Articles

An Old School Fantasy

It would seem that at least half of all indie games that come out into the market are modeled after titles from the 8bit and 16bit eras. And while plenty of hits have come out of this trend, such as Shovel Knight and Gunman Clive, there have also been plenty of duds. This is particularly...

Iron Combat: War in the Air is different from any other Shooter on the 3DS eShop. There are others like it, Liberation Maiden and Star Fox 64 3D's All Range Mode spring to mind, but neither of these games offer the same experience. Iron Combat offers the ambitious feature of being able to change between a humanoid fighter and a jet at a moments notice. Both modes offer two entirely different styles of gameplay, but if you want to succeed, you will need to master...

Many classic arcade titles prospered because of their simple yet rewarding gameplay mechanics, the likes of which has once again become increasingly popular in recent years. Combining a mix of old and new, Mobot Studios created Blocky Bot, a vertical scrolling infinite platformer. While this title is created in modern gaming society it has a heaping dose of retro mixed...

Mahjong is not particularly popular in the West, but you couldn't tell that by looking at the eShop. Plenty of Mahjong titles have made the transition to American 3DS systems, the latest of which is Shanghai Mahjong, from BigBen Interactive. The question is whether this adaptation can stand up against the other versions available, which it manages to do to an extent.

It is nearly a scientific fact that putting epic in your product nearly is a red light that your product will be bad, with the company Epic Games being the rare outliner. Lightwood Games dares to bring Epic Word Search Collection, a collection of word search puzzles. Is this game more like Gears of War, or Aaron Seltzer?

Epic Word Search’s puzzles are lined up...

The 3DS eShop is an expansive storefront with hundreds of unique titles available to download, though there are a few niches left largely under-filled. Circle Entertainment is attempting to fill the void of Turn Based Strategy RPGs with Mercenaries Saga 2, an expansive yet budget priced adventure.

If Mercenaries Saga 2 looks at all familiar, you might be...

Colored By Nothing

           More and more, successful games from other consoles have been coming to the Wii U's eShop. Nihilumbra (doing well on the PC and on iOS)...

In a warring Greek universe, four styles of music are competing for survival, and it is up to you to claim the throne for Funk, the legendary holy music. Zeus and Aretha Franklin send you, Perseus, down to Earth to run through the world and destroy the Music Titans in ultimate dance battles. Concept-wise, Funk of Titans is something that hasn't really been seen before since it is...

                                                                                                                                             

Since it’s debut in 1976, the game Breakout has been ported to nearly every console imaginable. For those unfamiliar with Breakout by name, chances are you have played a variation of this classic. Your goal is to break all...

The premise of 50 Pinch Barrage!! is pretty simple, the player is stuck on a deserted island and must overcome a series of ''pinches’’ or challenges in order to return to civilization. It’s a game which clearly takes its inspiration from old school platformers, something which is practically a trope by now. This influence is apparent both in its simple design and hair pulling...

Taking popular games from other platforms and bringing altered versions of them to other consoles is a strategy we've seen a lot recently on the eShop. In order to succeed, developers need to vary gameplay enough to make it fresh and enjoyable. Tilelicious: Delicious Tiles takes the core gameplay of 2048 and turns it into something of its own on the Wii U eShop.

At...

Battleship is a game that is nearly 50 years old and has remained a staple among board games for decades. Navy Commander brings the thrilling two player guessing game to the 3DS eShop in hopes of creating a portable version to play on the go. While lacking any physical pieces is the intent, it is also the downfall of this title, as it lacks the original charm of the actual...

There is an increasingly large number of games saturating the market which rely on nostalgia to perform well. While not a bad strategy sometimes titles begin to feel like they are relying on the fact that they can feel a bit simplistic and simply copy older titles. Dot Arcade bucks this trend by being a reference to old arcade games which has its own unique throwback style you...

My Style Studio: Notebook is more of an app for the Wii U than a game, as it lets you draw in a virtual book. While not the most thrilling of eShop releases, it attempts to fill a small gap of opportunity for users looking to draw on their Wii U system. Unfortunately this isn't really a gap that needs to be filled, and as such My Style Studio: Notebook has stiff competition...

Over 30 years ago, games like Super Destronaut were as complex as you could get. Arcades were filled with games such as Space Invaders, which truly paved the way for modern videogaming. While simplistic on first sight these titles were and remain enjoyable for many to this day, and Super Destronaut from Petite Games is clearly designed to pay tribute to these classics.

Puzzle games featuring various dropping colored shapes are a dime a dozen nowadays, much to the joy of puzzle fans. The variety of these available is staggering, with retro, free to play, HD and variations like Dr. Mario available. From Nothing Game Studios thankfully realizes that in order to succeed in this genre, solid gameplay with new mechanics are necessary, and delivers...

Game titles aren't usually quite as literal as Don't Touch Anything Red is, which was developed by Helix Games. In this game you attempt to survive as long as possible on an auto-scrolling screen filled with Red hazards, in hopes of reaching a new high score.


In the single player mode the only...

Tower Defence is one of the more underrepresented genres on the eShop across both systems, with the major available title being Plants vs. Zombies. Monster Combine TD competes with this fan-favorite series by using similar gameplay mechanics combined with cards and magic. Sadly it seems a victory isn't in the cards for this title, as it doesn't quite capture the true magic of...

Karous is a shoot 'em up with RPG elements published by Circle Entertainment and developed by Klon. Shoot 'em ups are much like fighters: they have their fans, particularly in Japan, but are somewhat niche.  Karous, a shooter from over in japan, comes in with a mecha and a sword. Unfortunately, shooting or slicing and dicing turn out to be more boring than they should.

           In recent years, more and more unique racing games have graced the Nintendo eShop, bringing a large variety of different racing games from which to choose. From titles like ATV Wild Ride to others like AiRace Xeno, there truly are many different types of racers to choose from on the 3DS eShop alone. Proun+ is certainly a completely new kind of racer...

Sega's anthropomorphic mascot has certainly had a rough life. Starting strong out of the gates in 1991, Sonic made it possible for Sega to compete toe to toe with Nintendo. Now, Sonic is lucky to get positive review scores and not have his games be released in an Alpha build. While we aren't denying that Sonic's adventures haven't been great as of late, Sonic has had some amazing...

With a name like Typoman, what type of game could this be? An educational adventure for kids teaching them about spelling? A beat 'em up where you play as a hero who attacks grammatically incorrect bad guys? Try a Wii U exclusive platformer where you use words to solve puzzles. Didn't see that one coming did you?

Coming from the creative minds at Brainseed Factory and being published...

Mutant Mudds, one of, and arguably Renegade Kid's best game, is the hit that put this Indie on the map. Protagonist Max has had his work cut out for him. After debuting on the 3DS eShop, Max's first adventure quickly spread to almost every available platform. What was it that made Max's first adventure such a hit? Could it have been the challenging yet fun platforming? Or was it...

Announced during Nintendo's April 1st Direct, Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer (HHD) is the first game in the Animal Crossing series to release in nearly three years. While it may seem more recently, Animal Crossing New Leaf released in late 2012 in Japan, while in the West we were able to purchase it in Summer 2013. The wait for Japan has been longer than...

Shin'en Multimedia has been making games for Nintendo Consoles and Handhelds for over 20 years now. Even if they aren't a household name, Nintendo fans should know them from their Nano Assault, Jett Rockett, and Fast Racing Games, along with Art of Balance and sport titles. This year at E3, Shin'en showed off the newest game in their Fast Racing series, Fast Racing Neo.

Fast Racing Neo is the second...