amphibious_ReViews

I first tried playing the original Super Mario RPG on my SNES Classic years ago. I was actually really enjoying myself, but I bungled the state-saving functionality and lost hours of progress in one disheartening swipe. After that, I put the game down with only a vague intention of returning. Fast-forward to the June 2023 Nintendo Direct and a full remake of the game was announced for Switch, opening up the door for me to try the game again without feeling too much like I was rehashing all of my lost effort. It seemed a little weird to be buying the game again, but playing it on Switch with this shiny new coat of paint was definitely worth the entry fee. As the progenitor of both the Mario and Luigi and Paper Mario series, Super Mario RPG obviously does something very right. This is evident in its solid formula that uniquely combines RPG tropes and Mario's more action-oriented roots. This combined DNA pervades the whole game, but is most clear in two key elements of the experience.

I hadn't even finished the first Dadish before I started playing Daily Dadish. The allure of a new level every day preyed on my FOMO in the nicest way possible. Instead of time-limited events designed to push micro-transactions, every day of the year has its own unique level to conquer. While its nature necessitates the absence of even the bare-bones narrative structure of the series' numbered entries, the rest of the game makes up for the shortcoming in spades. Having more than double the number of levels as the previous three games combined, Daily Dadish is a huge adventure and makes for an excellent year-long advent calendar. Daily Dadish plays similarly to its trilogy of predecessors, presenting you with handcrafted platforming levels that challenge you to think quick and move with precision. Stages are filled with hazards and enemies to keep you on your toes while you run, jump, and bounce toward Dadish's truant children. All of the components used in the stages are d

For the longest time, I had thought Metroid Prime would be the first Metroid game I would beat. The trilogy mocked my empty wallet from its pedestal in the WiiU eShop until I got distracted by the Switch and left it behind. I would still look back on it with longing every once in a while, but one day I felt compelled to try Zero Mission and 2D Metroid consumed me. Now, having beaten at least one iteration of every game in the mainline saga, Metroid Prime once again entered my sights. Easily the definitive version, Metroid Prime Remastered graced the Switch and showed me what I've been missing after all these years. I was honestly a bit worried after having played Dread so recently because I wasn't sure how well the search action formula would translate to 3D. I had heard that the backtracking had turned a lot of people off, which was never much of an issue for me in the mainline games, but I still felt a bit anxious about it. I quickly learned that those fears were entirely u

It took just two rogue headlines in my newsfeed mentioning a "one-dimensional PAC-MAN " for me to be overwhelmed by curiosity. I could only see simplifying the arcade classic as a way to make it less engaging, and yet multiple people considered it exciting enough to write an entire article about. Upon giving it a try, I realized that the new one-dimensional form factor actually made the game much easier to pick up and play, leading me to pull it up a lot more frequently than I ever did its inspiration, albeit for much shorter play sessions. PAKU PAKU follows the explosive trend, pioneered by the likes of Flappy Bird, of trimming down gameplay to its barest bones for the raw dopamine-generating power of quick restarts and high-score chasing. Just like in PAC-MAN, you'll control a gluttonous monochrome circle as it attempts to eat as many dots as possible while avoiding instant death at the hands of an ever-pursuing ghost. While said ghost moves faster than you, there are a

When The Skywalker Saga was announced, I was excited, but I was a little wary of the possibility of going back through the same levels I've played dozens of times already in The Complete Saga and the original two LEGO Star Wars games. As soon as screenshots and footage started appearing, all of those fears were gone. I still didn't know much about it at the time, but it certainly wasn't just an expanded version of the game I've played to death. Now that I've played it, I can gladly say that the spirit of those older classics remains but the play-experience carves out its own identity, creating something familiar, yet refreshingly independent. The Skywalker Saga marks a major evolution in the Traveller's Tales LEGO formula. The world is still highly destructible, studs are still the main currency, and there is still an intense focus on collectibles and unlockables, but the gameplay itself has experienced a significant shift from the previous twenty-or-so mainlin

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

I started playing Microsoft Jewel 2 through the Xbox app because it earned me Microsoft rewards points that I could use to buy Xbox games. At first, I avoided playing it because I knew I'd have to write a review, but I obviously caved. The Microsoft Rewards program has since been seriously nerfed, so I stopped participating and no longer have much of an incentive to play this generic, yet enjoyable, puzzle game. Thus, I am now facing the consequences. I'm not actually disappointed to be writing a review, I just wish it were about something with a little more spirit. Microsoft Jewel 2 does everything it needs to in order to be a passable match-3 puzzle game, but not much more. The game starts you with a screen full of colorful jewels, a level progress bar, and a set of three challenges. Jewels can swap places with any of their adjacent, non-diagonal neighbors, as long as at least one of the jewels being swapped creates a line of three or more like-colored jewels. That line is th

I don't think 2D Metroid could be in a better place than it is right now. Thanks to the Switch's massive install base and the excellent work done by the team at MercurySteam, Metroid Dread has sold better than any other game in the series, potentially introducing tens of thousands of new players to the series. While there were a few things that kept it behind Metroid Fusion as my favorite entry, the transition to 2.5D started by Samus Returns has been fully realized here, and it's absolutely glorious. I know this kind of game won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I think Metroid Dread is exactly what we needed to make sure that people who might fall in love with the series actually get a chance to do so. Picking up after the events of Metroid Fusion, Samus, still genetically fused with Metroid DNA, and ADAM, now integrated into the ship's computer, receive a distress signal from an unfamiliar planet. Within the distress call was an image of an x-parasite, prompt

I have been thinking about playing the original F-ZERO for a while now, but I keep getting distracted by other games that I have even more interest in playing. I usually prefer to start a series with the first game before any others because it helps me to appreciate the franchise's legacy. However, the surprise announcement of F-ZERO 99 that followed the shuttering of PAC-MAN 99 seemed like too exciting of an opportunity to ignore. While it isn't exactly how I would've planned it, I played the newest game in the F-ZERO series first, just to make sure I experienced it during the height of its popularity. With how much it is inspired by the original, I think I would've appreciated F-ZERO 99 more had I played the SNES classic beforehand, but as it stands, I still had a great time! Following the template of the 99-series games that preceded it, F-ZERO 99 pits you against 98 other players. However, your play area is no longer independent of your opponents where you can only

Almost assuredly inspired by the "Yoshi Commits Tax Fraud" meme, Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion is a comedy adventure that I was genuinely surprised by. I wasn't sure what to expect when I started the game, as I was drawn in purely by its name and hadn't actually done any research before diving in. What I got at the start felt like a Flash game from 2012, and I was honestly a bit disappointed. I stuck it out for a while longer though, and found that there was actually a lot more to Turnip Boy's world, and I became surprisingly invested. Now, I just wish there was more game and more answers. The little root veggie won me over. Turnip Boy is a delightful little protagonist with a penchant for tearing up documents. This gets him in trouble at the start of the game when he rips up his property tax bill and gets a visit from Mayor Onion himself. On an unceasing power trip, Mayor Onion essentially makes Turnip Boy into his slave, saying he needs to work off his debt or

When I first learned about this "game" in a Nintendo Indie World presentation, I was immediately intrigued. I downloaded the original game-jam version to my phone soon after, then proceeded to never play it. When I learned that the full game was available on Google Play Pass, I downloaded that too, and this time I was actually committed. Despite the title, there actually is a game, and it's surprisingly cute! There Is No Game is a tongue-in-cheek point-and-click puzzler with a touch of tragic romance tying it all together, but it takes a second to discern all of those pieces on a first playthrough. From as early as the title screen, the game is trying to stop you from playing. If you manage to make it past that point, you'll be greeted by a somewhat hostile AI who does his very best to keep you from finding any game-related experience within his software. With a little bit of creative puzzle-solving and a lot of determination, you can find ways past his defenses to re

After six long years, the sequel to Breath of the Wild finally came out. There was a gap of four years between the game's announcement and its release that saw the launch of a remake, a remaster, and two official spinoffs from the same franchise. In fact, there was less time between the launch of Breath of the Wild and the launches of either release of Skyward Sword than there was between the Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. So, was it worth the wait? My answer would be a doubtless, unequivocal, resounding yes! When I finished Breath of the Wild, I thought "How are they possibly going to top that?" but when I first plummeted into the depths of Tears of the Kingdom, I realized "Oh, that's how." There's so much to say about this game. People who haven't played it complain that it's just a glorified DLC for Breath of the Wild, and while it may reuse assets, concepts, and much of the map, I think it's pretty clear that the two are sti

We had all known the standalone chapter of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was coming at some point. It was announced alongside the expansion pass with a "by December 2023" release date, and had received a teaser in February that got me very hyped. I don't think anyone was prepared though when the full trailer dropped in April that announced the release date was a mere week away! I had been holding out for the possibility of a physical edition like there was with Torna , but with no sign of such a thing in the trailer, I downloaded the DLC that same night. I was in the final chapter of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and cleaning up the side quests at that point, but I kicked it into high gear just to be ready. Even so, I was not prepared for what Future Redeemed had stored up for me. This is a game specially handcrafted for the biggest fans of the Xenoblade series, and that means it was made for me. Serving as a prequel to Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Future Redeemed answers a lot of question

I was heavily invested in Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition when Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was formally announced. Even though I had been hearing the rumors for weeks, maybe months, at that point, the Nintendo Direct still had me giggling like a toddler on their birthday. Upon seeing a game that combined the worlds of the first two numbered entries, brought back old characters, and just looked excellent in its own right, I was sold before the trailer was half-finished. I was just wrapping up Future Connected when my pre-order arrived, but I was pretty quick about starting what would become one of my favorite video game experiences of all time. It was a slow journey, as I became a dad less than a month after the game was released, and a new Pokémon game came out in the middle of my playthrough, but oh boy was this the best thing I've played in a long time. It took a good while for me to understand my feelings about this game, but I can now confidently say that Xenoblade Chron

Every once in a while, I'll come across a game that I know will be good, even without having virtually any background knowledge about it. A pixel-art platformer starring a radish that is a dad? Yeah, that's going to make the list. I would often see the Dadish games when browsing the Switch eShop, but for ten dollars a pop, I never looked any further than the listing. However, if we mosey on over to the Google Play store, every Dadish game is available (ad-supported) for free! How could I resist? With the Android port having full controller support and surprisingly infrequent ads, the experience is going to be identical between mobile and console for most players, and I had an excellent time with it. Dadish is a straightforward affair. In this precision platformer, you'll be playing as the titular radish himself and you'll need to track down all of your children. It's not like Dadish is an irresponsible father, he was just taking a well-deserved nap when all of his k

Google's collection of doodles is often the source of delightful little games that I never expected to play. The minigame-stuffed quasi-RPG that coincided with the Olympics was a massive standout in that regard, and set a bar I'm excited to see the doodle team surpass someday. However, not every doodle game is quite so fleshed-out, with most lasting no more than a few minutes. This short runtime isn't a bad thing though and actually fits the format really well. Celebrating Bubble Tea is a great example of this, fulfilling its role as a doodle game in just five short challenges. In Celebrating Bubble Tea, you act as the owner of a little bubble tea cart and have to fulfill five increasingly precise orders of bubble tea for a cast of colorful characters, most of which you may find familiar if you've interacted with other doodles before. For each order, you're told how much boba, tea, and syrup (or maybe creamer? I don't drink much bubble tea myself) to add to each