My number one favorite Zelda game is Link’s Awakening, so when I got the opportunity to review a game that mimics that Game Boy classic, I was pretty excited.  In Saga of the Moon Priestess, a prince has been kidnapped and you play as a girl who can talk to the moon goddess and must rescue him.  You’ll travel through an overworld and tromp through five different dungeon mazes in top down 2D fashion to get him back.  It’s available on all current consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.

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Tags: Game Reviews

Got some new amiibo figures recently, this time a two pack of Noah and Mio from Xenoblade Chronicles 3.  So let’s check them out!

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Tags: Misc

In the distant past, long before streaming services and 24-hour cartoon channels, there was a thing called Saturday Morning Cartoons.  Kids back then, me included, looked forward to this time because it was one of the only times TV was made just for kids.  And as a child of the 80s, one of the most popular of these cartoons I remember was The Smurfs.  Originally a European comic strip, The Smurfs gained popularity in the US from the Hanna-Barbera cartoon.  I was never a super big fan of it, but I watched it anyway because, one, kids will watch pretty much anything.  And two, it came on right before the Pac-Man cartoon.  In recent years, The Smurfs have had a bit of a resurgence with a handful of computer animated movies and specials, and a new series on Nickelodeon.  And there’s been a few Smurfs video games I’ve reviewed in the past couple of years, like a kart racer and two 3D platformers.  And now the youngest players get their turn on the Switch with The Smurfs: Colorful Stories, a virtual coloring book on the Switch.

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Tags: Game Reviews, Movies with Children, Television

This is a pretty standard vertically scrolling 2D shooter.  There’s a story here, but it’s not very important.  Just pilot your spaceship as you zap everything that moves and avoid getting hit.  It’s available on all current consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.

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Tags: Game Reviews

This month, Nintendo is releasing Mario vs. Donkey Kong.  It’s a re-release/remake of a game on the Game Boy Advance that came out about 20 years ago!  It’s also the first appearance of the Mini Mario characters, an army of little wind up Mario toys.  These little guys would go on to star in their own series of spin-offs.  But those games kind of all run together because many of them look and play similarly.  So I thought in honor of the new game’s release, I’d go over each one and see what makes them special, if only for a little bit.  This Mario vs. Donkey Kong series also has quite a few games in its belt, more than what you might think.  And the history of these games stretched back farther than what you might expect, too!  So let’s check ‘em out!

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Tags: Misc

Late last year, there was a game that came out on Nintendo Switch that caused a buzz on the Internet, or so they say.  Especially in Japan (Suika means watermelon in Japanese), and people were saying it was “Japan’s hardest game” and such.  I tried to get a review code for it when it initially came out, but never got a response.  But a little while later, Nintendo was offering this game as a free limited time download for subscribers, so I decided to check it out then and write a quick review.  I think you can also play this game on some mobile devices and Internet browsers, but it’s reviewed on Switch here.

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Tags: Game Reviews

In the distant past, long before streaming services and 24-hour cartoon channels, there was a thing called Saturday Morning Cartoons.  Kids back then, me included, looked forward to this time because it was one of the only times TV was made just for kids.  And as a child of the 80s, one of the most popular of these cartoons I remember was The Smurfs.  Originally a European comic strip, The Smurfs gained popularity in the US from the Hanna-Barbera cartoon.  I was never a super big fan of it, but I watched it anyway because, one, kids will watch pretty much anything.  And two, it came on right before the Pac-Man cartoon.  In recent years, The Smurfs have had a bit of a resurgence with a handful of computer animated movies and specials, and a new series on Nickelodeon.  And there’s been a few Smurfs video games I’ve reviewed in the past couple of years, like a kart racer and two 3D platformers.  And now the youngest players get their turn on the Switch with The Smurfs Learn and Play!  There are four games on here, so let’s take a look at them!

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Tags: Game Reviews, Movies with Children, Television

Back when I was writing game reviews for The Dallas Morning News, for a long while I was designated the “Pokémon expert.”  One of the perks of this was not only was I able to review all the Pokémon games, but most of the other knock-offs that would come out in the wake of the initial Pokémon craze, I’d get to review those, too.  This included everything from Digimon to Monster Rancher to Dragon Warrior Monsters.  The first Dragon Warrior Monsters title was on the Game Boy Color, and let you train and battle monsters from the popular Dragon Quest RPG franchise.  It was called Dragon Warrior back then in the US because of copyright issues.  Anyway, one of my brothers, Jeff, he was pretty young at the time, yet he LOVED that Dragon Warrior Monsters game I reviewed.  He liked it so much that after I reviewed it, he confiscated the game from me and I never got to play it again!  And he’s never done that before!  Since then he’s enjoyed all the other Dragon Quest Monsters games as well as other spin offs like Dragon Quest Builders and Rocket Slime.  So when Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince recently came out on Switch, I thought it might be fun to have Jeff review it, for old times sake.  So here’s his review!  –Cary Woodham

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Tags: Reader Reviews!

Get into the winter spirit season with Shivering Stone, an ice block pushing puzzle game.  You know how in some Zelda dungeons, you have to push sliding ice blocks into places and figure out where they should go?  Well this whole game is just that.  It’s available on all current consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.

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Tags: Game Reviews

Toasterball is kind of a mix between volleyball and soccer.  You and up to three other opponents (two on each team) volley and bounce the ball and try to make it to the other team’s goal to score points.  Whoever gets to five first wins.  Oh yeah, and you also play as toasters!  Use the L and R buttons to flip and move left and right.  And press them both down and release to launch toast to volley the ball around.  Just don’t hold down too long or you’ll burn the toast!  Toasterball is available on Switch and PC, but reviewed on Switch here.

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Tags: Game Reviews