Pikmin 4 is a truly exceptional game and among the best adventures of the Switch era. It so beautifully synthesizes the previous three Pikmin titles into something brilliantly familiar but likewise breathlessly new. There are no doubt growing pains in the many new ideas presented, but the spirit of curiosity and exploration which always buoyed the series has been blasted into the stratosphere here. The sort of game that reaffirms why Nintendo's status at the forefront of the industry is just unimpeachable

Elite Beat Agents is such a special game. I don't think I'd be able to conceptualize a more peculiar amalgam of story scenarios and song choices if I tried - but that's really its magic. EBA has a lot of fun with its own premise, and packs a lot of truly frantic energy into its fairly dynamic rhythm gameplay. As Yano has said, this game really does harmonize with its hardware incredibly well to best utilize the DS. The difficulty spike at the end doesn't play nicely with the sometimes overly-cluttered Touch Screen, but this game is as memorable as it is short (very)!

New Super Luigi U's tighter levels and somewhat higher difficulty in the context of barely coherent 4-player co-op is an absolute riot and a great way to spend an evening. It's also just an affirmation of everything tired about NSMB as well as what makes it remain great. Like Mario U beside it, Luigi U suffers from formulaic design and its status as one of Nintendo's very first HD titles, but it nonetheless remains a truly solid platformer. Hopefully once Wonder's out we can reevaluate this series for the polished if overly familiar adventures it has in store

Sonic Superstars hype had me in the mood to play some Sonic Mania, so I went for a replay, only to remember that despite having owned Mania since launch, I never bought Plus.

So, I picked it up and made my newest run in its Encore mode, which I found to be an excellent challenge. Forcing me to actually play as someone aside from Sonic sometimes, I was brought into closer conversation with the level design as I explored it through the move sets of the full cast.

Sonic Mania is simply a delightful and perfectly-paced adventure that I doubt will ever be topped for me, and any excuse to revisit it in a slightly fresh context is an exciting proposition.

Jedi Survivor is such a wonderful synthesis of myriad Star Wars eras - I love it from a lore and storytelling perspective. I likewise found the gameplay to be exceptionally smooth, Respawn refined the movement and exploration so much in comparison to Fallen Order. Combat can still be remarkably finnicky as the lock-on system doesn't always seem to hold up to the stress of tedious late-game wave battles. But issues I have with the game are minor in comparison to how emphatically Survivor captivated my imagination. One of the best Star Wars games ever made, and thus, one of my favorites of all-time too.

*******THIS IS A REVIEW OF THE RE-BOOT CAMP REMAKE, I WILL REMOVE THIS LOG AND REPLACE IT WITH THE SWITCH VERSION ONCE I'VE PLAYED AW2*******

Advance Wars is a testament to how wonderful gameplay can overcome any shortcoming in my estimation. A shallow narrative, repetitious art direction - none of it matters. The perfect balance between mechanical depth and chess-like clarity makes each battle a tense puzzle. I was enraptured simply by the act of doing, and the sense that my strategic acumen grew with each subsequent match. So excited to see these mechanical tenets applied to a much more robust experience in AW2.

I hadn't played 3D Land since release, so after seeing the movie and being in a Mario mood, I decided to revisit this title. It's alright. This is polished, breezy platforming. What's most compelling about 3D Land is the way in which it really is "2D Mario in 3D", as may say about this title and 3D World.

But after revising Land, I think that applies here but not to 3D World. Land basically takes all of its motifs and tropes (from level themes to the SMB '85 Bowser fights) directly from the 2D titles and adds a Z-Axis. Even the collectible Star Coins are rarely hidden. Add in the incredibly short levels, and this really just the entire 2D playbook.

3D World, by contrast, has much larger levels, more to explore, more unique motifs, more cohesive worlds. It's a bit less obstacle-course core than 3D Land is. That title feels like the application of 3D Mario tenets to a level-based format.

So though this lens, I think there's something neat about 3D Land, especially since it's such a quick replay. That said, because the game presents little of its own beyond polish and a few great levels - I don't feel compelled to replay the post-game worlds this time around. The whole thing's a bit too simple, despite being exactly what 3DS needed in 2011.