Gunfights, fistfights, bar fights. Horses and stables. Bandits, jails, and sheriffs. The flair and mystique of the west. Or, the bastardization of reality. West of Loathing uses it all, but unlike the silent cinema it takes after, there’s no allusion to the romanticized west. Where once the written dialog of say, 1923’s The Covered Wagon… Continue reading West of Loathing (Switch)
SNK’s history is flush with wild fantasies. The SNK 40th Anniversary Collection features multiple. There’s Athena in which the goddess conquers all manner of monsters and Crystalis, a uniquely textured tale with more to do with Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda than anyone at SNK would admit. Or, Prehistoric Isle where an Arthur Conan Doyle dinosaur… Continue reading SNK 40th Anniversary Collection (Switch)
Inside of a room with infant twin ghosts, there’s a “Monsters” poster on the wall. That’s paying homage to Universal’s Monsters, those ’30s ad ’40s era horror classics with their evocative atmosphere. That atmosphere is part of Luigi’s Mansion. Even the set-up, with Luigi invited to a Transylvanian-like mansion, that’s cloaked in familiar moonlight and… Continue reading Luigi’s Mansion (3DS)
There’s underappreciated versatility to the beat-em-up genre. That’s apparent in this seven game compilation. While each game deals in walking to the right, punching or hacking throes of recycled enemies, the themes and energy are distinctive to each. There’s the great Final Fight, a story of rising through poverty to confront those who use their… Continue reading Capcom Beat ‘Em Up Bundle (Switch)
SNK Heroines hyper-sexualizes characters that in many cases, were already sexualized. It finds the skimpiest costumes, most revealing dresses, and barely-there bikinis to ensure skin exposure. It’s parody though. SNK Heroines is about a literal male gaze. A creepy, shadowy fetishist male figure, Kukri, brings these women together. He watches them from a high-tech camera… Continue reading SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy (Switch)
Sonic’s mainstream origins lie within a snappy marketing campaign. Sega didn’t need a mascot at the time – it needed a weapon in schoolyard fights between kids who owned rival consoles. Peer pressure did the rest to push Sega’s consoles under Christmas trees instead of Nintendo’s. Whether Sonic the Hedgehog was actually good or not… Continue reading Sonic Mania (Switch)
Mario Tennis Aces has the feverish energy of typical Nintendo games. It’s less about tennis than the shine. Every racket-meets-ball moment explodes with a blistering highlight. That builds meters and bars, also throbbing with light. Executing the super strike the latter builds toward is a blinding fantasy – more sparks, in other words, along with… Continue reading Mario Tennis Aces (Switch)
The common grocery store banana is going extinct. Climate change is leaving rain forests in ruin. This is not a great time for Donkey Kong. “Tropical Freeze” isn’t a subtle title either. Reality changed around Donkey Kong. So did he, enough to turn him from construction site nuisance to pro kart racer and into… Continue reading Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (Switch)
Until something else, Gear Club Unlimited serves its role as a niche filler. The Switch lacks a real world arcade/simulation racing game. Good thing Gear Club exists then. It’s both, to a fault. There’s a sense this is a mobile update. A quick Google search confirms as such. The stock portraits serving as guidance in… Continue reading Gear Club Unlimited (Switch)
Pour one out for the unlucky drummer on Danmaku Unlimited 3’s soundtrack. It’s beastly, machine gun-like musical work, keeping pace with the fraying bullet patterns and explosions of this taut shooter. Danmaku Unlimited 3 fundamentally changes the relationship between villain bullets and hero ship, necessitating a cozying up between the two. Let bullets pass close… Continue reading Danmaku Unlimited 3 (Switch)
