WORST.  YEAR.   EVER.  I think we can all agree that 2020 has been one of the worst years in our lifetime, what with the Coronavirus, quarantines, riots and looting, and much more.  Some days I wonder if we’ll EVER get through this.  But there is one good thing about this year so far.  We’ve had quite a lot of really good games come out the first half of this year!  Normally I like to write a blog this time of year with my favorite games of the year so far, because the holiday titles and E3 announcements usually take precedence by the end of the year.  Of course, because of the Coronavirus there was no E3 this year, and as of this writing we still don’t know what big games will be out for Christmas.  Just another reason why this year sucks.  So I don’t know how much different my list will be by the end of the year.  But keep in mind that this is my list and my picks only, no outside opinions and whatnot.  And if a game isn’t on my list, it either just didn’t appeal to me or I haven’t played it yet.  Can’t play ‘em all, you know!  But with that out of the way, let’s take a look at my picks.

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Tags: Misc

Hurry, hurry, hurry!  Step right up for the latest theme park attraction!  It’s a theme park based around Mr. Driller, and it’s all underground!  Sounds safe enough, right?  Anyway, Mr. Driller Drill Land was an awesome GameCube title, but it only stayed in Japan.  But now you can download it on Nintendo Switch in the US!  Finally!  Each attraction represents a game mode in this theme park, and I’m going to take you on a tour of all of them!  So let’s begin!

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Tags: Game Reviews

Namco has just opened up a new wing in their museum, with two volumes of archives including a bunch of 8-bit NES and Famicom games!  These two new downloadable collections contain almost a dozen games each.  I’ll be your tour guide as we go through the games on these collections.  So let’s go!

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Tags: Game Reviews

You’re about to open up a café that serves food especially for Pokémon!  And the waiters and cooks are Pokémon as well!  Help prepare delicious dishes for your Poke-pals in this free-to-start puzzle game for Switch and mobile devices (reviewed on Switch here).  Stir around Pokémon head icons to match them and make them disappear.  It kind of reminds me of other action puzzle games on mobile like Yo-Kai Watch Wibble Wobble or the Disney Tsum Tsum game.

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Tags: Game Reviews, Movies with Children, Television

Pokémon has delighted and entertained kids for generations, and now the little pocket monsters are helping make brushing teeth a little more fun.  Pokémon Smile is a brushing app for mobile devices (reviewed on iPhone here) geared towards very young children.  Best of all, it’s completely free with no in-game ads or purchases.  Not sure how it makes money, but good for them!  But will it make kids excited to brush their teeth?  You’ll just have to read on to find out!

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Tags: Game Reviews, Movies with Children, Television

It’s Free-To-Play week here at GamerDad.com, with three free-to-play, or at least free-to-start, games you can download.  Oddly enough, all of these free-to-play games are published by Nintendo!  Or at least related to Nintendo in some way, which is unusual.  The first one we’ll look at is Jump Rope Challenge.  It’s a little fitness style game that simulates jumping rope, and you can download it on Nintendo Switch.

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Tags: Game Reviews

I’m a huge fan of the Darius 2-D shooter series from Taito.  But what is Darius?  While it may look like a generic classic space shooter at first, it has some elements that helped split it apart from others in the arcade.  One, a lot of the spaceships you battle are designed to look like robot fish.  I don’t know why that is, but it gives the game a weirder tinge to it that I like.  Two, the original arcade game was three screens long!  This was advantageous because you could see far ahead of you and could plan accordingly.  It also gave you a bit of elbow room since the game was also two player simultaneous.  And three, the music was really good!  The stage one theme, “Captain NEO” is one of my all time favorite pieces of video game music.  Taito has an in-house band named Zuntata that does most of their game music, which is cool.  Anyway, I was super excited to find out that now there are two collection of Darius titles for Switch and PS4.  There’s an arcade collection and a console collection, and I’m reviewing the console collection for Switch.

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Tags: Game Reviews

If Ultracore feels like a long lost 16-bit Genesis title, that’s because it kind of is!  There’s a bit of interesting history behind it.  Originally, it was called “Hardcore” and set to release on the SEGA Genesis and Amiga in 1995.  It was developed by a company called Digital Illusions, also known as DICE, and the game was pretty much completed.  Unfortunately, at this time the PlayStation just came out and everyone was interested in 3-D gaming, so this one got lost in the shuffle.  A short time later DICE went under and the game was all but lost.  But recently it was found again and Strictly Limited finished it up and made it available to download under the name “Ultracore” for Switch, PS4, and even the Vita (reviewed on Switch here).  It’s a run and gun game with bits of exploration mixed in as well.

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Tags: Game Reviews

You’re an archeologist at sea, but a shipwreck lands you in the ancient underwater fortress of Behlam.  Now equipped with a robot ‘Buddy’ you must explore the maze like corridors of caves and underwater lakes in this 2-D platforming adventure similar to titles like Metroid.  It’s available on all current game consoles and PC, but reviewed on Switch here.

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Tags: Game Reviews

This past week I’ve run through all 51 games in the new Clubhouse Games for Nintendo Switch.  So today I’m going to do a wrap up with links to all the articles I’ve written as well as my overall general impressions.  So let’s begin!

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Tags: Game Reviews