Games I Finished
Here are the 8 games I played and finished, in order that they were finished.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
I swear Nintendo made Mario Kart 8 Deluxe easier than Mario Kart 8. It took me 70 hours of playing Mario Kart 8 on the Wii U to get triple-star gold on 50cc &100cc and gold on 150cc and Mirror, but I only spent 10 hours on Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on the Switch to get to the same place. I can think of a couple factors that may explain this. For starters, on the Wii U, I played every single cup on every single cc, whereas on the Switch I started at 100cc (since difficulties stack). I also played much more multiplayer on the Wii U, both local multiplayer and online multiplayer. That still doesn't excuse 60 hours. Remember on the Wii U I only downloaded 1 DLC pack, not both of them, meaning on the Switch it took less time to do more. I have to go back to the difficulty. I pretty much earned triple-star gold (which is 1st place on all 4 grand prix races) in my 1st attempt with most Grand Prix Cups. The only one that gave me issues was special cup and lightning cup. Then on 150cc and Mirror, I once again finished with a gold trophy on the first attempt most of them. Again, the only issues was special cup on Mirror (go figure). Either I'm getting good, or they tone down the difficulty on Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. I'm thinking the latter.
Outside the grand prix cups, I did not play the Switch game as much as I played the Wii U version. Besides the inclusion of the Wii U DLC characters and courses, the biggest and most welcome improvement was the multiplayer battle. In the original Wii U version, battle merely consisted of putting half the racers going one way, the other half of the racers going the opposite directions, and racers through items at each other in passing. In the Switch version, battles happen on courses meant for karts to freely roam, allowing more action to happen. The multiplayer mode also has a lot more options, from the classic balloon popping battle to a new cops-and-robbers battle. The variety allows for every multiplayer game to become a new experience. For the Wii U, I marked Mario Kart 8 as my favorite Wii U game. I'm not sure I would say that Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is my favorite Switch game, but I am awestruck at how Nintendo took an already great game and made it better. I really do hope Nintendo makes a Mario Kart 9 (which many, including myself, hope it is a "Super Kart Bros," or a Super Smash Bros. version of Mario Kart) uniquely for the Switch, for it can only get better.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
On New Year's Day 2019, I began playing Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on the Nintendo Switch. After playing it for the entire first half of 2019, I have accomplished the following-
-ON WORLD OF LIGHT ADVENTURE MODE, 100% completed on easy, clearing all the spaces, awakening all the fighters (this is how I unlocked all the fighters), reaching all the endings (including the true ending), fulling upgrading my skill tree, and I did all in a matter of 39 hours. On top of that, I also 100% completed all the Adventure Mode challenges.
-ON CLASSIC MODE, I cleared classic mode with every fighter (including DLC), with every fighter finishing with at least a minimum of a 7.0 intensity (compared to the 6.0 intensity on Super Smash Bros. 3DS). Rosalina & Luma was the only fighter I could finish on the maximum intensity of 9.9, making Rosalina & Luma my high score. On top of that, I also 100% completed all the Classic Mode challenges.
-ON ALL-STAR MOB SMASH, I defeated at least 25 characters (that's a third of them) with every single fighter (including DLC). My individual high score was 53 defeats (over two-thirds of them!) with Kirby, and my total high score with all fighters was 2,330 defeats.
-ON CENTURY MOB SMASH, I defeated all 100 Miis with half of the fighters, and with the other half of the fighters, I defeated at least 90 Miis. My individual high score was with Dark Pit, who defeated all 100 Miis in a matter of 2 1/3 minutes. My total high score was 7,457 Miis defeated. This is a huge improvement from Super Smash Bros. Wii U, where I could only defeat all the Miis with 10 fighters, and the rest of the fighters could only defeated half the Miis.
-ON HOME RUN CHALLENGE, each and every fighter launched the sandbag of a minimum 50 kilometers
-ON CHALLENGES, I 100% completed Adventure Mode Challenges, Spirit Board Challenges, Spirit Challenges, Classic Mode Challenges, Games & More Challenges, Online Challenges and Other Challenges. The only one I did not 100% complete was the Smash Challenges, but I did get a lot of them. Altogether, I achieved 116 of 124 challenges. That's over 90%!
Anyone who still says that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is merely an enhanced port of Super Smash Bros. fo(u)r Wii U/3DS is an ignorant fool. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has so much more to offer. As the reveal itself said, "Everyone is here!" Not since Melee has the entire cast of the prior games returned for the sequel game. As if 75 fighters weren't enough, DLC has offered even more characters from throughout video game history. And yet even with new fighters, the game stays fairly balanced. While somebody may point out that not all the stages return like the characters do, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate comes with over 100 stages, not even counting the DLC stages! On top of the over 100 unique stages, each stage comes with "battlefield form" (stationary platforms) and an omega form (no platforms), which could be considered over 300 stages. The combinations of fighters and stages are almost endless, which are made even more endless with the option to switch out stages in the middle of the Smash. Furthermore, to add even more combinations, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate allows players to customize the rules. The addition I appreciate the most (and I imagine most fighting gamers do) is that Sakuri has now added stamina battles, in which the fighters have hit points, and they lose a stock if their HP hits 0. This allows Super Smash Bros. Ultimate to feel like a tradition fighting game, if the player chooses so. Between the combinations of fights and the combinations of stages, as well as the combinations of rules, the possibilities seem truly endless!
As seen above, Super Smash Bros. has plenty for the single player to do. If anybody notices Events mode missing, then look towards Adventure mode. Adventure mode really is a misnomer. World of Light is more like a bunch of events tied together with a overworld hub map. The only story in World of Light is in the opening cutscene and the closing cutscene. While better than its absence in Super Smash Bros. fo(u)r 3DS/Wii U (and technically the original Super Smash Bros.), I personally prefer the story Adventure mode in Brawl, or even the Adventure mode in Melee, in which fighters would play on other characters' worlds. The changes in Classic mode was enough to make Classic mode new and fresh, yet it kept enough to make it look and feel like a Classic mode. All-Star mode has transformed into a mob smash, alongside century smash. Sometimes, I wish they would have kept All-Star mode the same because All-Star mode does not feel the same as a mob smash. At other times, I like the change to mob smash because it make All-Star mode the most challenging it has ever been in any Super Smash Bros game. While the All-Star mode has become harder, the century smash feels easier, lacking the challenge. Home Run Challenge did not come with the original game, but it came with a DLC update, a much desired DLC update. Spirit Board mode allows players to continue the challenge that Adventure mode's World of Light provided. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate truly deserves its subtitle of Ultimate. If Sakuri stays behind his word that this may be the last Super Smash Bros. game, I wouldn't mind if Nintendo simply ported Super Smash Bros. Ultimate to every future system. This game could almost be called Super Smash Bros. Perfect.
Splatoon 2
Overall, I greatly enjoyed Splatoon 2, so much that I downloaded the Octo Expansion pack. July 2019 became the month of Splatoon 2 because I spent the rest of the month on the Octo Expansion pack. By the end of the month, I cleared all 80 stations, passed all 7 phases and beat Commander Tartar, thus finishing the Splatoon 2 Octo Expansion on the Nintendo Switch! Play close attention to my wording. While I cleared all 80 stations, I only passed 70 stations. The other 10 I had to hack because they were just too hard (half of which were on line J, the hardest line). Speaking of difficulty, I said that the Splatoon 2 improved on Splatoon 1 because the story mode became difficult halfway through the story, contrasting with Splatoon 1, which didn't become difficult until the final boss. If the story wasn't difficult fast enough, the Octo Expansion is for you. Once you pass the line A stations, it gets difficult. Not that I have any problem with difficulty, but what I did have a problem with was that the Octo Expansion required the Octoling to pay in-game currency to play each station, which become a bummer. If the Octoling short on payment, the Octoling has to play lower difficulty stages over and over again to farm in-game currency. If the Octoling runs out of currency, sure, the Octoling can go into debt, and [SPOILER ALERT!], clearing all 80 stations will reward you with enough funds to wipe out the debt tenfold, [/SPOILER] but it all seems unnecessary. If the developers really wanted to do this in-game currency pay to play model, they should have followed what Harmonix did for Rock Band Blitz (after the update): low cost and high reward. Personally, I would have designed the Octo Expansion pack this way-
-I like rewarding players more in-game currency for making the station harder on them by using different weapons, but simply adding 200 more for the reward doesn't cut it. Easy difficulty should be double the cost price, intermediate difficulty should be triple the cost price, and the most advance difficulty should quadruple the reward price.
-Quit shifting the amount of lives! I hate having to pay 500 currency for 5 lives on one station, 500 for 3 lives on another and 500 for 1 life on another! Be like story mode and give 3 lives every time. Also, just like story mode, give players back a lost life if they reached a checkpoint. Nothing was more frustrating than reaching a final checkpoint for the first time with only 1 life. It leaves absolutely no room for trial and error.
-I really like how there was multiplayer map stations (like the tower defense game), but there wasn't enough of that. Most stations were harder versions of story mode levels, which wasn't bad within itself, but it was quite repetitive. Balance the two out. I would have loved to see at least one clam challenge station and at least one Turf War Station (beside [SPOILER ALERT!] the final boss battle[/SPOILER])
Not only did I play all the single player modes offered by Splatoon 2, I got to participate in the last Splatfest. By the time I purchased Splatoon 1 for the Wii U, Splatfest were already a thing of the past, and this year, I spent so much time on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, I thought I would miss this one as well. I'm not sure if the future holds a Splatoon 3 or any future Splatfest, but at least I can I participated in 1 Splatfest. As for the last Splatfest, I joined Team Order instead of Team Chaos because my God creates order out of the chaos. Unfortunately, Team Chao ran the board, winning in popular vote, solo battles and team battles, thus claiming the final Splatfest championship. Nonetheless, I'm glad I got to experience a Splatfest.
ARMS
On August 1, I started playing ARMS. At this time, I started doing more research into the Switch games I chose because I really wanted to make sure I played game that truly utilized the Switch's hardware. Through my research, I learned a few fun facts about ARMS. First, ARMS was originally developed for the Nintendo Wii U, but when the developers found out about Nintendo's Project NX (which would become the Nintendo Switch), which would have detachable motion controllers (which would become the joycons), the developers decided NX would be a better fit for their game, so they programmed for it instead. Second, this game was originally planned as a Mario Boxing game, as part of the Mario sports games series. As planning and development progressed, developers threw around the idea of introducing other Nintendo characters as fighters, just like Mario Kart 8 did, adding Legend of Zelda characters and Animal Crossing characters. Upon further thinking about it, however, the developers realized that a game with Nintendo characters fighting one another sounded too close to Super Smash Bros., so the idea was scrapped for original characters (developers also considered Punch Out characters, but developers realized that Punch Out characters would upset long time fans of Punch Out and confuse new fans of ARMS, so that was scrapped, too.). Third, since the game focused on the extension of the arms to insane lengths, all fighters' designs started with their arms (go figure), and the rest of the body was designed to fit with the design of the arms.
August 2019 became the month of ARMS. After playing ARMS for the whole month of August, I fought with every fighter on both Grand Prix and 1-on-100, thus finishing ARMS on the Nintendo Switch. For the Grand Prix, I won all 10 fights with each fighter on a difficulty of 2 (with the exception of Master Mummy, who I cleared with a difficulty of 4). For 1-on-100, I at least beat 67 with each fighter, even clearing all 100 with 2 of the fighters (Byte & Bark and Springtron)
. For the Get Arms minigame, I have record of 270 on the short timer, 1870 on the medium timer and 4340 on the longer timer. In the process, I earned 76 badges. And I did it all in a matter of about 15 gameplay hours. Also, may the record reflect I did it all with the motion controls (except the badges that required using buttons), giving me quite the arm workout (hence the title, I guess). I did all the Grand Prix fights on a difficulty of 2 because that was the sweet spot for me. A difficulty of 1 was too easy, and a difficulty of 3 was too hard. The only reason I got Master Mummy up to a 4 was because Master Mummy has the strongest throw, and his ability allows him to heal when blocking. I'm glad I did get him to a difficulty of 4 because you need to be on at least a difficulty of 4 to unlock the "true ending" with the extra fight, the credits and the epilogue card to show the fighter has reached his dream goal, not just simply winning the championship. I only got to see that once because of Master Mummy. Trust me, I tried with other characters, only to get nowhere. Part of the inability to finish only a difficulty of 4 was the motion controls. Indeed, it is a step up from boxing in Wii Sports, but it is a long way from Creed, the PSVR video game. Sometimes the game feels like it accurately know the motion of your arm, and at other times you're wildly flailing your arms. The other part of the inability to advance everyone to a 4 difficulty was the minigames in between meets. During rounds 3 and 6 of the Grand Prix, you play either volleyball, basketball or break the targets. Basketball is easy, considering all the player has to do is grab the other player, and the computer takes care of the rest. Break the targets can become easy or hard, depending on the fighter and the arms chosen. Volleyball is hard. Developers, I know you were trying to throw variety in the game besides boxing matches, but this game was made for boxing, not any other sport. The Grand Prix should have been just fights, not any other sport. Save the other sports for an extra mode.
Just like Splatoon, I congratulate Nintendo for attempting new IPs instead of recycling old IPs. Although ARMS did not have the same success as Splatoon, I hope it does not discourage Nintendo from trying new IPs. Despite my frustrations, I overall enjoyed the game, especially for how it utilized the hardware. It will definitely end up as one of my favorite games for the Switch.
. For the Get Arms minigame, I have record of 270 on the short timer, 1870 on the medium timer and 4340 on the longer timer. In the process, I earned 76 badges. And I did it all in a matter of about 15 gameplay hours. Also, may the record reflect I did it all with the motion controls (except the badges that required using buttons), giving me quite the arm workout (hence the title, I guess). I did all the Grand Prix fights on a difficulty of 2 because that was the sweet spot for me. A difficulty of 1 was too easy, and a difficulty of 3 was too hard. The only reason I got Master Mummy up to a 4 was because Master Mummy has the strongest throw, and his ability allows him to heal when blocking. I'm glad I did get him to a difficulty of 4 because you need to be on at least a difficulty of 4 to unlock the "true ending" with the extra fight, the credits and the epilogue card to show the fighter has reached his dream goal, not just simply winning the championship. I only got to see that once because of Master Mummy. Trust me, I tried with other characters, only to get nowhere. Part of the inability to finish only a difficulty of 4 was the motion controls. Indeed, it is a step up from boxing in Wii Sports, but it is a long way from Creed, the PSVR video game. Sometimes the game feels like it accurately know the motion of your arm, and at other times you're wildly flailing your arms. The other part of the inability to advance everyone to a 4 difficulty was the minigames in between meets. During rounds 3 and 6 of the Grand Prix, you play either volleyball, basketball or break the targets. Basketball is easy, considering all the player has to do is grab the other player, and the computer takes care of the rest. Break the targets can become easy or hard, depending on the fighter and the arms chosen. Volleyball is hard. Developers, I know you were trying to throw variety in the game besides boxing matches, but this game was made for boxing, not any other sport. The Grand Prix should have been just fights, not any other sport. Save the other sports for an extra mode.Just like Splatoon, I congratulate Nintendo for attempting new IPs instead of recycling old IPs. Although ARMS did not have the same success as Splatoon, I hope it does not discourage Nintendo from trying new IPs. Despite my frustrations, I overall enjoyed the game, especially for how it utilized the hardware. It will definitely end up as one of my favorite games for the Switch.
Snipperclips (Plus)
If July 2019 was the month of Splatoon 2, and August 2019 was the month of ARMS, September 2019 was the month of Snipperclips (Plus). After playing Snipperclips for the entire month of September, I solved all 75 puzzles, thus finishing Snipperclips (Plus)! This is one of those games that proves photo-realistic graphics do no make a game good. All the themes - noisy notebook, retro reboot, silly science, cosmic comics & toybox tools - all fit the crafty aesthetic. I also appreciated how they remixed the theme song with each change in theme by changing up the instruments. It really tied in well. All the puzzles were straightforward on the goal, so much so that a description was not provided or needed. Solutions were neither too easy nor too hard. Personally, I only needed help on 3 of the 75 puzzles. That's only 4% of them. Between the sensible goal and the sensible solution, I would say this game is meant for kids, but I mean that in a good way. Anyone could pick it up, play it and win, even the illiterate. Even the controls help with that easy playability, but then again, it also hurts. Movement is of course the joystick, and the actions are only 3 buttons (a 4th button is added to switch for solo players). With the exception of jump, however, none of the buttons have a logical place. If the player is too focused on the actual puzzle itself, the player can easily press the wrong button, forcing him or her to start all over again. Speaking of solo players, this game was clearly meant for 2 players, each playing on 1 joycon. If playing solo, you'll constantly have to switch pieces. It's not that playing solo is harder, but it is longer. It's just easier to grab a friend and have them help you. I would have liked to see solo puzzles on top of multiplayer puzzles. Beside a confusing button layout and lack of solo puzzles, my only other complaint is that the loading screens seemed kind of long for a simple puzzle game. All in all, Snipperclips takes full advantage of the Switch's hardware capabilities. It works perfectly as a multiplayer game on the go. For the person who loves puzzle gaming, I would recommend this game for the Switch.
Cadence of Hyrule
Despite not being a "canonical" Legend of Zelda game, it felt like a Legend of Zelda game. The aesthetic reminded me of Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. The exploration of overworld reminded me of the original Legend of Zelda because I had to legitimately explore every corner of the map to find all the dungeons and all the secrets, without any guidance of hints. Both of those features would make a Zelda fanboy gleefully happy. My only complaint is that the "champions" (what this game call bosses) might have been too easy. I beat all 4 champions, Octavio and Ganon on the first try, and sometimes, I didn't know how besides, "Here's a sword; go around and hit stuff." Yes, I get they don't want to make the champions too tough or too puzzle-y because that would add another layer of complication on top of staying on the beat, but a boss or a champion should be something more a monster who has above average HP/stamina. While staying in beat helped greatly, being off the beat didn't hinder the gameplay to the point of being unplayable. Still, if I want to play a rhythm game, I would lean away from the action/adventure genre and lean more towards the simulation genre, like Guitar Hero and Rock Band.
Super Kirby Clash
Since I played Hyrule of Candance to keep with the Legend of Zelda games, I had to play Super Kirby Clash to keep up with the Kirby games from last year. After 30 hours gameplay time over 3 months real time, I beat the True Final Battle, thus finishing Super Kirby Clash on the Nintendo Switch! This is the 32nd Kirby game I have played and finished. During those 30 hours of gameplay time, I have earned 102 medals: 80 platinum medals, 17 gold medals, 4 silver medals and 1 bronze medal. I also accomplished 509 of 900 hero missions. I also got up to level 63. Most importantly, I didn't spend a single cent on this "free-to-play" (more like "free-to-start") game! I made sure I collected my daily bonuses every day, and it was enough to advance me and power me up to the true final battle and win the true final battle.
Super Kirby Clash deserves the "super" part of its title. If you think Kirby Clash Deluxe took the Kirby Clash minigame further, wait until you see Super Kirby Clash! More quests, more missions, more levels. Missions have gone from 256 to 900, and level max out, no longer at 50, but at 100. The rarity of Kirby's weapons and armor goes up to 15, and each weapon and armor has both a deluxe version and super version (of course). I think Kirby Clash Deluxe got enough complaints about the gem apples (in-game currency, which can be bought with out-of-game currency), for it felt easier to earn gem apples in this game. Not only do more hero missions mean more opportunities to earn gem apples, Nintendo provides many other ways to earn gem apples, from passwords to newsletters to even Tetris 99 event! I will admit that knowing what I was doing helped conserve gem apples. I also heard that, if you spend real money on gem apples, you get more out of it thank Kirby Clash Deluxe. Although Super Kirby Clash improved on Kirby Clash Deluxe, I would still recommend just playing the Kirby Clash minigame to get the idea. If you really love it, go for Super Kirby Clash over Kirby Clash Deluxe.
Super Kirby Clash deserves the "super" part of its title. If you think Kirby Clash Deluxe took the Kirby Clash minigame further, wait until you see Super Kirby Clash! More quests, more missions, more levels. Missions have gone from 256 to 900, and level max out, no longer at 50, but at 100. The rarity of Kirby's weapons and armor goes up to 15, and each weapon and armor has both a deluxe version and super version (of course). I think Kirby Clash Deluxe got enough complaints about the gem apples (in-game currency, which can be bought with out-of-game currency), for it felt easier to earn gem apples in this game. Not only do more hero missions mean more opportunities to earn gem apples, Nintendo provides many other ways to earn gem apples, from passwords to newsletters to even Tetris 99 event! I will admit that knowing what I was doing helped conserve gem apples. I also heard that, if you spend real money on gem apples, you get more out of it thank Kirby Clash Deluxe. Although Super Kirby Clash improved on Kirby Clash Deluxe, I would still recommend just playing the Kirby Clash minigame to get the idea. If you really love it, go for Super Kirby Clash over Kirby Clash Deluxe.
Super Mario Party
Lastly, I collected all 5 gems and declared the Superstar, thus finishing Super Mario party on the Nintendo Switch! I got the Gem of Tenacity by playing all 4 boards in Mario Party mode, I got the Gem of Love by playing all 4 boards in the Partner Party mode, I got the Gem of Courage by playing through every route in River Survival mode, I got the Gem of Spirit by finishing the Sound Stage mode on hard difficulty, and I got the Gem of Passion by completing all 80 minigames on Challenge Road mode. And I did it all in about 15 hours.
This might be my favorite Mario Party game. Nintendo finally returned Mario Party to its classic form. The main mode involved traversing a multi-route board, collecting coins to trade in for a star, and collecting stars to win the game. No more shared carts. Everyone can go their own path. Although they redid how the points system works (for example, 10 coins buys a star, not 20 coins), it all seems to work out in the end. If you enjoyed a group aspect of the 2 previous 2 Mario games, and you would like a more routes in your boards, partner party might be the game mode for you. The player is paired up with a partner, they share dice rolls and they can roam the board freely. Besides the 2 main modes of Mario Party and Partner Party, if you like the minigames but don't like the boards, there are plenty of other options. River Survival has a team of 4 traversing down a rapids river, racing to meet the finish line before time runs out, extending their time with 4-player co-op minigames. Sound stage is a series of fun rhythm based motion games. Challenge Road challenges players not only to win the minigames, but also to reach certain goals, sometimes even asking for perfection. Speaking of minigames, Super Mario Party manages to balance motion control minigames and button pressing minigames perfectly, something the previous few Mario Party games struggled to do. I didn't get to play in Toad's Rec Room because I don't know someone else locally with a Switch and Super Mario Party, but from what I've seen, it looks like mad fun.Super Mario Party starts the player out with 16 characters, then has the player unlock another 4 characters, for a grand total of 20 characters. The most stand out character would have to be Bowser because this is first game in which Bowser is a playable character (not counting Mario Party 10 because he was still an enemy character). In this Mario Party game, players choose their character right after the home screen, unlike previous Mario Party games, in which character selection happened after mode selection. New to this version of Mario Party is that all the characters comes with special dice, which can either give you coins instead of spaces or gives a different balances of spaces moved. Now character selection is not just merely choosing a favorite character, but it now involves choosing based off their dice. Furthermore, the board game modes can give the player the option to call other characters as allies. When the player calls upon these allies, they get their dice, giving them more dice options. This gives the game a layer of complexity without overdoing it on dice, like Mario Party 4 did.
Of course, Super Mario Party's biggest weakness is the small amount of game boards. Both Mario Party and Partner Party have only 4 game boards. In all honesty, though the past few Mario Party games have suffered from this, and only the Nintendo 64 and GameCube Mario Party games escape it. Besides this glaring weakness, I can easily declare Super Mario Party my favorite Mario Party.
Games I Could Not Finish
I present to you the 2 games I could not finish, in order I first played them-
Mario Tennis Aces
Mario Tennis Aces was the first game I played with my Switch. Opening it on Christmas morning with my wife, we wanted to face in a tennis match. Upon booting up the game, however, I was thrown into the game's story mode, cutscenes and all. I had to wait for the game to give me back control to back all the way out to the main menu to start a multiplayer match. Listen, Mario Tennis Aces, I appreciate you thought about the gamers who play solo, so much so you thought up a single player campaign for them. But ultimately, however, most people get Mario Tennis Aces (or any Mario Tennis game, for that matter) for the casual multiplayer. Here is one of the few times that an opening title card leading into the main menu would suffice.
As for the story mode, Nintendo really did an excellent job forming a story. Their story did not merely consist of a tennis tournament. Each level or stage did not merely consist of beating a character in a tennis match. Each level and stage tested the player's skills. At times, these tests can be challenging. Sometimes it's not clear what the objective is. Other times the game pretty much asks for perfection, allowing little to no room to mess up. Between the unclear objectives and the desire for perfection, I got stuck constantly, and that's why I never finished the game. Despite the well thought out story campaign, I sometimes wished it was simply a tennis tournament.
Even if this game merely had free play, the game provides plenty of combinations in its variety. The game came with 16 playable characters, and then it added 14 more in updates, for a grand total of 30 playable characters. Each character has his own flair of how he plays, so choosing a character (and an opponent if playing against a computer) means more than just looks. Players can unlock up to 10 courts. Some of the courts come with additional hazards, which add another layer of complexity. Even if a single player merely played free play with computer players, the combinations would seem nearly endless.
My biggest criticism of the game is they pushed motion controls off to the side, quite literally. They do offer motion controls, but it's another mode, separate from the rest of the game. Furthermore, the motion control version of the game is very vanilla. It is your basic tennis with basic rules. No zone speed, no zone shots, no special shots. Even editing the rules has its limitations. It's quite a shame they did push this mode off to the side because it really is an improved Wii Sports Tennis. No longer can a player just waggle the controller and hit the ball. The player must carefully time his or her swing to not swing too early or too late. The player also has to be conscience of the angle of the controller because it will affect the which way the ball would go. With such great improvements in motion control, the expectation would be that Nintendo would want to show this off to everybody. Nope. It's a function off the side, but only if you want. Honestly, if the game would have allowed motion controls throughout the entire game, I might have been more invested in finishing the single player campaign.
Ring Fit Adventure
I may have chosen the wrong game for my Year of the Switch...
I had played Ring Fit Adventure for the entire month of November, on average playing every other day. I had finished 10 worlds and have gotten through half of the 11th world. My character went up to level 90. And there was no end in sight. I started doing some research on the internet. I found somebody supposedly quoting Nintendo, saying that there were over 20 worlds and over 100 levels, which, if spent a half an hour working out every day, would take several months to finish. Not looking good, but I wanted something more concrete. After Googling several different phrases with Boolean filters, I finally found someone who finished Ring Fit Adventure on YouTube. Now, to be fair, the YouTuber was playing at a 7 out of 30 difficulty (for a frame of reference, I played at 10 out of 30), and he was playing on silent mode (no jogging). But thanks to him, I found out Ring Fit Adventure has 23 worlds! I'm roughly halfway through! Furthermore, by the time he reached the end, his character reached level 211! I'm not even halfway there! As November came to a close, with other Switch games closer to the finish line, Ring Fit Adventure to headed to the backlog.
Whoever said that Ring Fit Adventure is not a real RPG is an ignorant fool. It has everything expected for an RPG. Your character gains experience points and levels up. Every time your character levels up, the character gains attack points, defense points, experience points, and, later on in the game, skill points. Those skill points can be used to unlock extra skills on a skill tree. Players can learn new exercises/attacks, and the skill tree can unlock more slots for exercises/attacks. After world 2, enemies have weaknesses to certain exercises/attacks based on their color. Players can use ingredients collected from levels to create smoothies, which restore health and give stat boosts it battle. If players have not collected enough ingredients in levels, they can buy some for the town's general store. Also at the general store, players can buy outfits that boost stats. Heck, there's even side quests that unlock clothing, smoothies, smoothie recipes, or just extra money. Everything I mentioned are all elements of RPGs, and they can be found in Ring Fit Adventure. I don't know what the RPG fanboys were expecting to get a more "fleshed out" RPG. A complicatedly connected fetch quest? The ability to roam freely upon each world to interact with every NPC? Heck, I don't think they can't criticize Ring Fit Adventure as being too short for a RPG. Yes, it was only 8 or 9 worlds, I would consider it a watered-down RPG, but not 23 worlds.
Just like many other reviewers have criticized, it's weird that the ring can talk, but Drageux cannot. This doesn't mean I don't want the Ring to talk. In fact, I love the ring talking. He reminds me of Goku with his happy-go-lucky personality. I just wish they would have voiced Drageux. As a personal complaint, I thought the attack animations were weird. I get they were to show what muscle the player was working out, but I think the color coded would have sufficed. Did I really need to see a foot stretch for leg attacks and a flabby gut turn into six-pack abs to attack the foe? Again, I would have preferred if the ring shot color-coded energy beams instead. Maybe use those animations for a few selected attacks, like the range attacks. But don't let poor choices in animations fool you. Overall, the game has beautiful graphics with its cel-shading. Nobody usually expects a fitness game to look beautiful, but this one does.
Games I Cannot Finish
These are the 2 games I cannot finish, in order they were first played.
Tetris 99
With the hype of the battle royale genre, you might expect more developers and publishers to attempt their own battle royale game, either by starting a new franchise or inserting battle royale into an old franchise. You would not expect for a puzzle game to enter the genre. Yet here we have Tetris 99, a battle royale version of Tetris. If you find any kind of competitive multiplayer Tetris crazy, you'll find Tetris 99 hectic. No longer do you simply face down 1 opponent. No, now you face down 98 opponents. You can choose the exact opponents to send your garbage lines to, or you can let the computer choose, based off who just sent you garbage lines, who is closer to being knocked out, who has more knock out themselves, or whoever the computer randomly chooses. At first, it will seem to hard to catch up, but once you get the hang of it, you'll get addicted. You will find yourself looking forward to the Flight of the Bumblebee because it means you're in the top 10.
Tetris 99 must've feared players would leave after the hype died down, so they added more features to keep the hype going. They added a team battle, where players are shoved into 4 teams: red fire, yellow lightning, blue water and green leaf. Not only do players strive to be the top player, the strive to be the top team. They added Tetris Invictus, where only the top Tetris players can square off against other top Tetris players. They added daily challenge goals, which can range from finishing in a certain spot, to clearing a certain amount of lines to knocking out a certain amount of opponents. Complete a goal, earn a ticket. 15 tickets can unlock a newly decorated Tetris format. Did I mention all these additions were free? They also included paid DLC. For $10, Tetris 99 players can download the single player modes everyone is familiar with, like marathon. Furthermore, Tetris 99 will have events with special themes for decoration. Score at least 100 points during those events, and you can keep the themes permanently! These events also have me keep coming back to the game. I have invested over 20 hours in the game, and I have reached over level 30 (which is just a rank) during that time period. Tetris 99 had that good, old-fashion Tetris addiction. If you like Tetris, you'll love Tetris 99. You have no excuse, as the download is free.
1-2-Switch!
I have to say, Nintendo, you really dropped the ball on this. Recently, you've been good with your demo games. Wii Sports, Wii Play, Wii Sports Resort, Wii Play Motion and Nintendo Land may not be deep and immersive, but they all are fun and challenging games within them. I expected something similar from a 1-2-Switch, a launch title. I was very disappointed. Indeed, all 24 minigames demonstrate the Switch's hardware capabilities. True, it was one of the better uses of full motion video in a game. Yes, the game allows players to face each other without looking at the screen. But that's all I have for compliments! Why is there no single player mode? You could have at least allowed a computer player to take over in place of a second player. Why is there no challenge to get a high score of a win? You should have done like those Wii demo games mentioned above and given players a way to earn medals. All these games could have been part of a Mario Party game or a Wario Ware game, in which they would have contributed to an overall game. Instead, you play this game once, and you're done. The craziest part about this whole thing is that 1-2-Switch is not packed in with the system. You have to pay a full $50 for this. Heck, even used copies never go cheaper than $40. I had to get this game for historical reasons because it is a launch title. Besides that, I see no reason to get this game.
There are so many other games I wanted to play on the Switch, from Yu-Gi-Oh: Legacy of the Duelist to Dragonball Z Xenoverse 2 to Beat Sports. Perhaps next year. Or maybe next year is time for something new... ;)
Mario Tennis Aces
Mario Tennis Aces was the first game I played with my Switch. Opening it on Christmas morning with my wife, we wanted to face in a tennis match. Upon booting up the game, however, I was thrown into the game's story mode, cutscenes and all. I had to wait for the game to give me back control to back all the way out to the main menu to start a multiplayer match. Listen, Mario Tennis Aces, I appreciate you thought about the gamers who play solo, so much so you thought up a single player campaign for them. But ultimately, however, most people get Mario Tennis Aces (or any Mario Tennis game, for that matter) for the casual multiplayer. Here is one of the few times that an opening title card leading into the main menu would suffice.
As for the story mode, Nintendo really did an excellent job forming a story. Their story did not merely consist of a tennis tournament. Each level or stage did not merely consist of beating a character in a tennis match. Each level and stage tested the player's skills. At times, these tests can be challenging. Sometimes it's not clear what the objective is. Other times the game pretty much asks for perfection, allowing little to no room to mess up. Between the unclear objectives and the desire for perfection, I got stuck constantly, and that's why I never finished the game. Despite the well thought out story campaign, I sometimes wished it was simply a tennis tournament.
Even if this game merely had free play, the game provides plenty of combinations in its variety. The game came with 16 playable characters, and then it added 14 more in updates, for a grand total of 30 playable characters. Each character has his own flair of how he plays, so choosing a character (and an opponent if playing against a computer) means more than just looks. Players can unlock up to 10 courts. Some of the courts come with additional hazards, which add another layer of complexity. Even if a single player merely played free play with computer players, the combinations would seem nearly endless.
My biggest criticism of the game is they pushed motion controls off to the side, quite literally. They do offer motion controls, but it's another mode, separate from the rest of the game. Furthermore, the motion control version of the game is very vanilla. It is your basic tennis with basic rules. No zone speed, no zone shots, no special shots. Even editing the rules has its limitations. It's quite a shame they did push this mode off to the side because it really is an improved Wii Sports Tennis. No longer can a player just waggle the controller and hit the ball. The player must carefully time his or her swing to not swing too early or too late. The player also has to be conscience of the angle of the controller because it will affect the which way the ball would go. With such great improvements in motion control, the expectation would be that Nintendo would want to show this off to everybody. Nope. It's a function off the side, but only if you want. Honestly, if the game would have allowed motion controls throughout the entire game, I might have been more invested in finishing the single player campaign.Ring Fit Adventure
I may have chosen the wrong game for my Year of the Switch...
I had played Ring Fit Adventure for the entire month of November, on average playing every other day. I had finished 10 worlds and have gotten through half of the 11th world. My character went up to level 90. And there was no end in sight. I started doing some research on the internet. I found somebody supposedly quoting Nintendo, saying that there were over 20 worlds and over 100 levels, which, if spent a half an hour working out every day, would take several months to finish. Not looking good, but I wanted something more concrete. After Googling several different phrases with Boolean filters, I finally found someone who finished Ring Fit Adventure on YouTube. Now, to be fair, the YouTuber was playing at a 7 out of 30 difficulty (for a frame of reference, I played at 10 out of 30), and he was playing on silent mode (no jogging). But thanks to him, I found out Ring Fit Adventure has 23 worlds! I'm roughly halfway through! Furthermore, by the time he reached the end, his character reached level 211! I'm not even halfway there! As November came to a close, with other Switch games closer to the finish line, Ring Fit Adventure to headed to the backlog.
Whoever said that Ring Fit Adventure is not a real RPG is an ignorant fool. It has everything expected for an RPG. Your character gains experience points and levels up. Every time your character levels up, the character gains attack points, defense points, experience points, and, later on in the game, skill points. Those skill points can be used to unlock extra skills on a skill tree. Players can learn new exercises/attacks, and the skill tree can unlock more slots for exercises/attacks. After world 2, enemies have weaknesses to certain exercises/attacks based on their color. Players can use ingredients collected from levels to create smoothies, which restore health and give stat boosts it battle. If players have not collected enough ingredients in levels, they can buy some for the town's general store. Also at the general store, players can buy outfits that boost stats. Heck, there's even side quests that unlock clothing, smoothies, smoothie recipes, or just extra money. Everything I mentioned are all elements of RPGs, and they can be found in Ring Fit Adventure. I don't know what the RPG fanboys were expecting to get a more "fleshed out" RPG. A complicatedly connected fetch quest? The ability to roam freely upon each world to interact with every NPC? Heck, I don't think they can't criticize Ring Fit Adventure as being too short for a RPG. Yes, it was only 8 or 9 worlds, I would consider it a watered-down RPG, but not 23 worlds.Just like many other reviewers have criticized, it's weird that the ring can talk, but Drageux cannot. This doesn't mean I don't want the Ring to talk. In fact, I love the ring talking. He reminds me of Goku with his happy-go-lucky personality. I just wish they would have voiced Drageux. As a personal complaint, I thought the attack animations were weird. I get they were to show what muscle the player was working out, but I think the color coded would have sufficed. Did I really need to see a foot stretch for leg attacks and a flabby gut turn into six-pack abs to attack the foe? Again, I would have preferred if the ring shot color-coded energy beams instead. Maybe use those animations for a few selected attacks, like the range attacks. But don't let poor choices in animations fool you. Overall, the game has beautiful graphics with its cel-shading. Nobody usually expects a fitness game to look beautiful, but this one does.
Games I Cannot Finish
These are the 2 games I cannot finish, in order they were first played.
Tetris 99
With the hype of the battle royale genre, you might expect more developers and publishers to attempt their own battle royale game, either by starting a new franchise or inserting battle royale into an old franchise. You would not expect for a puzzle game to enter the genre. Yet here we have Tetris 99, a battle royale version of Tetris. If you find any kind of competitive multiplayer Tetris crazy, you'll find Tetris 99 hectic. No longer do you simply face down 1 opponent. No, now you face down 98 opponents. You can choose the exact opponents to send your garbage lines to, or you can let the computer choose, based off who just sent you garbage lines, who is closer to being knocked out, who has more knock out themselves, or whoever the computer randomly chooses. At first, it will seem to hard to catch up, but once you get the hang of it, you'll get addicted. You will find yourself looking forward to the Flight of the Bumblebee because it means you're in the top 10.
Tetris 99 must've feared players would leave after the hype died down, so they added more features to keep the hype going. They added a team battle, where players are shoved into 4 teams: red fire, yellow lightning, blue water and green leaf. Not only do players strive to be the top player, the strive to be the top team. They added Tetris Invictus, where only the top Tetris players can square off against other top Tetris players. They added daily challenge goals, which can range from finishing in a certain spot, to clearing a certain amount of lines to knocking out a certain amount of opponents. Complete a goal, earn a ticket. 15 tickets can unlock a newly decorated Tetris format. Did I mention all these additions were free? They also included paid DLC. For $10, Tetris 99 players can download the single player modes everyone is familiar with, like marathon. Furthermore, Tetris 99 will have events with special themes for decoration. Score at least 100 points during those events, and you can keep the themes permanently! These events also have me keep coming back to the game. I have invested over 20 hours in the game, and I have reached over level 30 (which is just a rank) during that time period. Tetris 99 had that good, old-fashion Tetris addiction. If you like Tetris, you'll love Tetris 99. You have no excuse, as the download is free.1-2-Switch!
I have to say, Nintendo, you really dropped the ball on this. Recently, you've been good with your demo games. Wii Sports, Wii Play, Wii Sports Resort, Wii Play Motion and Nintendo Land may not be deep and immersive, but they all are fun and challenging games within them. I expected something similar from a 1-2-Switch, a launch title. I was very disappointed. Indeed, all 24 minigames demonstrate the Switch's hardware capabilities. True, it was one of the better uses of full motion video in a game. Yes, the game allows players to face each other without looking at the screen. But that's all I have for compliments! Why is there no single player mode? You could have at least allowed a computer player to take over in place of a second player. Why is there no challenge to get a high score of a win? You should have done like those Wii demo games mentioned above and given players a way to earn medals. All these games could have been part of a Mario Party game or a Wario Ware game, in which they would have contributed to an overall game. Instead, you play this game once, and you're done. The craziest part about this whole thing is that 1-2-Switch is not packed in with the system. You have to pay a full $50 for this. Heck, even used copies never go cheaper than $40. I had to get this game for historical reasons because it is a launch title. Besides that, I see no reason to get this game.
There are so many other games I wanted to play on the Switch, from Yu-Gi-Oh: Legacy of the Duelist to Dragonball Z Xenoverse 2 to Beat Sports. Perhaps next year. Or maybe next year is time for something new... ;)
