MochiAGirl
Finished this one yesterday evening. I had a lot of fun with it but it could have been so much more. It’s a fast paced platformer with hook-and-swing mechanics at its centre (think Bionic Commando/Ninja Cop/Umihara Kawase).
I just wish it developed its ideas, which focus on level furniture, more before throwing them away. The three secrets in every level in particular didn’t really feel like secrets, either being placed so that you have no choice but to find them, or being easy to get to anyway.
The game shines when you’re legging(swinging?) it through its levels, and in its final unlockable world, which does up the ante difficulty-wise. You also unlock time attack mode but much of it was too forgiving - I only felt a sense of urgency in the last quarter of the game’s levels.
But it’s a lot of fun, and it’s very original. If you value originality or uniqueness you should definitely pick this one up, moreso considering how derivative many platformers can be today.
Groove Coaster: Waiwai Party
An almost-flawless arcade port slightly dampened by locking songs behind a grindy ‘missions’ system. Rhythm games are appealing enough without the need for dull task-completion, but there’s enough songs (Roki! Bubble Bobble remix! Darius! Kemono Friends!) off the bat to offset disappointment. Works great in Tate mode too!
Bubble Bobble 4
Might have posted about this one in the retro version of this thread considering its routes but it’s really good. True to the original it seems much more manageable in co-op. I still can’t clear the third ‘Hard’ world! Fantastic Zuntata soundtrack as well: https://youtu.be/GnY1rL14hvc?t=200
WRC 8
This is good but I’m surprised at the graphical compromise on Switch, in some courses it looks significantly worse than V-Rally 4 did with flat lighting. I hope Kylotonn do a good job with TT Isle of Man 2 which is one of my most anticipated games of next year.
Saga Scarlet Grace
I’m still playing this but not obsessively. The combat is superb but the map events and general progression, at least on Urpina’s quest, lend the game a large feeling of repetition. It feels like only 20-30% of events on the world map lead to anywhere interesting, otherwise it’s usually a bit of dialogue, a fight and items gained. It does add to the world building but much of it is forgotten and the rate at which you traverse each continent makes combing each area feel a tad contrived.
Mary Skelter 2
Dropped this because the dungeon design and combat wasn’t evolving much after the first four-five labyrinths. It’s still one of the best games to come out of Compile Heart (and Zerodiv who seem to work on dozens of dungeon crawlers)
