movement puzzle platformer thing. Like that Godzilla Game Boy game a bit. You control two characters, switching between them to work through the single-screen stages. Not my thing, but the music and graphics are nicely Amiga-y?

Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate


Monster Hunter Rise	also on: Windows
Almost didn't buy it, as I wasn't sure I wanted another big timesink game, but I've really enjoyed it. I really love all the fun movement stuff the wirebug enables, and I tihnk making the maps much more interesting to explore is a great direction. Unfortunately they also seem to be going in a direction away from hunting, in the sense that monsters are always visible on the map, and the only kind of preparation needed is to eat a meal and look out for glowey things. Still better than World's spiritflies though.

Moving Out `[demo]`
Seemed okay, but it was too hard for me to see shit in tabletop mode.

Ninja Village `[demo]`
Kairosoft have a bunch of these little management games on phones and Switch. They're …

Our Flick Erasers
Nice little game by SAT-BOX with heaps of modes. Build a weird eraser, try to knock the other one of the table. Kinda like Robot Wars D:

Our Fantasy Quest `[demo]`
Our Ninja World `[demo]`
Our Summer Festival `[demo]`
Our Summer Sports `[demo]`
Our Winter Sports `[demo]`
Minigame collections by SAT-BOX that are seem pretty crummy. Real basic shit like rock-paper-scissors

Pang Adventure	also on: Android, iOS, PS4, Win, XBO
It's Pang / Buster bros. It's cheap. It's alright.

Picross Lord of the Nazarick
Jupiter-made nonogame based on some anime. The usual kinds of puzzles, with a decent multi-colour one in there too. Things are structured differently. So you pick a character and complete a bunch of different modes themed around them. Seems like the worst anime in the world. I like the way it's structured, it means you're always doing a mix of easy, colour, mega, etc., rather than it being a straight mode and difficulty progression.

Picross S series
I miss being able to use a stylus. ~~No touch controls at all >:(~~ Touch controls (and multiplayer) have since been added to all Picross S games. Really enjoying the colour puzzles in 3. I've played other games with them and thought they were gimmicky, but something about them here works real well. Much more of a challenge, and require some new solving techniques. 7 finally adds touch controls!!!

Picross S Genesis & Master System Edition
`[demo]` At this point I've just played four games in the Picross S series, so playing the demo of this is a bit of a peak into the future. It seems to be missing some of the options I like, has some extra annoyances like confirming when I want to start a puzzle, and obnoxious graphics floating about. Didn't really like the colour puzzles—never have in other nonogames either.
I've since come round on the colour puzzles in another Picross S game (3?), and have got used to the things that seemed to bug me when I first tried the demo of this. It's… just another Jupiter Picross S game.

Picross X: Picbits vs. Uzboross [demo]
Generally not a fan of the basic idea of playing nonogames under time pressure (see also Pictlogica Final Fantasy ≒), especially on the Switch as it seems like it'd be pretty tough to play this without a stylus—especially the challenges where you have to X tiles too—though I haven't tried playing with buttons yet, maybe they accommodate you somehow. But I've enjoyed the demo well enough that I might get it if the discount's high enough.

PictoQuest: The Cursed Grids	also on: Android, iOS, Win
Pretty mid nonogame with irrelevant RPG trappings. You have health, but it barely every goes down.

Pilot Sports
Initial impressions are mixed. It's a PilotWings-like, with similar vehicles, but terrible characters and less nuanced controls. Still pretty dece for the price I got it at. Need to play more though! There's a digital, Japanese-only version on the Japanese eShop I got for ¥100, and a physical release elsewhere.

Pixel Puzzle Makeout League `[demo]`
Felt like I spent more time fast-forwarding through story bits than doing puzzles. Did stimulate some thoughts on using nonograms to tell story, but this game doesn't do this in an interesting way itself. Support touch controls if you wanna try playing with a stylus or something, though. PP Makeout League for short?? PPML (PP Markup Language????

Polytopia `[demo]`	also on: Linux, Mac, Windows
Kinda okay, simple, 4X game. Better than I expected, but dunno why you'd bother with more than the demo.

Psychic 5 Eternal `[demo]`
I like Psychic 5. This version seems fine. I'd rather play エスパ冒険隊 on the Fami though, I think.

Qube Qross	also on: Mac, Windows
I bought this because I thought it would be like Picross 3D, but it's less a logic puzzle and more about being able to visualise a shape in three dimensions. You can only rotate the object around one axis, which is a bit fiddley.

Samba de Amigo: Party Central `[demo]`
I dunno. Just doesn't feel right. Doesn't help that the songs in the demo are boring. Somehow I'm getting S ranks but feel like I'm maracin' awful.

School Race GP `[demo]`
Uninteresting Mario Kart kinda game. There's a track editor at least.

SD Gundam G Generation Cross Rays `[demo]`	also on PS4, Windows
Tactics game where you play through various Gundam storylines, similar to the Super Robot Wars games. It's kinda fun: there's a bit of depth to how you position units because of different kinds of support attacks. Demo was Japanese, but had English text.

Sky Ride	also on:PS4²⁾
I dunno, but I'm into it.

Snipper Clips Plus


Splatoon 2 `[demo]`
I've played Splatoon now! Actually like it a bunch more than I thought I would. It's nice that there's stuff to do that's not combating other players (IE laying-down ink). But I still think the tug-of-war style thing is bad design more a multiplayer game. Still, I'm enjoying the demo enough to keep playing it for the weekend it's available.

Stardew Valley `[trial]`	also on: Android, iOS, Linux, Mac, PS3, Vita, Windows, XBO
Playing this at the moment while it's on the Switch Online trial thing. I see why people like it, I get real sucked into playing it for long stretches, but I don't think I actually like it. It just feels like a grind. You're trying to get money to get more stuff, nothing like the peaceful life it pushes itself as in the story. Characters are hokey, and I don't care about story stuff anyway.

Star Gagnant `[demo]`
Seems like a decent, Star Soldier-type Shooter. Real hard to play on a controller, because you have to be able to hit the fire button real fast, so I wouldn't both if you don't have a joystick.

Star Ocean: The Second Story R `[demo]`
Surprised myself, but I quite liked playing this demo and wasn't ready for it to end. Combat gets a bit fiddly when you need to be more careful, like with tough groups of enemies and bosses.

Submerged	also on: IOS, PS4, Windows, XBO
I don't like this much at all! Initial impressions were okay: game seems to want to take after ico in tone, but quickly just reveals it's purely a fetch-quest driven thing. The world, apart from a few filler/clone buildings is pretty nice, but the way you interact with it is tedious. You do basic, Assassin's Creed like building climbing, grab a thing, then look for some other doodad to find. Also the boat is no fun to control, and pivots at the wrong point!

Terraformers: First Steps on Mars `[demo]`
Fine, but who cares. A strategy, Civ-like thing where you set up cities and mine shit on Mars.

Toree 3D	also on: Windows
It's fine, but completely forgettable.

Touhou Spell Bubble
Wow, this rules. The core is Puzzle Bobble, but there are all these fun little systems—one being rhythm-based—put on top that makes it feel real hectic in a fun way. Spenno, though there's an Asia region version that's more reasonable.

Unicorn Overlord `[demo]`	also on: PS4/5, XBox X/S
Really enjoyed this demo actually, first time I've liked a Vanillaware games I think. Story is arse, graphics are badly drawn, but the Ogre Battle like strategy stuff plus being able to wander round a big map is real fun. Hoping I can get this cheap one day.

Virtua Racing
Dunno why I only played this once—

Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars `[demo]`	also on: PS4, Windows
The writing is awful and the rest is pretty average. The humour surprised me a couple of times, at least. Glad it has touch controls, though I wish I could drag some of the cards that need to be double-tapped. Other cards and dice can be dragged though.

Voxelgram	also on: Android, Linux, Windows
A 3-D Nonogames with a bit of a difference control scheme to Picross 3D. Seems pretty neat so far, though I'm missing not having a way to blast a whole row in one go, and the way rows get hidden when rotating is a bit confusing sometimes, but I think this would suit a diferent playstyle to mine. Good options, and doesn't mark you down for mistakes. Has a procedural/infinite puzzle mode, but the puzzles are really small so I only did it a couple of times to try it out..

Wargroove	also on: PS4, Windows, XBO
I dunno. It's very similar to Advance Wars in a lot of ways, but it has a lot of indiegametraits that put me off. The graphics are kinda okay, but kinda mediocre, the story shit is boring and the attempts at humour are pretty dull, I had to turn the voices off. It also has the same problems as Advance Wars: that stages can easily become tedious battles of attrition.

Yohane The Parhelion: Blaze in the Deepblue `[demo]`
Metroidvania roguelite thing, but no mystery, all smoothed out. It's fine. Related to some anime thing.

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Notes on Switch Games

Notes

See Also