Penny-Punching Princess (Switch, PS Vita)
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Posted on April 19th, 2018 by
Sometimes you gotta fight the bad guy, but if they’re so bad couldn’t you just pay them off? Penny-Punching Princess has you fighting and bribing your way through the bad guys to reclaim your rightful title, lost by your father’s poor financial skills. It’s an action rouge-like title with the twist that you can bribe enemies (and obstacles) such they they fight for you instead.
Sometimes the whole metaphorical peanut butter and chocolate combination sneaks up on you and surprises you with you didn’t even know you were missing. Spirit Island, the cooperative settler-destruction strategy game is not for the faint of heart, but it distills nearly all my favorite boardgame elements into a single game. Cooperative game? Check. Asymmetric (each player has different powers) Gameplay ? Check. Deckbuilding? Check. Player Development (increase in power during the game?) Check. Simultaneous player decisions? Check. Multiple scenarios or options for play? Double, Triple, & Quadruple Check. Quick to play, easy to learn, a great fit for any crowd?….. well, you can’t have everything. For gamers willing to put up with a bit of a learning curve (really only a game or two), Spirit Island offers a deeply strategic, cooperative game with plenty of variations to explore.
With the blocky-ness of Minecraft and Roblox, why not a boardgame with blocky numbers from 0 to 9? NMBR 9 has players stacking up number tiles on top of each other to reach a high score. Tiles are worth more the higher they are in the stack, but numbers can only be stacked if they are completely supported by tiles underneath. NMBR 9 is a great little relaxing game with simple rules and since players are always building on their own number stack there is no antagonistic play.
The nostalgia factor is strong over here at GamerDad. It is hard to get more nostalgic than an upright coin-operated arcade machine. While the dream of owning your own arcade may be hard to achieve, you can create a little mini-arcade on your desk using the line of arcade Micro Players by Data East. While the current crop of available titles is pretty slim (BurgerTime reviewed here) they make an excellent desk toy that is attractive, working arcade cabinet.
The party deduction game, Codenames, continues to be wildly popular: spinning off a Pictures version, a two-player Duet version, and now USAopoly has licensed to to create a Marvel and a Disney Family edition. Rather than giving clues and guessing words, the new editions come with cards containing full color art of the two different themes. While Marvel serves as a fun version for fans of the comics and movies, the Disney Family Edition makes the game even more accessible to the younger set and is worth a look for families of even younger grade school children.
Mercenary Kings Reloaded is a challenging (but fun) retro side scrolling shooter where players shoot first, ask questions later, oh and pick up any loot that was dropped. Four player local multiplayer is supported via splitscreen, making this a great fast-playing multiplayer game (particularly on Switch, reviewed here.) Players team up to accomplish timed missions (rescue, elimination, collection) which reward characters with cash money and materials to collect. Players can use materials (and cash) at the home base to improve their weapons, armor, and even personal upgrades. The game doesn’t roam far from its roots of dodge bullets and shoot everything that moves, but that’s a good thing.
DropMix makes a game out of the role of a DJ. Players drop music track cards into slots on the board, mixing their sounds together to make new remixes of their own. Players compete or cooperate while playing a matching game to create new sound mixes. While the game doesn’t have much depth, the fun in the system lies with messing around with different combinations of the available tracks. As a game, DropMix is so-so, but for music fans it can be a fun and interesting toy.
In the Hero Realms card game players alternate between playing cards to fight each other and collecting more cards to be more powerful in the future. This deckbuilder follows in the footsteps of the hugely popular Star Realms but is more than just the same game with a different theme. There are very strong similarities, but in Hero Realms players can begin with a themed starting deck (based around typical RPG character classes) and have the option of playing in a campaign game and/or fighting a specially designed communal boss monster. While Hero Realms feels very similar to Star Realms, the opportunity to play against specific boss monster decks or try out the co-op campaign game makes Hero Realms a unique experience.
Why talk about a 6 ½ year old videogame? The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has now been ported to the Nintendo Switch, making this the first portable version of the title. Players can take their exploration-based fantasy RPG with them on the go. If you haven’t yet tried this award-winning RPG or if you’re a huge fan and want to be able to play anytime or anywhere that you like, the Switch version is a great place to start.
Kung-Fu Zoo has players flicking animal-themed dice into an arena to score points and/or eliminate other players by knocking them into a corner pocket. A fast moving game of skill, with a healthy dose of luck, makes for a great game for younger kids even if it won’t have much staying power for older gamers. 
