Developer Shin’en isn’t Japanese, but it’s hard to remember that when you’re playing its games. The German developer is known for its shoot-’em-ups like Nanostray and Iridion, and when it isn’t making those, it’s putting out quirky WiiWare titles with names that usually only a Japanese person would come up with, like FAST Racing League and Fun! Fun! Minigolf. READ MORE
The Nintendo 3DS eShop has, until recently, relied largely on its Virtual Console offerings and DSiWare fare to keep it afloat. Now, though, we’re seeing a few polished titles make it to the service, and Intelligent Systems’ Pushmo is the first of what we’re hoping is a wave of smaller-scale greatness. READ MORE
Mario Kart 7 is, in a very obvious way, a direct followup to Mario Kart Wii. It borrows the art style, the track aesthetic, the jump tricks and the Mario Kart Channel, and doesn’t do much to stand out from it. It’s so obvious that I feel a bit silly even articulating to you what this game is.
What makes Mario Kart 7 different, though, falls well beyond the obvious. READ MORE
A great many puzzle-based games have been released for the DS, but Ubisoft provides the first one for the 3DS with James Noir’s Hollywood Crimes. How does it stack up? About as well as most first attempts do. READ MORE
Another system, another Mario game. This long-anticipated adventure brings back a favorite item from our past, the Tanooki Suit, the classic Fire Flower power-up and a new ability, the Boomerang Suit. I found myself liking both Super Mario Galaxy and New Super Mario Bros. and was hoping that Super Mario 3D Land would be a great middle ground between the two games.
Thankfully, it doesn’t disappoint. READ MORE
There were few who played the initial PC release of Cave Story after its 2004 release and weren’t immediately charmed. The game, a one-man project from Daisuke Amaya, had an endearing aesthetic, challenging Metroidvania structure and characters just strange enough to be memorable. Oh, and it was freeware, so that didn’t hurt. READ MORE
The newly-released Tetris Axis isn’t Tetris‘ first foray into 3D portable gaming. In fact, it’s not the second, either. The Virtual Boy saw what remain the best and worst 3D entries of the series: the horrible 3D Tetris and the wonderful (but Japan-only) V-Tetris.
If V-Tetris represents the pinnacle of 3D-enabled Tetris and 3D Tetris defines the lowest depths, Tetris Axis is at the middle point of the Tetris axis. READ MORE
Namco Bandai’s Pac-Man & Galaga Dimensions is one of those carts you get near the beginning of a system’s life span: a compilation of various tech demos and experiments the company made to prepare for developing games for it, polished up and thrown out into the world. And in that context, the game’s successful.
DualPenSports has the distinction of being the first minigame compilation on the 3DS. It also has the distinction of being the first game to use two styli at the same time. Unfortunately, the very fact that it requires two styli to play renders it uncomfortable, unwieldy and un-fun. READ MORE
Almost 13 years ago, Nintendo released what is widely considered to be one of the best games ever, if not the best. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was the perfect marriage of 3D action-adventure, puzzles, dungeons and an iconic franchise. About five years later, Nintendo released a remixed, more difficult Master Quest, bundled with the original as a preorder incentive for The Wind Waker on GameCube. Now, Nintendo has released what we consider the definitive edition on the 3DS. READ MORE
