When you think of PlatinumGames, you probably think of over-the-top, high-energy action games. The likes of Bayonetta and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance start with the dial at 11, and only raise the stakes from there. Astral Chain—a joint effort from Platinum and Nintendo—comes, in large part, from that same school …
Nintendo Switch
I joked on Twitter recently that Fire Emblem is basically Adventure Time‘s “now kiss” moment—it may be a tactical RPG first and foremost, but for a lot of people, much of the appeal lies in the characters, their relationships, and the chance to play matchmaker. It seems Nintendo and Intelligent …
2015’s Super Mario Maker was a stroke of genius for Nintendo. Everyone who’s ever played a Mario game has probably dreamed of making their own levels, and here was a game that made that possible. The creation interface was intuitive, but still offered enough depth for imaginative creators to come …
“Unable to fathom everything there was, humanity began to name everything they feared; they mastered the sky, the earth and the entire world. Still in fear, they tied up what nobody else was able to see, they put it in order and they enclosed it inside a concept, regardless of …
Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the Necrodancer feat. The Legend of Zelda is a bold new direction for Nintendo. This is a company known for being fiercely protective of its intellectual property, but it saw fit to lend one of its most precious franchises to a small indie developer from …
Yoshi’s Crafted World is delightful. The Yoshi games have long been the more whimsical counterpart to Mario Bros.’ antics, and Crafted World takes that idea to its zenith with a world that looks like one very ambitious arts and crafts project: folded paper and repurposed rubbish are the stars here, …
“I’m going to show you how to kill a god.” Gods and heavenly bodies are almost as common in JRPGs as slimes, but it’s rather more rare to see a game actually engage with those ideas on any meaningful way. More often than not, a god-like being as the final …
Every year, Nippon Ichi Software holds an internal event encouraging all staff to come up with ideas for a new game, with one such submission guaranteed to get picked up for development and eventual release. It’s an avenue expressly designed to encourage creativity and to involve staff not usually involved …
One of my biggest complaints about the otherwise delightful Atelier Rorona: The Alchemist of Arland DX was its time limit system. With every action moving you closer to a strict deadline that’ll force the story forward—or send you to a game over, if you aren’t careful—there’s little room to just …
At a little over six years since its original Wii U release, New Super Mario Bros. U isn’t that old. But to play it fresh in 2019, it feels like a relic from a time long gone—both for better and worse. On some level, this is to be expected. While …