What are you playing on your Switch 2: Play Harder

Anyone else trying Bomberman R Online? It’s fun but has really slow loading times.

I have exactly the same thought! It's good fun, and an obvious fit for the Tetris and Pac-Man 99 sort of model, but I've spent a lot of time twiddling my thumbs between games.

Double post! I'm currently playing Persona 5 Strikers and having a good time with it. I suspect the only other person who's played it will be mas, and I can't really recommend you bother with it unless you've played Persona 5 because otherwise it will make absolutely no sense, but it's a lot of fun if you're a fan.

It doesn't have the same depth as the original - it's a Warriors-style game so there was always going to be a level of button-mashing - but I was pleasantly surprised by what nuance there is in the combat, with stuff like elemental weaknesses, baton passing between characters and showy finishes.

I'm reminded a little of Age of Calamity because it's a musou game that acts as a kind-of-sequel-but-different to a really fabulous predecessor. And as with AoC*, I'm expecting to get a little fatigued with it, but I'm having a lovely romp so far. Makes me wonder if Persona 5 will ever come to Switch... seems a bit late in the day for it, and I don't have the time to replay it, but it is a great RPG, and with Strikers and Joker in SSBU I feel like it would be a good fit in the Switch library.

*Not her

I dunno.  It feels like Atlas keeping teasing it with releases that are around but not equal to P5, but they've been pretty adamant that P5 won't come to Switch.  I'm just not sure why.  Surely it'd sell?  

My currently active games are:
- MHR
- Dragon's Dogma
- Ori and the Will-o-the-Wisps
- World's End Club, where the story is juuuuuust about making up for the gameplay (it got a 5/10 in Nintendo Life and that feels about right)
- Deponia, a point-and-click with nice art and everything else wrong with it
- Mail Mole, a surprisingly tricky 3D platformer with a cute mole hero and terrifying NPCs - look at this beaver and tell me it doesn't want to eat your children (not that sort of beaver)
- Darkside Detective 2 with The Lady.

Probably enough for now...

My only active Switch games are Monster Hunter Rise and New Pokémon Snap, which I'm dipping into now and then, but that's because Bloodborne is my main game at the moment.

I got this the day after it came out because I saw it for £31 somewhere, but only got to it recently. I already got the 'ending' after getting HR 50 though as the game got its hooks in me. Definitely the most fun I've had online on a Switch game.

I know they've added something at HR 100 now and I'd definitely be revisiting the game regardless, but I fancy properly trying the copy of World I've had for a while now as well as the other MH games.

Edit: lol I meant to post this in the MHR threat. Oh well.

I’ve had Mail Mole on my wishlist for a while and I’m interested to see your thoughts as they develop, Balladeer.

After washing my hands, body and soul of Balan Wonderworld, I’ve moved onto Inertial Drift. It’s a really unusual arcade racer that uses twin-stick controls for steering and drifting. I’m still getting used to it’s drifting mechanics, but once I get the hang of them I’m sensing that there’s a pretty special game here.

What is Mail Mole??!
(Yes I know about Google)

I'm playing MH Rise (dropped off on that quite a bit), Ni no Kuni (it's so damn difficult), and New Pokemon Snap. They're all great but I haven't felt like playing games much. Maybe it's the warm weather.

What isn't Mail Mole?

It's a 3D platformer that I would never have paid much attention to if my partner wasn't really into moles.  (Too much Farthing Wood at a young age, and by 'too much' I mean 'the right amount'.)  Pretty standard platforming fare, apart from the whole 'being underground' thing.  It feels a lot like a New Super Lucky's Tale lite, only a fair bit tougher, not quite as twee, and featuring some scary NPCs (see above).  Still, it's fun enough.  I'll probably end up giving it the same score as I did NSLT (6/10).  Cappa, I seem to remember you saying you'd be up for NSLT after I 'reviewed' it in LGYF, so I'm guessing you'd also be up for Mail Mole.  It's cheaper too!

Incidentally, while we're talking about 3D platformers, Frogun is still in its Kickstarter stage but it really caught my eye. Cappa, maybe one for you to check out? It seems more your style of thing than mine, and I liked the look of it!


I had dropped off MHR, but it's had a resurgence recently as I 'get into the groove' of it.  Ori 2's probably my main game, but it feels a bit like it's trying to do Hollow Knight's shtick worse than Hollow Knight did it.

Thoughts and prayers to Neil on his anime journey.

How much is Mail Mole? As Lucky has a £10 Code in Box version and I really like Lucky but as I played I may checkout Mole.

Not playing much even though got lots I could and just bought something from the eShop which I hopefully get to soonish.

Oh, maybe it costs more than Lucky then. (I think it's somewhere in the £13-15 range.) I wouldn't say it's worth more than Lucky. One for a sale maybe.

A few things

Monster Hunter Stories 2 DEMO.
I didn't play the first from the MonHan Stories 2 thread, not a lot of fans of the first. I really enjoyed my time with MHS2 demo, and I think it's going to be underestimated by a few of you in Muss Scoring League.

NEO: The World Ends With You DEMO.
I went into the demo seeing some negative things on Twitter and from a mate in work, with only Balla being positive from what I had seen. Didn't have high hopes, yet I was pleasantly surprised, do think the combat, least in the demo is a bit button mashy.

Shadowverse DEMO.
This is sort of what I've wanted from a few card games, like maybe new Pokémon one (The one on GameBoy) or a Yu-Gi-Oh one I played recently, yet that turned out to be the most boring thing ever. As much like Yu-Gi-Oh the show you go around battling with cards in this adventure which is based on an anime similar to Pokémon more kid friendly style which makes the cards you use really odd as they're more high fantasy elf girl type things not cute (or are they?) monsters like you might think. The plot also is a tad odd when you think about it like Shadowverse is this huge thing in this world with stadiums etc, yet the club at school has one member and no one wants to join, yet everyone plays the game. I might pick up it as I did like it, just a lot of games in July going into August also can feel it going down in price much like Bakugan, then again such an odd game with Marvellous as the publisher that it might have a small print run.

Samurai Warriors 5 Japanese DEMO.
Downloaded after I told Buska about it, I finally got to it today and did the two missions, which are fun. Does look a tad ropey (Shadowverse above does as well in places) even with the new art style, and I've still got Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity & Persona 5 Strikers to play on Switch, meaning I'm more likely to get this on Xbox which hopefully also means more Japanese games on Xbox if it does well.

Mario Golf: Super Rush.
Not played as much as I would have hoped so far, and I can only agree with Cappa even as someone that likes RPG's etc there's so much waffling from the NPC in adventure mode. When I have played some golf, it plays great and looks good as well.

Sky: Children of the Light.
Finally, on something other than mobile, and damn does it look good on Switch. Much like Mario Golf I've not played a whole lot, just the opening sort of level, yet if the rest of Sky is like that and knowing the GNamer End Year Votes rules then could see a contender for best Switch game here.

masofdas wrote:

NEO: The World Ends With You DEMO.
I went into the demo seeing some negative things on Twitter and from a mate in work, with only Balla being positive from what I had seen. Didn't have high hopes, yet I was pleasantly surprised, do think the combat, least in the demo is a bit button mashy.

Yep it was a bit button-mashy, but I'm okay with that to start with.  I can see where the strategy will come in down the line.  I'm a little confused at all the negativity you mention though.  I can see why somebody might be disappointed at the fact that NEO TWEWY doesn't feel as fresh, and as innovative, as TWEWY 1 - but you didn't need to play the demo. to see that.  That was obvious from the moment they said it would be across two machines.  If you go into the demo. with your expectations set for just 'more TWEWY', I can't see how from a stylistic, storytelling, or gameplay point of view it would disappoint.

Shame about Shadowverse.  I haven't really played a deck-building RPG apart from Pokémon TCG back on GameBoy until Steamworld Quest, which I really enjoyed.  I'd like to play more that don't have roguelike elements.  The big error was missing Baten Kaitos in the 'Cube era...


My playing list has changed a fair amount from the above...
- Dragon's Dogma, picked up again after a significant pause while I decided I didn't want two Capcom action-adventure games with RPG elements on the go at once.  I'm... really feeling its age, especially after MHR, which also has much better movement.
- World's End Club, which I've barely played since the last post.
- CrossCode, another action RPG, but in 2D so it feels different enough.  It's... curious.  Interesting writing, interesting battling, but the world feels a bit generic, possibly due to the art style.
- Creature in the Well, pinball-esque action-adventure.  Looks lovely, plays TBD.
- Jenny LeClue: Detectivú, where the thing that bothers me most is the weird 'ú' in the title.  I like the writing and the visuals a lot on this one, but I've yet to hit the meat of the story.
- Gato Roboto, probably my favourite out of the six at the moment.  It doesn't feel like much of a Metroidvania so far, in that there's been no real 'backtracking once you have a new ability' segments.  It is however a fun breezy 2D action game with a lot of Metroid feels and you controlling a cat.  Your 'Adam' equivalent is an arse though.
- Mail Mole still.

The eagle-eyed may have recognised that there's not a lot of enthusiasm for the above.  This is all kind of plumbing the depths of my backlog, mostly stuff I wouldn't have picked up had it not been on sale or if I'd had other big games to play.  I do have a big game on the way, though, and of course another at the end of the month.

What don't think you like about Shadowverse? As if you liked Pokemon TCG on GB then, don't know what you wouldn't about Shadowverse. It's the high fantasy elf girls, isn't it.

Ah I read you wrong, I thought you were saying Shadowverse was the most boring thing ever.

...the high fantasy elf girls isn't exactly in its favour, granted. I've just had a look at some of the art and dear God.

Yeah, seems so out of place it what else feels like a kid's game. I don't know what the actual anime is like, but I can't imagine Pokémon with monster characters like that, with the rest all kid friendly.

Also, just did the cast and talked myself out of NEO TWEWY as I don't need two JRPG's this month (three with Cris Tales on Game Pass) and MHS2 is much better, now I will get SW5 instead. That I'll have JPRG in MHS2, Action RPG in SSHD, Visual Novel in Great Ace and a Musou in SW5.

The House in Fata Morgana is according to MetaCritic the best game on Switch, which is another one in Buska's army of reasons not to trust scores/score aggregators.  I'm playing (reading?) it while I wait for another visual novel to come along and whisk me and my avatar off my feet, and it certainly is a thing.  Very po-faced, very gothic, very grim...  So far I've had incest and cannibalism, and I still have no idea who her in the frock is... or who I'm meant to be for that matter.  It's 20% off right now if you're interested.  It's definitely interesting.

Also:
- CrossCode is very ambitious but kinda dull.  If you're going to include parkour, have interesting environments to jump around; and if you're going to base your game on an MMO, have a reasonable way to differentiate between NPCs of the MMO and NPCs of the game.
- I've just picked up Pikmin 3 post-demo. and I'm still not hopeless at it yet!  Just reunited Alph, Brittany, and the yellow Pikmin; and got a mango.  Lovely fruit.

I came back to Capcom Beat Em Up Bundle and played a few with my kids. These were my favourite kind of arcades as a kid. But I’d never even heard of Armored Warriors. I was blown away by it. Firstly the massive mech sprites. Secondly the upgrades and weapons you can pick up, like spider legs and tank tracks. Thirdly the bits where the mechs combine. I feel like this was the ultimate evolution of the early 90s Capcom beat em up. I don’t think there were any console ports because I doubt any home system at the time could’ve done it. Is this a hidden gem or is it just me who was in the dark about it?

Nope, as it was a CPS-2 game, so not even on the Capcom CPS changer.

I've been playing Lumines Remastered a bit again, and I've improved at it but occasionally it feels really tough. Sometimes it just clicks, and when you get into the zone, it's great - but I don't always manage to do that. Playing against the CPU makes me realise that I'm really not very good at it - level 5 is impossible.

Also just played through the snow-themed update to What the Golf. It's fun enough - a nice little bonus.

'Fun enough - a nice little bonus' is exactly how I felt about the snow-themed update. Let me know how you get on with the sports-themed one, Rum - I think it's a fair bit better.

Lumines Remastered really needed a bunch of colourful alien avatars, each with their own gravity.

I wonder if Meteos will ever get remastered, or receive a sequel (not Disney-themed). I'd pop a dollar down on that.

There's already a sequel! Can't believe it hasn't been ported to Switch and Lumines has.

I've gone back to Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE. It is the most anime anime that has ever animed, and while I do like a fair few anime I don't mean that in a good way. The writing and characterisation are so clichéd that I think my eyes are growing to half the size of my head through playing it. Still, the dungeoneering is fun enough, and hopefully it'll tide me over until a better game comes out next week.

Balladeer wrote:

'Fun enough - a nice little bonus' is exactly how I felt about the snow-themed update.  Let me know how you get on with the sports-themed one, Rum - I think it's a fair bit better.

It was better, although it did come with a couple of pain-in-the-arse levels (the second rhythm game style level just didn't work properly, and when I went to YouTube to check if I was doing it wrong there were several commenters who were having the same issue). Fun though, and I liked the painting giraffes.

I'm currently in the midst of the final case of PW:AA:TaT (catchy) and it's really good. WHY IS THERE GRAVY ON IT.

I didn't find the same, but I have found some levels (including that one) to work much better with the touch screen, so maybe that's why.

That one. That's... that's a thing, that is. A thing that clearly worked better in Japanese. Ah well. I happen to be playing some Ace Attorney myself...