Suika Game

Sometimes I'll jump on to bandwagon games, like Fortnite or Among Us, just to see what the fuss is all about, but even at just $2.99, I wasn't fully convinced to bite the bullet on Suika Game. When it arrived as a free trial on the Nintendo Switch Online service, I finally gave it a shot, and my first thought went to how much my wife would enjoy it! She has been thoroughly addicted to both Tetris and 2048 in the past, and Suika Game feels like a blend of the two with added physics. I actually ended up really having fun with it, but my wife liked it even more; so much so that we ended up buying it for her Switch after the trial ended. It may be iterative, but this is one of the freshest-feeling arcade puzzlers that I've played in a long time.

Suika Game challenges you to earn a high score by dropping as much fruit as you can into a clear container before it overflows. The trick is that when two fruits of the same variety touch, they fuse into one larger fruit and earn you points. If you manage to fuse two watermelons, the largest fruit in the game, they'll disappear, creating a massive new space to drop even more fruit. Only the five smallest of eleven fruit sizes will ever spawn for you to drop, and you can always see which one is coming next, giving you a chance to plan just a little bit for each new fruit. Beyond that, there's an online leaderboard to keep track of scores, and an occasional seasonal skin is made available to celebrate a holiday, but nothing more.

Despite its lightweight package and simple design, Suika Game is incredibly addictive and a lot of fun. The "just one more game" mentality is very prevalent here, especially as you are learning the game's nuances, with each mistake becoming a learning opportunity as you chase a high score and the elusive watermelon. I usually don't care all too much about scores, so I put my focus more on getting even one watermelon in the first place. It took a long time, and once I finally did it, I didn't have much motivation to keep playing like the score-chasers do, but I left Suika Game feeling really good about it.

Any game that my wife actually has an interest in playing is worth exploring, so on that criteria alone, I recommend Suika Game. I loved how the simple and vaguely familiar premise required enough strategy to be challenging, but not so much as to feel inaccessible. That, and the game is super cute. If you're not a high-score chaser, the lack of substance may be a bit of a disappointment, but this game costs less than a pack of Pokémon cards and easily offers more fun on its own, so I wouldn't be too concerned about the runtime. If you're looking for a cute little puzzle to sink a few hours into, or if you have a non-gaming spouse that you want to share your hobby with, Suika Game may be worth a try.

The game is available for Switch here (as of 2/1/23): https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/suika-game-switch/