Suri is an ordinary schoolgirl who misses the bus one day and must walk home.  She decides to take a shortcut through a forest so she can make it home before dark.  Unfortunately, mysterious beasts are acting aggressive in the forest, and Suri gets lost!  But luckily she befriends a bunch of ghosts along the way that can help her make it out of the forest and save it from danger.  Play as Suri and a following parade of ghosts in this 2-D platforming jumping “Metroidvania” adventure, meaning you’ll explore sprawling mazes and must come back to areas later with new abilities to progress further.  One interesting thing about Ghost Parade is that it’s based on Indonesian folklore, which you don’t see too much in video games.  It’s available for most current consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.

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Tags: Game Reviews

My latest batch of amiibo figures are of three manly dudes from Smash Ultimate.  We’ve got Incineroar from Pokémon, Simon Belmont from Castlevania, and Chrom from Fire Emblem.  Let’s check them out!

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Tags: Misc

To bee or not to bee?  Well now you can be a bee in Bee Simulator.  It’s a flying action game where you play a part of a honey bee in a hive, and must fly around a vast park to collect pollen, battle rival bugs, and ultimately save your hive from construction workers who want to chop the tree down where your hive is located.  It’s available on all current game consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.

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Even though Bloo Kid 2 is about as vanilla as a 2-D platformer could be, I still enjoyed it for what it was.  And it reminded me of the games I used to rent back in the day on my Super Nintendo.  As the blue-clad Bloo Kid, you must rescue a baby in a basket from a flying demon.  You’ll travel through five worlds as you hop and bop your way through enemies and secrets.  It’s available on Switch, PC, and mobile devices, but reviewed on Switch here.

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I’ve got a few Mario and video game themed Christmas items lately, so I thought I’d show them to you.  Most are Hallmark Keepsake Ornaments, but there are a few surprises, so let’s check them out!

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Tags: Misc

The land of Geodia is powered by Sparklite, but when an evil Baron starts mining it to keep all for himself, the land fights back with tremors that change the environment to hinder his mining.  But to stop the mining for good, a plucky young mechanic named Ada will save the day.  Armed with her shapeshifting wrench, she’ll use Sparklite to invent gadgets and gizmos to help her progress in this top-down Zelda style adventure.  It’s available to download on all current consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.

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Tags: Game Reviews

The River City Ransom series sure has gotten a lot of games this year!  First there was River City Girls by WayForward, then River City: Melee Mach!!, which I reviewed earlier.  And now there is Stay Cool, Kobayashi-san: A River City Ransom Story.  It’s kind of a side story starring Kobayashi, one of Kunio’s rivals.  But who is Kunio?  He’s the main character of most of the River City games.  In Japan there is a popular series of video games that has gone back since the 80s starring Kunio.  He’s a hot-blooded high school student who sometimes gets into fights and trouble, but always stands up for his friends and against bullies.  Kunio also likes to play sports and when he’s not beating up baddies, he’s competing in events like soccer or dodgeball.  Some of Kunio’s games have made it to the US under name or graphical changes.  If you’ve ever played a game like Renegade, River City Ransom, Crash N the Boyz Street Challenge, or Super Dodge Ball, then you’ve played a Kunio game!  This new side story game is available to download on all current consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.

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I have a lot of game consoles, but two that I don’t have are any sort of VR device, and an Xbox One.  I don’t have anything against Microsoft, in fact, the 360 was my favorite console of last generation.  But game consoles are expensive and there just isn’t enough games on the Xbox One or VR titles that would get me to buy one of those.  But one year at PAX I saw a VR game that looked right up my alley.  It was a colorful 3-D game called Lucky’s Tale that starred a cartoon fox who looked suspiciously like my favorite SEGA character (minus one tail).  And after that, there was an Xbox One title called Super Lucky’s Tale.  But now I don’t have to worry about either of those because New Super Lucky’s Tale is now on Switch, a game console I do have!  Since I’ve never played the others, I don’t know what’s new or super about it, but New Super Lucky’s Tale is a colorful and cheerful romp that reminds me of the 3-D platformers you could play in the late 90’s and early 2000’s.

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Tags: Game Reviews

Ever since 2012, I’ve always wanted to review SkullGirls.  It’s a 2-D fighting game with cartoony graphics and a cast of very interesting characters.  But for whatever reason, I was never able to review it.  Until now.  SkullGirls: 2^nd Encore is now on Nintendo Switch, the first time it’s been on a Nintendo console, and features all the DLC and extras of the original game.  Now I get to see what the fuss is all about, and believe me, most of that hype is well deserved.

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Squidgies Takeover is a downloadable Switch exclusive that mixes physics style gameplay with Lemmings-like puzzles.  Cute little baby alien octopus creatures are venturing out from their mother’s tentacles so they can take over their own planets.  It’s up to you to distribute powers to them so they can safely reach portals in each single screen level.

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Tags: Game Reviews