Puzzle Bobble Everybubble (Switch)
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Posted on May 26th, 2023 by
I freaking love Puzzle Bobble. It’s one of my top three favorite puzzle games, right on up there with Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo and plain ol’ Tetris. It’s actually a spin-off of the arcade classic Bubble Bobble, but this is one case where the spin-off ended up being more popular than the original game it was based on! The series was originally called Bust-A-Move in the US, but I’m so glad they changed it back recently because I hated that name. Puzzle Bobble just makes more sense. Also, this is one type of game that gets heavily imitated on cell phone devices. I bet Taito wished they would’ve gotten some kind of stricter patent or something (not sure how that works), but their game isn’t entirely original itself either. Anyway, the newest game in the series: Puzzle Bobble Everybubble is now available on Switch!
Ayre and the Crystal Comet (PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, X/S, PC)
Posted on May 24th, 2023 by
You are Ayre, a dragon rider and the last of your kind. One day you find a glowing gem that communicates to you. The gem says they are part of a massive crystal comet that fell and crumbled into hundreds of pieces. It’s up to you to explore the land riding your flying dragon to find all the crystal pieces and uncover the mystery. Along the way you might discover other secrets in this no-combat, stress-free low polygonal 3D flying exploration adventure. It’s available on all current consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.
Gematombe (PS4, Switch, Xbox One, PC)
Posted on May 22nd, 2023 by
Back in the 90s, there was a popular sub-genre of puzzle games which were usually competitive and had colorful, sometimes anime-like characters. Some of these types of games included Tetris Attack, Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo, Puzzle Bobble, Magical Drop, Puchi Carat, and others. Gematombe seeks to replicate those kind of games and ends up being most like Puchi Carat. The characters featured here are based on the Greek myth about Pandora’s Box, and gameplay is a mix of Breakout and Puzzle Bobble. It’s available on most current consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.
Cannon Dancer: Osman (PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, X/S)
Posted on May 17th, 2023 by
Cannon Dancer was an arcade game from 1996 and it was called Osman in the US, although I have never heard of it until now. If the game looks a LOT like Strider, there’s a reason for that. Both were directed by the same person and some have said that Cannon Dancer is like an ‘unofficial sequel’ of sorts. In the game you play as a martial arts dude who can climb walls and punch and kick bad guys as you stop a corrupt government in the future. And now you can play it on all current consoles, but it’s reviewed on PS4 here.
Hyper-5 (PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, X/S, PC)
Posted on May 16th, 2023 by
Hyper-5 is a 2-D side scrolling shooter with 3D graphics that look like they came from the late 90s/early 2000s. You can choose to play an arcade mode where you pick up power-ups, or a story mode where you can upgrade your weapons and ship at the end of each level. It’s available on all current consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.
Sport & Fun Swimming (Switch)
Posted on May 15th, 2023 by
This is a motion controlled fitness game where you try and ‘swim’ a set distance each day by moving your arms while holding Switch JoyCons to mimic swimming strokes. It kind of reminds me of another simple fitness game released on the Switch a couple of years ago called Jump Rope Challenge.
The Games of Arcade Paradise
Posted on May 12th, 2023 by
Last year there was a game that came out that I really wanted to review called Arcade Paradise. I requested a review code three different times and was denied each time! I really wanted to review it, too, because it’s a time management sim where you must run a laundromat business, but you are secretly running an arcade in the back with dozens of fictional arcade games you can actually play! I actually had an idea for a business that was half laundromat, half arcade, and I was going to called it Quarters: Good Clean Fun. So this game really resonated with me. If I had gotten a chance to review it last year, it definitely would’ve showed up on my Game of the Year list somewhere. But this year I used some Christmas present PlayStation Store points to buy it, and sure it was only 20 bucks so I was kind of cheap, but this stuff adds up if you’re not careful. Anyway, so now that I’ve played the game, I thought I’d write a blog about the arcade cabinets you can play on it. Oh yeah, and slight spoiler alerts here and there, but I don’t think it matters much.
Papertris (Switch, PC)
Posted on May 10th, 2023 by
Papertris is a ‘falling blocks down a well’ type puzzle game, and it’s most similar to SEGA’s Columns. Colored blocks of three in a column fall from above, and you must arrange them and press the button to cycle through the color order to match three or more of the same. Except while in Columns you could only match colors horizontally, vertically, and diagonally, here you can match colors as long as they are next to each other. There are single player and multiplayer modes, and it has a neat paper graphics style. It’s available on Switch and PC (reviewed on Switch here).
Pretty Girls Tile Match (PS4, PS5, Switch, PC)
Posted on May 8th, 2023 by
Unlock outfits for cute anime ladies by playing a mahjong variation where you match three tiles. Pretty Girls Tile Match is available for PlayStation consoles, Switch, and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.
Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse (PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, X/S, PC)
Posted on May 5th, 2023 by
All right folks, I’m about to reveal one of my guilty pleasures. I like ghost shows. You know those shows on the Discovery Channel where investigators or ‘ghost hunters’ will explore haunted places to try and find proof of ghosts? Yeah I know those shows are dumb and probably are over exaggerated and maybe even faked at times. But I still like ‘em anyway! I just think ghosts are cool. But there’s not a whole lot of horror themed video games where you fight ghosts. It’s usually zombies or something else. But even though I usually like happy, colorful, kid friendly games, I do have a passing interest in the Fatal Frame series, where you use a special camera to fight ghosts by taking pictures of them. This series of games goes all the way back to the PS2 and I’ve played pretty much all of them. The latest one, Mask of the Lunar Eclipse, just came out and it’s available on all current consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.
