amphibious_ReViews

I only seriously played Donkey Kong Jr. for the first time very recently. I have been returning to the original Donkey Kong  for years, and the idea of making Mario the antagonist in the sequel was definitely interesting, I just wasn't ever drawn to the climbing-style platforming. After giving it a real chance, I definitely think that it's fun, but it doesn't hold a candle to the series' progenitor. I can't help but think that  Nintendo made a serious gamble with this game. It probably would've been easier to follow up Donkey Kong by simply using the same skeleton and building new levels. Instead, they propelled the story by creating a new protagonist and implementing brand new platforming mechanics. While I personally would have enjoyed something that felt a little more like the first game, I appreciate the introduction of climbing as a way to shake up the formula, and I'm definitely not mad with how it turned out. Taking control of the titular Donkey K

I seem to have a thing for mobile games about cats, and I am a huge fan of Nintendo 's Picross series. Normally those two interests don't overlap, but Meow Tower changed that. Combining the fun of befriending cute cartoon cats and solving intricate number puzzles hooked me immediately. While it's technically not a Picross game, seeing as that is a Nintendo trademark, the nonogram puzzles are still the same, and I loved being able to play them on my phone. Granted, there have been plenty of options to play these kinds of puzzles on the phone for years, but Meow Tower  sets itself apart from the rabble thanks to its stellar aesthetic. The developers behind this game are true artists. While it's a solid, straightforward nonogram game at its core, Meow Tower just looks so much better to play than any of the numerous generic options that crowd the app stores. The bubbly sticker-book style used for the art and menus gives Meow Tower a lot of charm and personality from t

I wasn't always a fan of falling-block puzzle games like I am now. The stress of simultaneously planning and acting really put me off from the experience. I eventually warmed up to Tetris and its contemporaries, but I was still wary of Dr. Mario . I'm not sure what held me back, but I just had no interest in giving the game a chance. I have since come around to find that it offers a truly unique experience, and now I have a lot of fun with it. Contrary to the typical structure of a falling-block puzzle game, Dr. Mario is not endless. When you start playing, your screen already has viruses scattered around, giving you a pre-determined playing field, rather than one you make for yourself like you would in Tetris . Viruses are cleared by connecting them with pills. Four or more units (viruses or pills) of the same color in a horizontal or vertical line will automatically be cleared. If only half of a pill is cleared, the unused portion will remain on the screen and fall down if

Over the past 25 years, Pokémon's pop-culture dominance has grown astronomically, making it the highest-grossing media franchise of all time by a pretty significant margin. At the start of it all was a humble pair of monster-collecting RPGs that encouraged collaboration and competition between real-life friends, classmates, and coworkers. Now, over two decades later, we have received seven more "generations" of Pokémon games, each leaving that classic formula virtually untouched. Each of them saw massive success, showing just how strong the foundation is, but with repetition often comes boredom. Because the competitive side of Pokémon is so important, major adjustments can't really happen without running the risk of inadvertently damaging a huge draw to the franchise. However, with each successive release that avoids altering the formula, players' interest in retreading old ground fades a little more. Pokémon Legends: Arceus singlehandedly destroys that compla

Back in August of 2021, I reviewed the arcade classic, Joust , essentially just by saying that it was just an inferior version of Balloon Fight . After replaying Balloon Fight to make sure I wasn't full of crap, I stand by what I said. The maps have more variety, the controls are more straightforward, and the additional modes mean there's even more to do. Though, even without the comparison to Joust , Balloon Fight  can stand on its own, whether you play alone or with a friend. The goal of  Balloon Fight  is to flap around, popping your opponents' balloons while keeping your own intact. However, its most impressive feat isn't the gameplay, but rather how remarkably responsive the whole experience feels. Thanks to the intuitive physics of flapping around while attached to a pair of balloons, I feel like I'm in full control of my character, despite not actually having perfect control. The system of building momentum combined with the collision and bouncing effects fe

Undoubtedly Nintendo 's MVP of COVID-19, Animal Crossing: New Horizons came out at the perfect time. While the whole Animal Crossing series is delightful, with cute aesthetics, essentially endless gameplay, and solid life-stimulator gameplay, only this entry released when the closest thing people had to real life was a simulation. The pandemic opened up the perfect little niche for New Horizons to fit into, and helped it to become the second-best-selling game on the Switch practically overnight. I only got around to playing it once people actually started going outside again, but New Horizons still manages to be one of the most fulfilling experiences on the Switch . I found the game's biggest strength to be its heavy dosage (and healthy balance) of both freedom and structure. Instead of starting the game with an existing village like you do in the previous entries, your new home in New Horizons is an overgrown desert island. There's no infrastructure, and the only oth

It's hard not to accidentally review the Pokémon Trading Card Game itself when taking a look at PTCGO since it manages such a perfect virtualization of the official game. It even includes the main competitive formats sanctioned by The Pokémon Company , which is the major draw to the title. However, I think that PTCGO is worthy of recognition for all of the choices it made to improve the overall gameplay experience. The steps they took to make the card game itself more convenient, like highlighting playable cards or sorting the discard pile, are fantastic, but I'm more impressed by the decisions made outside of the actual gameplay. One of the biggest surprises is the complete lack of microtransactions. Because every real-world TCG product comes with a code to redeem it in PTCGO , the physical products are treated as microtransactions, and digital-only products can only be earned, never bought. That way, if you never buy real cards (and if you stay away from the second-hand cod