Capsule Reviews
Alien Hominid
(GBA ) This run and gun sometimes pops up on hidden gems list. I liked the graphics and the humor, but the gameplay didn't do much for me.
Baba is You
(PC) Creative puzzle game. We actually really liked this, but then we got stuck and gave up. WILL return and make a proper post.
Bit. Trip Runner
(Switch) Revisiting this runner years later I find it's just as difficult as I remember, only now I have even less patience for memorization/reaction games. The penalty of returning to the beginning of the level is too stiff for me.
Brotato
(PC) Survivors-like that was fun for a couple of rounds didn't have enough going on to keep my interest longer than that.
Cool Boarders Pocket
(Neo Geo Pocket Color) I know I'm a shitty casual and everything but I found this almost impossible to play, let alone enjoy. The reaction time required and the volume of random obstacles (dogs, an actual POLAR BEAR?) is really something.
Cosmo Gang the Video
(SNES) A cutified Galaga clone.
Crisis Force
(NES) Standard vertical shmup.
Denki Blocks!
(GBA) Fairly standard sliding blocks puzzle.
Desktop Dungeons
(PC) I was in the mood for a coffee break roguelike and found this in my stash. This is actually more of a puzzle game than a roguelike, and it didn’t quite grab me, but I may come back to it.
Dicing Knight
(Wonderswan Color) An early, possibly first, indie roguelike. I enjoy this one for what it is (like Fatal Laybrinth) and need to make a post at some point.
Dome Keeper
(PC) Mining roguelike. This should be my jam, but unfortunately it got boring very quickly. I was over it within an hour.
Don’t Starve Together
(Switch) The Nintendo Switch port of this game was extremely tedious. Load times were an issue, and as newcomers to the franchise we had a hard time understanding what to do. Swift death, accompanied by truly incredible load times, made this one a chore. It cost me less than $2 and it wasn't even worth that to try it, at least not for Switch offline coop.
Dorfromantik
(PC) A comfy puzzle in the vein of Carcassone, but it runs a bit long for my tastes, just like the aforementioned board game.
Eliminate Down
(Genesis) Another too-difficult-for-me R-Type clone.
Fatal Labyrinth
(NES) I enjoy this bare-bones early roguelike, I just haven’t gotten around to making a page for it.
Forest Fire
(PC) Shows promise and I like the concept, but ended up being too grindy and slow.
Gorby no Pipeline Daisakusen
(NES) Gorby no Pipeline Daisakusen is a Pipe Dream/Tetris mashup. I hate Gorby because the pipes break in half (the game doesn't allow you to drop a pipe in a way that leaves a gap beneath it) and my brain doesn't work that way.
Gunple: Gunman's Proof / Ganpuru: Gunman's Proof
(SNES) Gunple: Gunman's Proof is a American Western-themed adventure-RPG that evidently gained minor cult status thanks to a translation patch by Aeon Genesis. It plays like a cross between the Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Earthbound. The game came out very late in the Super Famicom's life in 1997, and there is speculation the game is short because release was rushed, but a third problem would have hampered a domestic US release: the astonishingly casual racism.
About 5 seconds into Gunple you get hit with blackface characters. Yes, character*s*, plural. These guys are everywhere as they are the main enemies in Gunple. It reminds me of the time I tried to read a Lovecraft story called The Rats in the Walls as a genre study, knowing full well Lovecraft was racist as hell, but Lovecraft kept mentioning the cat and I gave up.
There no shortage of Zelda-likes, as Enraric's post The Zeldalike Genre from 1987 to Today demonstrates. Motherlikes are popular and Mother 3 is Western-themed. I have no idea why anyone would rec this one, to be honest.
Halls of Torment
(PC) I bounced off this one and decided to try it again a few months later, but still bounced. It’s a bit too stat-centric for my tastes and the Diablo aesthetic doesn’t do it for me.
Hardspace: Shipbreaker
(PC) Couldn't get past the tutorial, I could never grok either the gamepad or keyboard controls. Such a shitty casual. :(
Kill It With Fire
(PC) The awkward controls killed this one for me, it simply wasn't fun to play, but I don't think the gimmick would have kept my interest for very long anyway.
LEGO City Undercover
(Switch) I picked this up on the premise it's Lego GTA and my kid and I have been playing it off and on. It's honestly a pretty well designed game and I'm not too proud to admit I laughed at some of the jokes (notably "compuper"). I appreciate the coop mode, which makes it easy for me to jump in if my kid is having trouble.
Moonlighter
(PC) The premise is interesting, but the combat hamstrings it for me. Dungeon roguelites must have enjoyable combat.
Ocean’s Heart
(Switch) Okay *deep breath* here’s the deal. I want to play this Zelda-like. The music and graphics are enjoyable, and the story is reasonably fun, but the controls are driving me bananas. At first I legit thought something was wrong with my controller. Maybe I'll come back to it, maybe not.
Riverbond
(PC) Cute voxel brawler with lots of achievement bling. The play control can use a little work (we found it almost difficult to aim ranged weapons) and it wears thin pretty quickly solo, but supports couch coop up to 4 players. My kid was absolutely thrilled with the graphics and silly weapons and characters. The graphics and environments are fun, but the gameplay is repetitious, sometimes even boring, and the bosses are punishingly hard beyond what I would expect for a game like this.
Snakebird
(PC) Puzzle hell. My brain does not work this way.
Submerged: Hidden Depths
(PC) A relaxing puzzle platformer that uses directional controls only, no jumping, to navigate the ruins. The game has interesting environments and bits of the story are parceled out as the player explores the ruins. It's a chill experience and a beautiful game, but there are some bugs and rough edges I can't say I'd recommend it over similar games. Ultimately, there wasn’t enough to engage us long enough to finish it.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge
(PC) This is a solid beat-em-up with great graphics and good gameplay. As someone who put a ridiculous number of hours into TMNT II I appreciate the obvious love the devs have for the franchise. That being said, beat-em-ups are not my genre these days. I had nostalgic curiosity and enjoyed being able to play as April, but file it under Not For Me Dept.
Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion
(PC) Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion by Snoozy Kazoo is a ridiculous zeldalike game about tax avoidance and government corruption with cute graphics, meme humor, and somewhat janky gameplay. The best gag is the one where Turnip boy compulsively tears up every piece of paper or book he finds. The rest of the jokes are fairly hit or miss, and towards the end the game gets oddly serious. The gameplay is mostly fetch-quest oriented. I think the game mostly works when it's being ridiculous and fun, but I lost interest after a bit.
Unpacking
(PC) A chill organization game. I appreciate the space this game occupies, and as someone who takes joy from organizing things like component boxes I did like it at first, but I had my fill about halfway through. I found I didn't like unpacking the bathrooms or kitchens, so when it came to those areas I was just dumping stuff wherever it would go.
Xardion
(SNES) The controls and speed on this game is abysmal. Astonishingly unfun.