We travel back to the past with Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition then check out Magic: The Gathering – Bloomburrow and more.
If you’re a child of the ‘90s, you’ve likely heard whispers of the Nintendo World Championships, even though the event never actually made it to our shores. The game-filled competition became the stuff of legend – which has led to this modern micro-game collection set to revisit some of that nostalgia.
And that’s exactly what you’re getting in this package – a wild assortment of bite-sized challenges that stretch across much of Nintendo’s beloved past. What does that look like exactly? Well in one instance you might be rushing to get your first mushroom in Super Mario Bros. while in another you’ll be trying to quickly suck up an enemy as Kirby, or completing a lap in Excitebike.
Some of these challenges will take a few minutes, others a few seconds. It’s this sheer variety that keeps you on your toes throughout Nintendo World Championship, and besting your own time quickly becomes something of an addiction. There were multiple times that I spent 5+ minutes trying to improve my time by milliseconds in a section that took less than 10 seconds. But every time I did I was hit with that wonderful wave of achievement and satisfaction. Plus, as you nail each microgame, you’ll steadily build a collection of coins to unlock new challenges across Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition’s game collection.
If that loop doesn’t gel with you, there’s a chance Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition isn’t for you. Outside of the Speedrun mode there’s a Survival mode that pits you against the ghost data of seven other players to see who comes out on top, and a Party mode that can throw eight players on screen for all sorts of chaos, but both are just slight spins on the same core gameplay.
With that said, if you’re looking for a fun twist on revisiting classic challenges, Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition is a great time. But if you feel like you need a bit more of a meaty experience, you may need to look elsewhere.
Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition is out now on Nintendo Switch. You can buy it from Amazon from here.
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Magic: The Gathering – Bloomburrow
Magic: The Gathering fans are absolutely feasting at the moment. The Assassin’s Creed crossover is barely in the rear-view mirror but without even a chance to breathe now we’re onto Bloomburrow.
It’s a pretty drastic change of pace for the series in recent times, with the brutal and more graphic nature of sets like Phyrexia replaced for high fantasy woodland animal folk. That’s because Bloomburrow all takes place in the Valley, a tiny idyllic land that is no stranger to woodland parties elemental birds or solider mice. The latter comes in particularly handy because as expected, things don’t stay too peaceful for long and the Valley is threatened by Calamity Beasts – massive elemental predators that would like nothing more than to lay waste to this otherwise cute and cuddly land. Cue the uprising of these brave denizens as they come together to defend their land.
It’s a fun setup and a refreshing change of pace from the series, clearly taking inspiration from the likes of Redial and Mouse Guard. It also allows from some incredibly unique art design to be put at the front and centre, with otter sorcerers, and blade-wielding critters that are all are sight to behold. Even the artsy le itself is incredibly flexible, with some cards that wouldn’t look out of place on a 90s fantasy novel cover, while others embrace monochromatic flair or colourful modern tendencies and combined it makes for a wonderfully varied set.
Things get a shake-up gameplay-wise as well thanks to the addition of offspring. Playing straight into the theme of the woodland critters, cards with Offspring allow you to spend additional mana to create a child copy of that creature packing a 1/1 stat. It’s a fun play on the formula and opens the door for some truly chaotic gameplay, especially if you happen to have the almighty Zinnia, Valley’s Voice card, which not only can grant the offspring ability to other creatures, but is buffed the more 1/1 creatures are on the battlefield. Needless to say, if you see that Bird Bard fly into the fray, be very afraid.
All in all, Magic: The Gathering – Bloomburrow is another great little adventure in the storied card series and I’m certainly curious to see where we end up next.
Magic: The Gathering – Bloomburrow is available now from Gamesmen from $9.95.
Thank Goodness You’re Here! (Switch, PS5, PS4, PC)
Thank goodness you’re here might just become one of the most divisie games of 2024. It’s also wildly weird in all the best ways. It all kicks off when your tiny lead is sent to the finctional town of Barnsworth to meet with the Mayor. But when he’s initially tied up, you are instantly sidetracked with all sorts of ridiculous antics that are often so absurd that detailing them would ruin much of the humour-filled shock and awe Thank Goodness You’re here often delivers.
And there’s the rub: you’ll either gel with the game’s sketch-like comedy immediately, or never drop your eyebrow from its raised position. Sure there’s some light platforming and plenty of slapping throughout the brief experience, but it lives and breathes through its humour. I certainly fell into the former camp, and thoruhgoutly enjoyed most of the ludicrous gags, so if you’re a fan of Brutish humour or keen to try somehign different, Thank Goodness you’re here is worth adding to the wishlist.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate (Switch)
Originally released as an Apple Arcade exclusive, the Turtles have finally make the jump to Switch for their latest adventure and you’ll be glad they did because Splintered Fate is a pretty surprising gem.
Playing a lot like the Supergiant classic Hades, Splintered Fate kicks things off when everybody’s favourite father figure Splinter is kidnapped is by Shredder as strange portals start popping up all over the city. That leaves the titular turtles to save their surrogate father from the Floot Clan and kick a whole bunch of arse on the way.
In essence, all that translates to a gameplay loop you’ve likely seen before. You move from room to room and focus on building up a steady stream of up upgrades in order to whoop increasingly difficult randomized foes. But although it sounds like this could fall into the trap of being a lazy Hades clone, Splintered Fate feels rather polished.
Combat is fast and snappy, and each Turtle feels uniquely different that you’ll want to mix and match between. The difficulty also feels fair and balanced, and although you’ll likely die plenty at the start, you do start to feel more powerful as you sink further in. This new version also adds in four-player couch co-op to the mix, which is perfect if you’re craving a bit of chaos with some friends.
The big downside is that the Switch port I played did encounter a few performance dips when the on-screen action got particularly hectic, but it never felt bad enough to significantly hamper the experience, meaning it’s still a fun adventure that’ll go down well with a piping hot slice of pizza. Cowabunga.
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