4PGP (PC, PS5, NS2, NSW) Review

After an unplanned absence and hiatus from the site for real-life reasons, I'm back in the driver's seat in more ways than one with a new review on SuperPhillip Central. It's 4PGP, offering a veritable who's who of racing game talent behind it and lots of arcade-y action in racing form. Here's the full SPC review--and not a moment too soon!

Start your engines and potentially some frustration, too.

I truly miss the era of arcade racing games. I'm talking about games like Virtua Racing, Ridge Racer, Daytona USA, etc. that don't appear in the modern gaming landscape. 4PGP (or Four-Player Grand Prix) brings with it the spirit of retro arcade racing games of that caliber with some talent that appreciates the era as well. 

For one, the game is directed by Jonathan Marole, a man who has worked on titles like The Crew and Test Drive Unlimited, while also having Kenji Sasaki, director of Virtua Racing and Sega Rally, involved too. Then, on the music front we have Tomoyuki Kawamura, whose past works include the aforementioned Virtua Racing and Sega Rally Championship. The talent is no doubt here, and it's awfully prevalent from the moment you start a race in 4PGP.

The feel of racing your formula-one vehicle is amazing. There's enough weight and tightness to the controls that it's simple to pick up and play the game. You won't have to worry about a simulation here, as 4PGP is pure unadulterated arcade racing action. From performing turns that require you to lean in on the inside of a curve or brake to not overshoot, to speeding down straightaways, the racing feels great, the sense of speed is immense, and it all handles beautifully.

Do you have the need for speed? Well, 4PGP will definitely sate it with its high-speed skirmishes.

The 14 tracks in 4PGP (three per cup, and two that unlock later on down the road) take you all across the world, from the United Kingdom to France to Japan. Turns are well choreographed, so you're seldom required to keep an eye on the mini-map for any reason other than to determine the amount of your lead (or in my case in later difficulties, how far behind the leader you are). 

Speaking of difficulties, 4PGP lures players into a false sense of security. If you start off with the Rookie difficulty, you'll find yourself easily breaking from the pack, maintaining large leads, and having a relatively easy go of racing. Novice brings about some added challenge, offering races that are much closer. That said, the distance in difficulty between Novice and the next level of races becomes a bit too large. What remains in the final difficulty is best left unsaid, as it requires a level of racing expertise that most players besides seasoned veterans most likely won't reach. The CPU is supremely punishing here and not always in a fun way. (Okay, I lied and actually said it instead!)

We may be at the middle of the pack, but there's plenty of race to go!

And that's okay, considering 4PGP would be a boring game if you could just speed through all four difficulties with ease. Instead, the latter difficulties do require the ability to read the tracks well, slipstream opponents, use the boost function sparingly but also smartly, enter into pit lane when needed at apt times, and pretty much run flawless races with perfect racing lines, applying the brake subtly to best take turns.

While there is a racing assist option available, perfect for beginning players or those who can't quite get immediate heads or tails on racing lines, it's somewhat of a handicap (and one not in your favor) in later difficulties, as it restricts you to essentially the same racing line as your CPU opponents. 

Like any racer of this type, following and executing the correct racing line is the key to victory.

My only real gripe with the difficulty settings of 4PGP other than the immense level of skill required to win on the hardest difficulty (a level of skill I decidedly did not have) is that vehicle stats are not balanced whatsoever. There is always a class of cars that is required to race in to stand a chance (or drive a chance, perhaps in this case). The starting set of vehicles do not hold a candle stat-wise and especially speed-wise to the sets and series of rides that you unlock as you beat various cups. This makes multiplayer a bit unbalanced. If a player picks a low-class vehicle, they might as well wave the flag in surrender if their opponent picks a higher class car (and that's waving the white flag and not the checkered flag).

As stated, 4PGP isn't just racing with no frills. There's some nuance here to keep the experience from feeling or being simplistic. For one, there is the boost function, which with the press of the left bumper instills your vehicle with a temporary higher speed. It isn't too pronounced, either, which might put off some players expecting a more prominent burst of speed. 

And while early difficulties don't really require keeping an eye on your tires, later ones practically require it. As you race, your vehicle's tires degrade, especially upon going off the track onto the tarmac, taking turns too fast, and so forth. The more wear and tear, as well as damage to your tires there is, the less accurate your steering becomes. This is where entering pit lane for a quick pit stop becomes mandatory. Successfully completing a short quick-time event style mini-game grants you full boost energy once more as well as fixes up your tires in a jiffy. 

Take a pit stop like the one seen here if your tires are in serious disarray.

4PGP is quite the looker on the track with impressive blur effects when blasting forward on the track to present a sensational sense of speed. This sense of speed is also mightily helped by the 60 FPS frame-rate that is as ever-present as the need to take turns well to win. The first two laps of each race is mostly accompanied by the roar of your vehicle's engine with periodic musical jingles to start each lap. It's on the final lap that the music kicks in, letting you know that the race is at its most serious apex. It works and works well here.  

4PGP is certainly quite kind on the eyes, but remember to focus on the track and not the sights if you wish to win!

4PGP delivers racing thrills with a modest amount of frills. While so many racing games nowadays chase after realism and simulation in the feel to their controls, 3goo's 4PGP is unapologetic in how it harks back to the classic era of arcade racing games. The lack of online multiplayer and steep challenge may turn off some players, however. For everyone else, 4PGP speeds past the finish line in sublime style while adding some subtle substance here and there to make for a worthwhile racer.

[SPC Says: C+] 

A code was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.

Mouse: P.I. For Hire (Multi) Review

A weekend review shoots onto the scene with Mouse: P.I. For Hire. My investigation proved fruitful, offering word of a game that certainly surprised and delighted. Here's the SuperPhillip Central review. 

A Completionist's Noir-tmare

Saturday. 2:00 P.M. I parked my keister at my office chair and started rat-a-tat-tattin' at the keys like an hot Tommy Gun in hopes of finishin' my review. Like the Circuit de la Sarthe, this game I was coverin' had lots of twists, turns, and was just about as dangerous. This particular game had everything--mystery, intrigue, mice, and enough cheese to smile to one-thousand different photos. It was time to put my reviewin' skills to the test and start chattin' about Mouse: P.I. For Hire. 

...Okay, okay. I cannot keep up this Noir detective monologue bit for an entire review, so let's just get to it.

Immediately from the get-go, Mouse: P.I. For Hire delights, delivering a black and white cartoon-y art style reminiscent of Disney's Steamboat Mickey short. I was immensely amazed by just how fluid everything looked, shooting through guns blazing and seeing enemy heads pop, revealing a fountain of... let's say, ink. Yes, this is a gorgeous and well done game graphically, fully realized and nailing its cartoon aesthetic, and I'm pleased to say that it certainly holds up in the gameplay department as well.

While the enemy variety in Mouse: P.I. For Hire isn't the highest, offering a small mix of run-at-you melee
foes or faraway shooting types, it's still quite satisfying to blast them all down.

Mouse: P.I. For Hire is essentially a DOOM-like in that its levels are labyrinthine areas full of corridors, rooms, spaces, and myriad secrets while having you run, gun, and jump your way through them, mowing down or punching out everything in your P.I.'s path. 

You begin the game with nothing else but Jack's pistol, a Micer, and his fists. However, as the game and case go on, you'll acquire a shotgun, T.N.T. dynamite to chuck at foes and literally signposted walls, a riff off of a Tommy Gun called a James Gun, and more. The more inventive weapons are earned later in the game, such as the hot glue-shooting Devarnisher that melts the skin off your foes in real time, as well as a gun that fires a freezing ray to chill enemies into ice cubes, perfect for shattering. 

I'm rubber, and you're glue. Particularly hot glue. The kind that melts your skin off, bub!

Of course, that's not to mention all of the abilities that Jack learns throughout his case, such as the ability to twirl his tail to slow his descent in order to make it across large gaps or rise up air shafts, a double jump, the ability to wall run along specially marked walls, and more.  

All of these weapons and abilities do a great job in giving you a lot of options in firefights to experiment and take out baddies in a way that suits your play style. You'll certainly gets a multitude of opportunities to do so, as Mouse: P.I. For Hire really loves locking you in a large, expansive room and forcing you to clear the room out of enemies that pour in through doors with skulls on the top of them. 

Nothin' like the great outdoors to not feel so claustrophobic! 

Generally speaking, this is a common occurrence throughout the game's 10-20 hour campaign, and you get a sixth sense, sorta, of when these rooms will happen. It doesn't help that they happen so often that it can get a bit repetitive, even with all of the combat options available to you, whether that be running and gunning, jumping and shooting at exploding barrels to obliterate a squad of enemies at once, or even shooting a hanging prop like an anvil to crush an enemy as it stands below it.

By far the highlight for combat and being able to use multiple methods to dispatch baddies was that of the bosses in Mouse: P.I. For Hire. The game has a motley crew of foes to take on, and these aren't just "shoot 'em till their dead" type affairs. The best of these boss battle bunches include ones that feature attack patterns to avoid, evade, and dodge as you unleash a furious flurry of firepower and bullets their way. These are engaging and suffice to say, not as repetitive as the virtual "kill rooms" that litter the game's levels. 

The various boss battles served as quite the combat highlight for me.

When you're not brutalizing and murdering sinister foes in your path and in such kill rooms, you're on the search for clues. And in between finding these clues, there are all sorts of secrets to uncover in true DOOM-like, boomer shooter fashion. The secrets are well-hidden and many of them are quite easy to miss. Whether located in one of many vents that our gumshoe protagonist climbs through, inside locked doors and safes that must be "tailpicked" through an enjoyable enough mini-game, or simply sitting off the beaten path, these secret areas house money, newspapers, comic books, baseball cards, and other collectibles and goodies like schematics, used to upgrade your various guns and weapons. 

This, however, leads to my number one issue with Mouse: P.I. For Hire and one of my pet peeves in gaming--a game design sin, really. That's the extreme amount of missables within the game. By virtue of the structure of Mouse: P.I. For Hire, it's literally impossible to return to a completed level, which means that a lot of stuff that you missed collectible-wise is lost to you. Yes, you can purchase missed collectibles like newspapers, comics, and baseball cards from the hub city in the game--for a price, but key clues are permanently gone. 

Not exactly the warm welcome Jack Pepper was wanting here, but the welcome he was expecting all the same.

Even still, with the ability to purchase missed collectibles from the shop, there is still a finite amount of money throughout the game. Thus, if you wish to do a 100% run in one playthrough, a guide and multiple saves are a must to track everything down--from collectibles to side quests in the appropriate form of "side jobs". These, too, are easily missed and once they're gone, they're gone on your current playthrough. 

When a game is over 10 hours long for a playthrough, this gets quite frustrating quite fast, especially when the game possess multiple "points of no return" that are not clearly marked by it. Enter a door, and it can instantly lock behind you. Start a particular mission, and it can and will lock you out of returning to the hub city for the rest of the game. 

Usually each time a given level is completed, Jack returns to the city hub where his apartment and office are, enters inside, and pins various clues to his caseboard to hash out the all-encompassing, interconnected mystery that tells the story of the game. Additionally in this hub, Jack can peruse his usual stomping grounds, purchase ammunition, use schematics found in levels to upgrade his weapons and guns, enter the bar to chat with the locals, and even play a rather enjoyable card game using all the baseball cards found within levels.

Splat! My kind of 'toon!

As mentioned, Mouse: P.I. For Hire is a gorgeous game and its 1930/1940s esque cartoon art style is realized to its maximum potential. It really feels like you're playing a cartoon in a Noir style, complete with enough cheese puns to fill up a party platter. That latter part was especially enjoyed by me, as not only a lover of puns but as someone who appreciates a game committing to a bit. Between the fluid action, well done old-timey detective music--as well as some real world jazzy pieces like The Glenn Miller Orchestra's "In the Mood"--and the amazing voice acting--Troy Baker does a phenomenal job as Jack Pepper, Mouse: P.I. For Hire definitely delights.

And really, that's what the game does throughout its 10-20 hour runtime: it delights. Sure, a private investigator entering a police station and mowing down all of the dirty cops inside might bring some "ludonarrative dissonance" discussions into the fray if you think about it too hard, and the numerous points of no return means achievement (or is it "a-cheese-ment") hunters will balk at the requirements, but if you're just casually playing through the game, Mouse: P.I. For Hire is a ripper of a boomer shooter for sure. As a completionist, I hated having to use a guide to play through the game, as it really killed the pacing for me, but I can't argue against Jack Pepper's investigation being a thrilling and fun one. Case closed.

[SPC Says: B-] 

A code was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book (NS2) Review

Our first review of this potentially busy month is Yoshi and the Mysterious Book for the Nintendo Switch 2, which also celebrated an anniversary on June 5th (though a one-year anniversary as opposed to our site's 18th anniversary). The game's a bit of a creature feature, but the best kind, at that! See why by reading on with the SPC review!

 Take a look, Yoshi's in a book: a discovery rainbow!

Yoshi's platforming debut in Yoshi's Island back in 1995 on the Super Nintendo is one that Nintendo's green dinosaur just can't escape the shadow of. Essentially, every platformer since is held to its high standard, and most of the time the comparisons aren't flattering. Now, my love and preference for Yoshi's Woolly World notwithstanding, it's safe to say that most other successors in the Yoshi franchise to Yoshi's Island have failed to live up to its rather esteemed reputation. 

Thus, it's interesting that Nintendo went in an entirely new direction with the Yoshi franchise. Yes, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is still a 2D platformer, but its structure and gameplay are quite different from the bog-standard, well-tread Yoshi's Island formula. Fortunately, for the Yoshi franchise, this is a direction that greatly succeeds at what it sets out to do!

Upon originally seeing the debut trailer for Yoshi and the Mysterious Book from Nintendo of America and all subsequent marketing, I was led to believe the game was going to be a charming, yes, but also an ultimately breezy adventure to play through, made more for younger audiences. While there's certainly some truth to that, overall, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book delivers enough challenges in its unique gameplay hooks that it kept me routinely coming back--enough so, that I happily 100%'d the game!

So, what IS Yoshi and the Mysterious Book if not yet another follow-up to Yoshi's Island? Well, it takes that game's foundations, but also expands greatly upon it to form something wholly original. The Yoshis stumble upon Mr. E (har-har), a talkative tome whose pages are incomplete. He requests that the Yoshis fill out and fill up his pages by entering inside and charting various creatures within. The Yoshis agree, and thus, the adventure begins. There's of course some story friction involved, such as Bowser Jr. and Kamek wandering through the pages, the former feverishly searching for a creature called the Bewilder Bird, but for the most part, the game is all about exploration and discovery.

Each "level" in Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is a contained experience focused on one new creature. Levels are usually not too expansive, but some can be, nor are they overly linear. Instead, they offer plenty of passages, rooms, areas, and for certain, secret areas to find. Immediately upon entering a level, the specific creature to be examined in its native habitat is there.

From there, it's all about examining the creature and using its abilities to further explore the level. The main "collectible"--for lack of a better term--is that of creature discoveries. Take the very first creature introduced in what amounts to the tutorial level, the Crazee Dayzee. Some discoveries are as simple as having Yoshi gobble up the flower with his tongue or bash it with an egg. Simple interactions that don't require much thinking to uncover. However, more complicated and involved discoveries are also available. These could be things like dunking a Dayzee in some water to make it sprout, using said creature to bloom an arch of flowers once it passes by it, or more interestingly, using differently colored Crazee Dayzees to create a remarkable rainbow of bloomed flowers of varying hues. 

Looks like a new discovery is in bloom! Well done, Yoshi!

Each discovery is worth a certain amount of stars, from one to three, with the more complex and complicated discoveries earning three. With 30-40 discoveries for a given creature's habitat, there's a lot of stars to go around. The stars are used to unlock further chapters, so in this sense, it's similar to Super Mario Odyssey's Power Moons in that casual, inexperienced, or younger players can still enjoy the majority of the game's content just by playing and finding the minimal amount of creature discoveries, whereas more skilled, veterans players can seek out as many discoveries per level as possible, fully completing and exhausting each creature's lineup of discoveries, and also collecting the trickily hidden Smiley Flowers, as well.

Some creatures live on land, some in the sky, and some in the sea such as this one.

What makes Yoshi and the Mysterious Book so fascinating and fun on a design level is how each creature Yoshi stumbles across has its own unique hook--its own gameplay mechanic--and so many of these could be fleshed out for their own game! You get such a steady amount of new, innovative, mostly intuitive ideas and concepts that get iterated on within the same level. From riding a giant boar that rushes and can dig through rock and sand, to using a spider creature's web to swing across the stage like Spider-Man, to bouncing off seeds like a gigantic bouncy playground to reach new heights, to retreating from a pursuing hand of grass while encouraging it to interact with the environment in different ways, there's just so much on offer--and that's just the tip of the iceberg, really. 

Ingenuity, imagination, and creativity are three things important to have for making discoveries in Yoshi and the Mysterious Book.

Heck, one level features a spore-like creature that literally can engulf an entire environment, spread on other creatures, and infest the whole level--which the latter is an actual discovery that Mr. E encourages Yoshi to attempt! That's one discovery of Yoshi's tasked by the book, yes, but it's also recommended by Mr. E to essentially exterminate an entire species from a totally different level, too! ...This book has some serious, unresolved problems!   

Yoshi can spread these spores all around the stage. ...Wasn't this the start of a certain Naughty Dog series?

So much of the joy found in Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is experimenting with the environment and its creatures in ways that go off the beaten path and tests the limits of your imagination. The most worthwhile and rewarding discoveries are the ones that make you think, "there's no way the developers or designers thought to include THIS or would make me do THAT" and lo and behold, you accomplish that task and boom! A new discovery gets written onto the page/level. 

A fun little touch is that each discovery you find through exploration, experimentation, and so forth gets written onto the background of the level at the exact place you discovered it. Sure, the background can get a bit crowded and claustrophobic when myriad discoveries are written on the page, but they never overlap to make for a visual mess, thankfully. 

Chart all of your discoveries for each access in Mr. E's readable pages.
You can also name/rename each creature you come across in Yoshi's adventures.

If you feel you've exhausted your imagination and creativity, and have zero idea on how to squeeze more discoveries out of a given creature's level, Mr. E has helpful hints. With the press of the L button, Mr. E will give some semblance of guidance. Some are less obvious than others, but for more obvious hints, you can spend tokens collected in levels to gets new discovery recommendations and further hints, too. Tokens are practically given away in levels, so you'll pretty never be having to grind for them to get hints when needed.    

This creature is of note, both figuratively and literally, for being quite musical.

Of course, levels aren't just built around minor creature discoveries. Each level or creature habitat has its own major goal or objective that opens up the "exit' to the level. You can of course continue charting discoveries long after the exit reveals itself, and you can easily start a level over or end your exploration directly from the pause menu. The former--the Start Over option--is important as a fair number of discoveries can be missed and you can get "locked out of" in a given expedition. Starting the level over puts most everything back where it was, with all your current discoveries, of course, logged in already.

Like the discoveries and the creatures within Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, the major goal of each level has a massive variety, all of them different depending on the creature and the level. For instance, the tutorial creature, the Crazee Dayzee, is all about blooming three giant buds at the end of the level by having Yoshi carry the creature to the buds to bloom them. Another, feature the Shy Guy, has you searching a settlement for elusive, hidden, hiding Shy Guys, and taking them back to the settlement's center. Whereas another creature requires you to win an aerial race to unlock the level's exit.

For example, the main objective of this stage is to fully grow this plant by routinely watering its head.

Some levels, generally the sixth and final one in each chapter, have a boss battle to take on. Now, Yoshi does not a health bar or anything like that in this game. He takes a licking and keeps on ticking when "damaged". The boss battles are not about surviving, but these also serve as opportunities to chart even more creature discoveries in how you go about the battle. As the Hauger, that previously mentioned giant boar, you can actually juggle the boss you battle against multiple times in the air, and in doing so, you unlock a discovery. Needless to say, this is easier said than done, which is a testament to some of the skill-based challenges that some discoveries demand of the player. Also, something that not a typical younger player would be able to do, either! 

Creatures come in all shapes and sizes within Mr. E's colorful pages.

Not every creature's habitat can be exhausted of discoveries in Yoshi's first visit. Some creatures have second "acts" to their specific levels, usually designed around interacting with a second creature. These second acts have far fewer discoveries to find, as they usually require Yoshi to hash out the means to clear the level's main goal and open the exit. Some of the later objectives can be immensely challenging. 

So many discoveries and especially stuff in the post-game, requires a level of play that not many in the inexperienced camp will be able to accomplish easily. Heck, even my gamer self of 35+ years struggled with so many of them. Part of this is because some creatures possess unwieldy, somewhat non-intuitive controls which leads to some frustration, but also another part is that some of the discoveries require such careful precision or specifically ordered steps that they can be challenging to achieve.  

Speaking of the post-game, it was curious to me that I rolled the credits after the sixth chapter was beaten. That's because there's still more story-related content in the following four chapters that unlock after. You're not really done with Yoshi and the Mysterious Book's story until you roll the second set of credits and unlock the literal post-game from there. It makes me wonder how many potential players will roll the first credits and assume they're done, despite so many loose ends with the story, unique creatures, and chapters are available afterwards. 

There are many familiar creatures from Yoshi's past games (like these Goonies),
 but more often than not, you'll discover many brand-new ones.

Switching gears to more a mechanical level, Yoshi himself controls pretty much better than ever in his latest game. He basically has all of the skills he's learned from his Yoshi's Island days: egg-throwing, flutter-jumping, ground-pounding, to assist in examining creatures and making discoveries, and he also has a tail whip that can send smaller to medium-sized creatures riding his saddle. This offers even more in the way of interacting with creatures, such as one that will blow out ride-able bubbles when saddled on Yoshi, or again, the Crazee Dayzee, which will bloom flower buds when the creature passes over them while riding on Yoshi.

Between completing each chapter by logging all creature discoveries and collecting all Smiley Flowers, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book took me just over 40 hours to fully beat. It was mostly an enjoyable time, too, save for some struggles with controlling creatures here and there, trying to make heads or tails of the in-game hints, attempting to successfully clear certain, challenging discoveries, and the incredibly occasional (like, once every five hours) frame-rate freezes and hits. 

Yoshi takes some time to stop and smell (and say hi to) a flowery friend.

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is very much a thumping good read--or rather, play. It presents so many unique ideas within each of its 50-60 creatures that it approaches Super Mario Galaxy-levels of "new stage, new concept". Such a feat is no small task, and it's certainly no small comparison either. Yoshi's latest absolutely floored me with its exponential amount of fresh ideas, stellar level design, myriad methods the game's systems interact with each other (in almost a "how does this game not break?!" kind of way), and how it constantly rewarded me for thinking outside of the box. It's not Yoshi's Island, nor does the game even itself set out to be, which may disappoint some, but for those who give Yoshi and the Mysterious Book an honest chance, you'll immensely enthralled, much like reading an exceptional page-turner of an actual book. Good-Feel and Nintendo authored an amazing game here.

[SPC Says: A-] 

Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis (Multi) Official Release Date Trailer

Lara Croft is back, and this time it's a remake of the original Tomb Raider with Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis. Ms. Croft has her trademark dual pistols, lovely sense of fashion, and her rapier wit and sass to take on anything, anyone, and from the trailer, any T-Rex as well. Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis arrives on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, and Steam on February 12th, 2027.

Rayman Legends Retold (Multi) Reveal Trailer

Rayman returns, as does Rayman Legends, a game that was often ported to pretty much every platform under the sun back in the day. However, Rayman Legends Retold takes a familiar game and includes myriad new additions: from the most obvious 3D visuals, to new 3D levels and story elements. Available for all current platforms on October 1st, solo and local multiplayer mayhem will return to the Glade of Dreams.

Star Fox (NS2) Overview Trailer

An overview trailer for Star Fox 64's remake, simply titled Star Fox, has entered YouTube airspace. With it is essentially a bunch of regurgitated information from last month's Star Fox-themed Nintendo Direct of the game, though some new information in the form of multiplayer items is included. Star Fox takes flight on the Nintendo Switch 2 later this month on June 25th, 2026.

R-Type Dimensions III (Multi) Review

All month long we've been looking back and celebrating Capcom's Blue Bomber with MEGA MAY. Let's interrupt this themed month for a little longer to look back at another classic franchise, albeit a shoot-em-up series: R-Type! This review of the recently released R-Type Dimensions III is based off the Nintendo Switch 2 version of the game, and here is the SPC verdict.

Lightning strikes thrice

The original R-Type III was a game that was quite frankly, super punishing in its difficulty, but offered rewards for the players who overcame its challenges and learned to persevere over the game. Now, over three decades since its original release, R-Type III is back with new bells, whistles, and improvements but also some unfortunate major downgrades as well with R-Type Dimensions III.

Let's start with a quick (and I do mean, quick) history lesson. R-Type III: The Third Lightning originally released in 1993 on the Super Nintendo being the first R-Type series installment to not release in arcades. It boasted Mode 7 effects such as the ability to grow and shrink its individual sprites to impressive effect, for one. Unlike past entries which were made by Irem, it was developed by Tamtex.

My "pew pews" with my lasers go "pow pow" on the targets they hit.

R-Type Dimensions III takes the original R-Type III: The Third Lightning game and applies myriad configurable options and amenities to it, such as the ability to customize the controls to your liking (for the most part), as well as freely switch between the original 2D visuals and the all-new 3D mode with a touch of a button. Both graphical modes allow the optional application of scanlines as well. 

Seamlessly (well, with a little slowdown here and there) switch between 2D and 3D graphical modes with a button press.

The visuals of 3D mode are really cool to look at. You have specific segments where the camera can move dynamically to tilt the perspective in an awesome way. Other than that, everything is impressively detailed, from the enemies, whether they be piloted crafts or organic alien nightmares, to the background and foreground geometry. The music has received polish too in 3D mode, offering real instruments as opposed to soundfonts, and it really brings new life to the original's already impeccable, impressive soundtrack.

Another added inclusion is that of a local two-player co-op mode. The original R-Type III had two players able to play, but upon one player's death, it simply switched to the progress of the other player's run. The time around, actual co-op is present, affording two players to pilot their respective ships on the same screen at once. This is a really nifty addition!

Overwhelming odds? Well, two can literally play this game!

Starting off a run in R-Type Dimensions III, you get a choice between three Forces. These bestow your ship with a miniature ship of sorts that grants unique abilities and weaponry. This additional arsenal of firepower can be independently deployed or attached to your ship, which brings some added strategy to the game--of what to pick up and where to place it. There are sections of stages more suitable for deploying while others are better for having your Force attached to your ship. Depending on your particular play style or how you want to initiate and take on a given run, the choice of your starting Force is important to factor in. Each selectable starting Force has its own advantages/disadvantages, pros/cons, benefits/weaknesses to the battles at hand, which is a cool, albeit expected touch.

The original R-Type III wasn't a game you just played through casually and expected to reach its end without any friction. No, this is "Friction: The Game" in top tier form. It's a game that demands your dedication to it, but one of the greatest rewards for an R-Type player is mastering a given stage--perhaps even going for that coveted no-death run.  

Deaths aren't optional for beginners, and heck, even advanced players used to the R-Type series. It's expected. It's mandatory. It's a constant influx of ship explosions, whether from stray bullets, to walls closing in and crushing your ship on the fly. Memorization is key, and even then, you have to properly execute what is expected of you to survive. This is indeed an incredibly challenging, difficult game.

The stages themselves are designed in a masochistic way that losing lots of lives is quite easy to do, unlike everything else in R-Type. Even from the first stage, you pilot your way through the starting openness of space with modest amounts of space debris flying at you, but soon find yourself entering a claustrophobic series of walls that close in, shift about, and even at one point spin while requiring you to move out of harm's way in the process. 

From open space shenanigans to inner alien action, R-Type Dimensions III takes you all over.

Fortunately, the added Infinite Mode alleviates some (but nowhere near all) of the aggravation. Instead of Classic Mode's limited assortment of lives and spawning you back at the last checkpoint, Infinite Mode--as true to its name--grants infinite lives and also respawns you directly back into the action from your current location. Sure, this also means that you can respawn immediately back into harm's way, losing yet another ship in the process, but it's a minor inconvenience for the power of unlimited lives.

That said, it would have been a nice touch to include some kind of rewind capability for at least Infinite Mode. As deaths result in your ship leveling down to its original under-powered, woefully weak state, it makes for an agonizing playthrough, especially when you're perishing every 5-10 seconds like this R-Type "pro" did (read: I absolutely, positively sucked at this game).  

As a shoot-em-up, R-Type Dimensions III is as nice as they get, at least control-wise. Threading the needle through enemy ships, bullets, and hazards feels pleasant and precise. You're not going to die because the controls weren't responsive, that much is for certain. 

Infinite Mode presents players with an unlimited amount of lives to spend.

However, and quite unfortunately, this remake presents new issues not found in the 1993 original rear their ugly head in. For one, hitboxes feel considerably "off" and inaccurate. This means that deaths happen a lot more than they otherwise would due to your hitbox being larger than it's specifically supposed to be. Shots that don't even graze my ship could end in an explosive result, for example, and frustratingly so.

Furthermore, many enemies don't properly register with a helpful visual clue you're hitting them, either with a flashing animation as bullets pelt them or anything else visually. Was I actually dealing damage to a baddie? It was difficult to tell, such as with the second stage's boss, and with a game that's already punishing in its level of challenge, these oversights and added aggravations do not make for a good impression--especially since they appeared to creep and leak over into the 2D portion of R-Type Dimensions III as well!

No doubt the original developers enjoyed Ridley Scott's Alien series.

It's hard to recommend playing R-Type Dimensions III over the original, especially if you're a purist or diehard fan of the 1993 SNES classic because of these oversights. They make the game much more challenging and pretty much to an oftentimes unfair degree. Those new to the series or game might not mind these issues as much, but the game will essentially curb stomp these players unbeknownst to its dastardly, dire difficulty. The added bells and whistles like switching between 2D and 3D mode, Infinite Mode, and the two-player co-op mode--to name a few--are great additions, but are they worth suffering through a flawed, botched R-Type III remake over the original? Unfortunately, the answer is an emphatic "no".

ININ Games has already put out a statement regarding these issues--in fact, said statement released a day after the game's launch. So, the grievances to the gameplay that players have will hopefully soon be patched, but the fact that this is how the game was launched to begin with doesn't instill much confidence. For the time being, it's best to wait out a patch/update to R-Type Dimensions III and just play the original R-Type III in the meantime. It's a much better experience, even without the aforementioned modern bells and whistles.

[SPC Says: C-] 

A Nintendo Switch 2 game code was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.

The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales (Multi) Prologue Demo Trailer

Ahead of its release next month, the Zelda and Ys-like HD-2D game, The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales has a brand-new demo--this time for everyone--now available. This Prologue allows players to begin the opening of the game and carry over their save to the full release of the game when it launches on all current platforms June 18, 2026. For now, enjoy this trailer from Square Enix.

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book (NS2) - "An Appetite for Discovery" Trailer

Like this past week's Kalanoro preview, we haven't seen too many trailers posted on SuperPhillip Central in the longest time. In fact, it's been several years! Let's change that up with Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, a cozy platforming-adventure game that takes Yoshi and puts him into a tome to discover all sorts of unique creatures and the ways Yoshi and players by extension can interact with them to solve environmental puzzles. This trailer showcases some of that ingenuity put into practice. Yoshi and the Mysterious Book releases on May 21.

Ys X: Proud Nordics (Multi) Review

It's been quite a while since I've had the pleasure to review an Ys game, so much so that I forgot how lengthy modern Ys games can be! Thus, this review has been a long time coming, but that's also not to say that I didn't get a case of quality and quantity with Ys X: Proud Nordics, our next review for this month on SuperPhillip Central. Let's take to the waters and "sea" how this updated and upgraded adventure shaped up!

 Come Sail Away, Come Sail Away. Come Sail Away with Ys.

Ys X: Proud Nordics is an expanded version of the original Ys X: Nordics. In a way, it's somewhat of a do-over, and in another way, it sort of has feelings of "this should have been DLC". Either way and as always, this entry of Ys stars none other than young, red-haired adventurer Adol Christin, joined by his good friend Dogi. The pair along with a doctor named Dr. Flair, find themselves in a precarious situation quite quickly as passengers aboard a boat bound for Celceta.

A group of fierce pirate warriors known as the Balta Sea Force, attack the ship, kill the captain, and not before a duel between the pirate princess and Adol. Eventually, the boat is forced to dock at a local port town called Carnac, where Adol's group is essentially stranded. This town eventually sees itself under attack by vicious monsters known as the Griegr. Unable to be killed by normal hands, only those that wield the power of Mana are able to fell and vanquish these brute beasts.

Adol's only just met Karja, and she's already got an axe to grind with him--quite literally!

Fortunately, Adol stumbles upon a magical seashell on the beach possessing the voice of a woman. This mysterious voice provides Adol with the Mana required to take down the Griegr, but not before also handcuffing Adol and the previously mentioned pirate princess, named Karja, together. With two Mana wielders linked together with no ability to remove the magical cuffs or move too far away from one another, Adol and Karja must set aside any differences to tackle the Griegr threat that plagues the Obelia Gulf.   

Tutorials and tips like the one seen here are always available within the in-game Journal menu.

Two is usually better than one, and that is especially true with the powerhouse team that is Adol and Karja. The two can move a little away from each other in battle, fighting different monsters and enemies separately, or they can team up in something called Duo Mode. This grants them the ability to attack a target together, even using special Duo-exclusive skills to make shorter work of enemies or to better whittle down the health of stronger foes. 

Adol and Karja team up to deliver one HELL of a Duo attack!

Adol and Karja each have their own set of skills that they learn during the duration of Ys X, and these can be leveled up in power through continued use. You can also spend a special currency to level them up without needing to use them, as well. This currency comes in the form of pink crystals, generally found in treasure chests and through defeating difficult enemies. 

Of course, no good offense is worthwhile without a good defense, and fortunately, Proud Nordics provides enough maneuvers and abilities for Adol and Karja to utilize to either avoid, evade, defend against, or counter attacks. By holding the right shoulder button, Adol and Karja can summon a Mana-infused barrier around them. If it's summoned right before an opponent hits with their attack, Adol or Karja can counter with an attack of their own, a devastating counterattack. 

In Duo Mode, the pair needs to be watchful of enemies and the color of the auras they can glow. A red glow from a foe means it's time to stop attacking and hold up their Mana barrier in order to withstand the otherwise damaging blow. This fills up a special meter called the Revenge Gauge, which multiplies the damage the next Duo-based skill Adol and Karja use on their attacker. While this multiplier starts low, through finding Hellfire Tomes throughout the game, the gauge can raise up to 5X. There's also a bit of strategy here, too. For tanks of enemies, it might be best to let the Revenge Gauge rise up high, so the next skill used will take off a lot more HP, but for smaller foes, using a skill right away might be the best course of action.

Just passing through, so make way or meet your maker!

Then, there are baddies that glow blue, meaning that these attacks can't be blocked through barrier usage. Instead, a well timed dodge to their attack will open them up to a counter from Adol or Karja. Finally, a white glow means the upcoming enemy attack can neither be evaded nor blocked for a counter. Instead, the best maneuver here is to just get the heck out of the way.

As Adol and Karja level up (they share experience so they both level up at the same time) through enemies slain, bosses beaten, and even items that reward XP through using them, they learn new skills as well as the ability to use a skill tree, comprised of various series of slots for both characters that open up every ten levels gained. Using Mana Seeds discovered throughout their journey, players can fit them into these slots to power up Adol and Karja considerably. It's a nice way to add a personal touch to each character, offering a way for players to shape Adol and Karja to their liking (a la builds) to best fit their own particular play style. 

Throughout Ys X: Proud Nordics, an important aspect that players are hammered over the head with is that of the concept of Adol and Karja becoming and eventually being Shield Brother and Shield Sister. This is performed through the pair during the course of the game taking on a specific, grueling challenge that proves their worth to the Normans and for that matter the leader of the Normans and Karja's father, Grimson Balta. 

I bring that up not just for story-related reasons, as it's a major focus of the game, but also because this Shield Brother/Shield Sister pairing grants the two the ability to work together more cohesively and use a series of learned Mana Abilities that work in and out of battle. From a magic grapple that can chain around specific hooks and tree limbs for Adol and Karja to swing off from to make it across otherwise impossible chasms or to reach higher heights, to summoning a makeshift Mana hoverboard to jet around areas and grind on specially marked blue rails, the abilities that Adol slowly gets introduced to, thus allowing Karja to use them, too, offer a lot of value in opening up exploration and platforming opportunities throughout the adventure.

Totally radical, bodacious, excellent, etc., Adol.

Exploration is always a fun aspect of the Ys series, and now it's expanded to the sea, too. Ys X introduces Adol and Karja to their own boat that can be customized, outfitted with various gear and weaponry, and used to sail across the Obelia Gulf. Though, there are several issues with this new mode of transportation. For one, the initial speed of their boat, the Sandras, is one of a glacial pace. Even using the Mana Boost ability that gives a temporary burst of speed to your boat isn't much of an improvement, and while you can upgrade the speed of the ship (among other things) through discovering new crew members, it's still much too slow by even the end of the game. Fortunately, when a new point of interest on the ocean is discovered, this island or area can serve as a fast travel point, making for less of a headache when sailing the high seas.

Generally, the flow of Ys X introduces players to a new area of ocean to explore, but something usually stops the Sandras from being able to advance further--whether that's not having the right equipment, a story reason, or because a Mana ability hasn't been learned yet, such as using the Mana Barrier around the Sandras to safely cross over dangerous ocean debris, for example. Many sections of the ocean are blocked off in general--the Obelia Gulf sure is labyrinthine-like, offering so many reasons to sail around rocky expanses and shallow patches of water.

That said, the seafaring life in Ys X: Proud Nordics' Obelia Gulf isn't all smooth sailing and exploration. Sea battles against Griegr ships also comes into play. These, like land battles, happen in real time. The Sandras' task is to simply sink all of the enemy ships through using weaponry like cannons and special firepower--all with different cooldowns and some limited in ammo--before they sink you. These naval battles are rather enjoyable, and have multiple purposes for seeking them out. Sure, many pertain to the story, but many also unlock wind currents, a new Proud Nordics-exclusive addition, that make sailing faster along certain lines, as well as battles where you can board the enemy's ship and take out three waves of baddies for a special treasure. 

Three different possible perspectives present unique ways and views to sink some ships.

There are also optional missions to reclaim islands under Griegr control, and these are one half ship battles and one half land battles. The former has you destroying pillars that protect the shielded island and threats alike as the Sandras. Once all the waves (both figurative and literal) have settled, it's time to storm the fortress as Adol and Karja through a linear dungeon, fighting foes, solving simple puzzles, and/or performing some platforming to make it to the goal. This all the while being scored on enemies defeated, time taken, damage received, and the like in order to get rewards based on the grade you get for all the above aspects of these reclaiming missions.

Beyond little enhancements here and there that do make the Ys X experience better, the most notable addition to Ys X: Proud Nordics is that of a brand-new island, Oland Island, an especially large and expansive one, that delves into how the Normans were originally cast away from their homeland. It opens up around the halfway point of the game, Chapter Five, and while a new piece of the island and subsequent story unlocks with each new chapter, I would have found it more enjoyable to wait till near the end of the game to experience it. That way I could play through the whole new content all at once instead of being interrupted in a piecemeal fashion. Instead, I opted to play each section as it opened up, which made for a much more bloated experience.

Oland Island is home to some impressive sights and even more impressive treasure.

Either way, Oland Island features numerous lengthy locales, story elements, a Coliseum, Mana Board races, and also a super-hard boss at the end of the island's 10-hour journey. I found it mostly enjoyable (the new Mana Hold ability introduced here is clunky and cumbersome at best), and while I probably won't return to tackle the rest of the Coliseum's combatants or do the EX Mana Races for their respective rewards and prizes, I very much discovered value here.

While I had my fill of adventuring with Adol after my 45 hours with the game for now, 
the coliseum on Oland Island still calls to me... eventually.

At the end of the day and at the end of Adol and Karja's adventure, I discovered plenty across every island, 100%-ing each one, finding every treasure, clearing all quests (I still dislike that some can be missed or that they can expire due to story reasons), and thoroughly being taken for a wild and wonderful ride with Ys X: Proud Nordics' story. In total, my adventures with Adol and Karja took me just under 45 hours with all the aforementioned tasks done.

Now, apart from the sluggish and glacial pace of seafaring, some infuriating boss battles (the Magna Diga remains an obnoxious fight even in its revised form), and missables, one sore spot of Ys X: Proud Nordics is the visuals. The original Ys X's roots are tied to the Nintendo Switch, which is quite the ancient hardware nowadays, and it shows with Proud Nordics. Not saying Ys X's updated version is an ugly game, but it certainly is no looker, either. The textures and visuals are bland, the environmental variety is weak, and the draw distance leaves a lot to be desired, as well. My brother entering the room while I was playing and mentioning if I got out our old PlayStation 3 to play something did not inspire confidence towards Ys X: Proud Nordics' graphical prowess--that much is for certain. That said, the Switch 2 version offering 60 FPS and 120 FPS performance modes does make for a more impressive offer.

As the ol' sea cliche goes, X marks the ouch.

Speaking of offers, is what Falcom and NIS America are offering with an updated Ys X worth the asking price? If you've never played the original Ys X, then there's no question you should check this entry out with Proud Nordics. It's darn good and some of the modern Ys series's highest highs. Don't bother with the original Ys X nowadays since that is basically equivalent to playing Persona 5 instead of Persona 5 Royale. 

For those that have already played Ys X and are interested in the new content, particularly that of Oland Island, then that's a tougher proposition to want to jump on and set sail for. I could see some arguments calling this a bit of a slap in the face to offer a new updated version of a game that released less than two years ago, doesn't offer an upgrade path for most platforms, and does not carry over save data from the original game for a high price. 

At any rate, new players to Ys X should definitely check out Proud Nordics while previous players of the tenth installment should wait for a discount (or a deep discount, at that) before that dive back into Obelia Gulf's waters. The Proud Nordics package as a whole is a fantastic one, and while the game doesn't hit the same highs for me as my favorite games in the series: Oath in Felghana and Lacrimosa of Dana, it certainly offers a majestic adventure full of heart and fun.

[SPC Says: B] 

A code was provided by NIS America for the purpose of this review.

Mario Tennis Fever (NS2) Review

Happy Mar10 Day, everyone! With today being the portly plumber's special day, it only makes sense to grace SuperPhillip Central with one of his games--and a recent one at that: Mario Tennis Fever! Let's take to the court with the SPC review.

Mario and Friends' Swing Fever

I've been a bit hard on Nintendo's sports offerings on the original Switch--but for good reasons. Both Camelot's games on the Switch, Mario Tennis Aces and Mario Golf: Super Rush, launched with a paltry amount of content for the asking price, especially when compared to past entries. While both games also received free post-launch content, it's stuff that should have already been in the base game and not released piecemeal. As if listening to me directly (and many other players, too), Nintendo and Camelot come bursting onto the court with a brand-new Mario Tennis entry that seems to be the genuine article, at least when content is concerned. After all, content is king.

Mario Tennis Fever is the latest iteration of the famed Mario Tennis franchise, and it's Camelot's first foray on the Nintendo Switch 2. Is this a fever you'll enjoy, or one that you'll want a cure for?

Nintendo heavily marketed--or at least portrayed--the Adventure Mode as some big deal content-wise for Mario Tennis Fever. It turns out, it's merely another version of a tutorial. It starts with Mario and company recovering a Golden Fruit for Daisy, who has succumbed to some type of illness. While the recovery attempt succeeds, it isn't without consequence. Mario, Luigi, Peach, Wario, and Waluigi are transformed into babies in the process, and without much fight to them, Baby Mario and Baby Luigi will need to go back to the practice courts to have their tennis know-how and skills eventually return to them.

They might be babies, but this won't be an Adventure Mode in Babysitting--they can take care of themselves!

The first half of the Adventure Mode takes place in the same tennis practice area, having Baby Mario and sometimes Baby Luigi as his doubles partner partake in various training exercises, each delving into some facet of tennis. There are mini-games to play, opponents to take on, and each of these generates experience points for Baby Mario to level up his skills and stats. 

By the time the training wheels come off and the actual ADVENTURE part of the Adventure Mode begins, it's short lived. There are a handful of areas to explore in a super linear fashion, more opponents to take on, story elements to enjoy, mini-games to play that are more organically interspersed in the adventure, and bosses to battle. 

The adventuring part of Adventure Mode sees a lot of variety, but it's also incredibly brief.

Really, and to reiterate, the Adventure Mode is meant to serve more as a tutorial than anything else--the appetizer to the main course which is the rest of the game. Instead, the heavy focus on the Adventure Mode from Nintendo made it out to be more important to the Mario Tennis Fever package than it actually is. That's not to say the mode's not worthwhile, but at the same time, a five-hour tutorial isn't the most compelling concept.

The lackluster Adventure Mode aside, what truly drove me as a Mario Tennis Fever player was the other additional modes included in the game. There's your traditional Tournament mode--a three-cup, three-round apiece series of matches that can be played in both Singles and Doubles play. Though I wish the game denoted which characters have earned trophies in that mode. For as much as I disliked the initial offering, Mario Tennis Aces gave some replay value and longevity by logging and recording which characters completed which cups in Tournament mode. As is in Fever, there's no real incentive to replay the mode once it's beaten in Singles and Doubles because there are no trophies for individual characters to earn. Not to say that this unlocked anything in Mario Tennis Aces, but it was just nice to have, again for longevity and replay value purposes. It was rewarding on its own to see my full roster of unlocked characters shown as having a complete catalog of tournament trophies earned.

Mario, with the backhand return to continue the rally!

Regardless, Mario Tennis Fever does deliver a wide range of unlockables all the same, even without this aforementioned exclusion. There is a slew of achievements, and these aren't just for show. These unlock new characters, alternate character colors, tennis rackets, and courts, too. To unlock everything that Fever offers, I sunk a fair amount of hours into the game's multiple modes. 

Apart from the Adventure and Tournament modes, there are special score challenges. Such challenges include: Ring Shot, Piranha Plant Challenge, and Auto Tennis. Ring Shot has you in a rally with another player as you attempt to aim your shots and volleys into rings of various sizes and point values to meet a point requirement before time runs out. The Piranha Plant Challenge sees a Piranha Plant coming out of one of three green warp pipes on the opposite side of the net, firing tennis balls one at the other. Your character has to return them without the player on the opposing side returning them back to you. Lastly, Auto Tennis takes a mechanical Piranha Plant that shoots out tennis balls, and your goal is to return them atop of various score tiles for points.

Tournament mode gets rather challenging, so make sure you don't lose your focus.

Then, there is the meatiest mode within Mario Tennis Fever--though it doesn't appear to seem so meaty right from the get go--it's the Trial Towers mode. This mode is essentially the Events from Super Smash Bros. Melee put to tennis tasks. You have three towers to take on, each with ten challenges to complete. Every time you fail a challenge, you lose a heart. Lose all your hearts, and it's game over and you have to start from floor one on a new run. 30 challenges or missions spread across three towers doesn't seem too exceptionally content-rich, but after the third tower is completed, it's then where the content pours from every orifice of Mario Tennis Fever's Trial Towers. 

Variety is the spice of life, content is king, and Trial Towers delivers both.

After beating each tower, unlocking the characters associated with each, you unlock 100 trials to take on, and this time in any order. Simply select a trial and then take it on. These are similar to the missions seen in the three preceding towers, such as taking on an opponent with them using a certain racket to make things more difficult or battling a powerful opponent as three weaker, but faster baby characters, for instance. The difference is that these individual trials have three goals each to them, and you earn a star for completing each--whether that's not losing a point, not getting knocked out, or something more challenging like not taking damage at all. Understandably with 100 trials, this mode will last players a while.

Of course, all the modes and content in the world couldn't save Mario Tennis Fever if its tennis gameplay double faulted. Fortunately, Fever's tennis action is better than ever. For one, it forgoes the elimination-based power shots that Aces supported. For me, the timing for Aces' counters were waaaaay too strict, often resulting in me getting eliminated from matches when all of my rackets shattered. While there is a gimmick to Fever's tennis with Fever Rackets, losing all your HP does not mean you're permanently eliminated from the match. Instead, it's either temporarily in Doubles play, or you simply play with less stamina and trudge along the court in Solo play until your health recovers. 

I'm seeing double with this particular Fever Racket!

The Fever Rackets are indeed the main draw and gimmick of Mario Tennis Fever, understandably so. There are 30 or so rackets to unlock, and with over 30 characters to play as, that means you're going to get a lot of different character and racket combinations to experiment with. When your Fever Gauge is full, you can choose to unleash a Fever Shot with your given racket. If it hits the court before your opponent can return it, your racket's ability will be utilized. The Volcano racket, for instance, erupts on the court where the ball hits to reveal a fiery crater that launches fireballs out. Any player that comes in contact with them will get burned and lose HP in the process. Meanwhile, the Golden Dash racket is better served for defensive play, offering a temporary but super helpful, speedy boost to the player that uses it, allowing them to jet around the court with relative ease.

Diddy, we're not in Kansas anymore.

Of course, your opponent can counter a Fever Shot, and if the ball lands on your side of the court, the area-of-effect power will happen there, which means you'll have plenty of dodging to do as you try to contend with hitting the ball back to your opponent. It's absolutely riveting to have an action-packed rally where players keep hitting the ball back and forth, not letting it touch the ground, to keep the Fever Shot chance going. A counter to a counter, to a counter, to another, until ultimately someone finally misses and the Fever Shot hits the court, resulting in chaos on their side.

Rosalina sees how the Mario Tennis Fever action can heat up in a most literal sense.

That said, if you prefer traditional tennis, like Mario Tennis Aces before it, there is an entire mode of play dedicated to that. Have yourself a no-frills, no Fever Racket, pure game of tennis! Though if you want to unlock most of the content within Mario Tennis Fever, you're going to have to engage with the Fever portion. Still, it's nice to have the option to play without the extra craziness and have it come straight down to skilled play, outmaneuvering, and leading your opponent into a disadvantage for you to earn the point.

Disappointingly, at least for me, is the number of courts in Mario Tennis Fever--just seven, with multiple variations of court types (i.e. grass, sand, concrete, etc.). While the number of courts is similar to past installments, I would have loved to see more in the way of locales and venues. That notwithstanding, what is here is enjoyable, whether it's the gimmick courts like playing tennis within a pinball table, or a court themed after Super Mario Bros. Wonder, complete with unique Wonder effects that occur mid-match.

One of the handful of gimmick-themed courts to play on. If you prefer no gimmicks, you can play without 'em!

If you're the type who prefers to play online and show the world your tennis ability (or for me, my lack thereof), there is obviously online play to participate in, either in Singles or Doubles play. You can play with or without Fever Rackets, as well. Ranked play pits opponents against each other in a tiebreaker best of seven series. While some may balk at the idea of such a relatively short match instead of something set-based, it keeps matches quick, the pace of finding new matches even faster, and if you're completely getting decimated in a match, you can get it over with lickety split. Unlike Aces, there are currently no tournaments or unlockables to earn through online play--it's simply there for those with a competitive spirit to engage in.

Online play is like Yoshi's armpits after a 20-hit rally--sweaty.

No matter the type of tennis you prefer to play--online or offline, with or without Fever Rackets, solo or multiplayer--you're getting a gorgeous game with colorful and crisp visuals. I absolutely love how animated each character is and how much personality they show in everything they do on the court. Fever's replays after every point would be better if they could be turned off entirely (a strange omission), but what's there are entirely epic showcases of sharp shooting shots and points earned. So, too, would it be nice to be able to turn off the Talking Flower, also from Super Mario Bros. Wonder, for commentary. I enjoy the action-packed words from our floral friend, but not everyone will. 

The courts are colorful, the characters are crisp--Mario Tennis Fever is a winner in the graphics department.

Camelot Software doesn't exactly serve an ace with its first Nintendo Switch 2 offering, but Mario Tennis Fever serves in general as an excellent starting point all the same. The tennis gameplay is great as ever, the amount of characters and rackets means that you'll have loads to experiment with to find the best character and racket that suits your play style, and the level of content is absolutely satisfying this time around. The Adventure Mode disappoints once again, but the rest of the package is more than worthwhile. I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more tennis with Mario. Now, pardon me as I take some more sick days due to this Fever of mine.

[SPC Says: B]