Runbow (NSW, PS4) Review

Earlier today, I posted the Review Round-Up for June 2018. I say, let's not waste any time by posting the first review for July! It's for a game I was quite enthusiastic about on the Wii U, it's Runbow! Here's my review of the Nintendo Switch version, though the PS4 is also mentioned.

Taste the Runbow

Originally a Wii U exclusive, Runbow has thankfully branched out and hit several other platforms, most recently, the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4. Why "thankfully"? More people than ever before get to experience the wacky, wild, colorful wonder that brings hectic multiplayer mayhem that Runbow consistently delivers to players. Now, that the audience for Runbow is no longer limited to a struggling console, many more gamers around the world can finally get a taste of the Runbow.

Runbow is a chaotic 2D platformer where the goal is to complete the objective of each level without dying. Most of the time it's as "simple" as reaching the trophy at the end of the level. Other times, Runbow asks of you to collect a certain number of coins or defeat a specific amount of enemies. I put "simple" in quotes because Runbow has a highly creative mechanic to it that makes rushing through its levels to complete one of its three objectives far more challenging than it otherwise would be.

As you run through levels, the level's background every handful of seconds swipes its way to a different color on a consistent basis. For example, platforms that are orange and solid on a blue background disappear by sight and by touch when an orange background slides into view. Different levels offer a varying range and speed of colors being swiped, making for some truly tricky platforming.

Guest character Shantae from her titular Wayforward-developed
series leads a cavalcade of characters through this blazing cavern.

Runbow is easy to control, giving you access to a basic assortment of moves: a jump which can turn into a double jump, a normal punch to attack enemies when a normal bounce on the head just won't do, a rocket punch that can propel you upward for extra height or to the left or right for extra distance, as well as butt stomp to smash through floors and to defeat certain types of enemies. Sometimes I would find myself entering a double jump too quickly, resulting in deaths that I didn't feel were my complete fault, but when the game allows you infinite tries, it's a minor frustration.

The main Adventure mode sees you going through nearly 150 levels of color-swapping, platforming goodness, and these take place on one of four different, interconnected grids. You start at the bottom left corner, and as you complete levels, the spaces adjacent open up, allowing you to play them. Some levels are more difficult than others, with green levels being the easiest and red being the hardest. The nonlinear way you can go about picking levels makes it so if a particular levels is finding you frowning at its challenging, you can select an alternate one to attempt. Of course, completionists will want to complete every grid space and level possible--all the while looking to beat the top target time in order to earn three medals on each level.

Neither spikes nor enemies will stop our crew from reaching our prized trophy!

Medals are but one way to unlock a seemingly endless amount of content that Runbow has to offer. From over 15 guest characters from various indie games like Shovel Knight, SteamWorld Dig, Hyper Light Drifter, Freedom Planet, Shantae, Mutant Mudds, Azure Striker Gunvolt, The Fall, and more, to concept artwork and new costumes, Runbow is packed with more goodies inside than a pot of gold. Completing in-game achievements such as beating Adventure Mode, playing 10 multiplayer games, perform 10 butt stomps in one game, among others, unlocks new content, so you're essentially always unlocking something to keep you playing--which is no problem as the gameplay should do that for you by itself.

Outside of the Adventure Mode that can be played with friends cooperatively (or competitively as it sometimes was in the levels I played) there are three multiplayer modes available for local or online matches. Up to nine players locally can engage in a match, and for Nintendo Switch owners, this is made much easier than the Wii U original, where you needed to link controllers together just to play. Just with one JoyCon by itself, you have two controllers already accessible to you. I can only imagine that the PlayStation 4 version is a little tougher to rustle up multiple controllers to play locally, but thankfully, as stated, online is very much an option where on both platforms up to nine players can compete.

Modes in multiplayer include Run, Arena, and King of the Hill. Run is as simple as it sounds, having players rush from the start of a level to its end. The first player to nab the trophy at the goal is the victor. Arena is a survival mode where opponents fight to be the last one standing in one of multiple battlefields with varying hazards and power-ups in play. Finally, King of the Hill tasks players with taking command of a stationary point for seven seconds. You don't have to stand in the hill for seven concurrent seconds, just seven total. It can get insanely competitive and wild seeing players duke it out for the hill, smashing one another out of the way as they vie, however futile it is, to capture the hill for themselves.

This arena is only big enough for Juan player--Me!

Finally, for solo players, there's the ultimate challenge in Runbow that has you entering a colossal monster known as the Bowhemoth. This is an endurance run of the game's hardest levels, and you play through them one after the other. A tally keeps track of your deaths, and for those seeking a true trial, they can attempt to get the in-game achievement and unlockable goody of beating the mode with 10 deaths or less, or in 20 minutes. Either way, you're in for a stiff challenge with no way to save your progress until the very end.

The digital versions of Runbow on the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 do not include the DLC of the Deluxe Edition. Those are included in the physical release coming at the end of the month, but need to purchased separately for digital downloaders. I didn't get to try the DLC out on the Nintendo Switch build I was playing, as it will be available at launch on Tuesday before the date this review was published. If the content is just as good as the Wii U's Deluxe Edition, then I believe it's worth buying, as it's a fair amount of content added to the Runbow package for those who are enjoying the game and want to experience even more fun that it has to offer.

The latest ports of Runbow mean that the game gets an wider audience, and that excites me. Not only was Runbow an incredibly good game on the Wii U, where it originally exclusively launched to a much smaller audience, but it definitely needs to be played by more people to catch Runbow fever. Between the clever color-swiping mechanic, the charming presentation with satisfying salsa and mambo music played on top of it, brilliant and challenging level design, nearly perfect controls, and a multitude of content to unlock, Runbow will colorize and brighten up your library, regardless of which console you get ready to Runbow on.

[SPC Says: A-]

Review code provided by Headup Games.

Review Round-Up - June 2018

Sometimes, SuperPhillip Central's Featured Game of the Month is featured for negative reasons.
Unfortunately, that is the case with Mario Tennis Aces on the Nintendo Switch.

For the month of June, SuperPhillip Central logged in eight reviews, an above average amount. We started off with a duo of sports: one traditional with the boys (and girls) of summer with Super Mega Baseball 2 (B+) and one that was a futuristic cross between tennis and air hockey, Disc Jam (D+). Moving on from there, the colorful, paint-splatting platformer INK gave our month of reviews a little more colorful with its C+ score.

In anticipation for a certain game also reviewed this month, Mario Tennis Open got the Review Redux treatment, scoring a B. SPC's Game of the Month, Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon wasn't too shy about how it was blatant homage to the classic Castlevania games, but that didn't stop it from slaying its way to an A- grade. Hey! Pikmin followed up that review and ventured out on a journey for a satisfying B.

Mega Man Legacy Collection on the Nintendo Switch was the definitive version of the game with its rewind function on top of all of the features included from past editions gave the collection of six NES games a B+ score.

Last up, a game that I wanted to specifically feature this month ended up being featured for all the wrong reasons. That game, upon which I held high hype for, was Mario Tennis Aces, and it greatly disappointed with its D+ grade.

Super Mega Baseball 2 (PS4, XB1, PC) - B+
Disc Jam (NSW) - D+
INK (NSW) - C+
Mario Tennis Open (3DS) Review Redux - B
Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon (NSW, PS4, XB1, PC, 3DS, Vita) - A-
Hey! Pikmin (3DS) - B
Mega Man Legacy Collection (NSW) - B+
Mario Tennis Aces (NSW) - D+

Enter a Gothic world of slaying demons and monsters alikewith Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon,
SuperPhillip Central's highest rated game of the month.

Mario Tennis Aces (NSW) Review

We end the month of June with a review of a tennis game that launched about a week ago. It's Mario Tennis Aces. Does it deliver a stunning serve, or does it hit a double fault? Let's find out.. quickly, as the review tagline sort of gives the answer away.

 Game, Set, Suck

I had great hype for Mario Tennis Aces, as Nintendo was showing a lot of promising features for the game. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that the online tournament and what little of the Adventure Mode that they showed was actually the limits of what content was available in Aces. Nintendo has decided once again to give a drip feed approach to its game, slowly releasing content to a game that isn't fit to be full price. That said, that's not even the worst of the problems Mario Tennis Aces has. What we ultimately end up with in Mario Tennis Aces is a clusterf--k on the court.

Let's get this out of the way immediately--Mario Tennis Aces is a flawed, unbalanced, nearly broken game. Camelot didn't even try to give players an inkling of balance to be found between characters. This is particularly noticeable when the majority of players use one of the following: Bowser Jr., Boo, Chain Chomp, or Waluigi. Defensive types are pretty much the best in the game due to their ability to cover the court so effortlessly.

I'm getting ahead of myself, though. Let's talk tennis. Mario Tennis Aces starts off with a solid enough base, and you can tell that Camelot really tried to freshen up an age old sport like tennis by adding enough new concepts to make it more interesting. In some ways, they have succeeded. As you perform particular moves on the court, whether they be charged shots, trick shots, or regular rallying, you build energy in your gauge. As the gauge increases, you're able to utilize specific techniques with a press of the shoulder buttons, such as Zone Shots and Zone Speed.

You can perform one of four different types of shots in Mario Tennis Aces. This particular one with a white glow is a quick falling Drop Shot that falls near the front of the court.

Zone Shot opportunities open up when the gauge is at least 1/3 full (at least in yellow) and a star shape appears on the court. Simply run up to that spot, press the R button, and then you'll enter a first-person view where you can aim at any point on your opponent's side of the court. Careful, though, as you can accidentally hit the ball out of bounds, which will not only give your opponent the point, but it will also be a waste of your valuable Zone energy. Meanwhile, whereas Zone Shot is an offensive maneuver, Zone Speed is a defensive one, offering the ability to slow down time to reach balls out of your range more easily. It's also pretty much mandatory for blocking Zone Shots and Super Shots without getting your tennis racket damaged or even broken.

Mario lets loose a Zone Shot, while Wario does his very best to block it
with the right timing in order to not have his racket take damage.

Yes, there's some resource management to be found in Mario Tennis Aces, and this is where some strategy comes in. It's all about keeping an eye on your and your opponent's gauge and managing it properly. Sure, you can spam Zone Speed to reach out-of-the-way shots, but this will consume your gauge, making it so you might not have enough energy to slow down time and block your opponent's Zone Shot. You have a limited number of rackets available to you as well in matches. Without the proper timing during an attempt to block a Zone Shot, your racket will take some damage. Three hits and it's broken--unless it's up against a mistimed block of your opponent's Super Shot (performed by pressing L when one's gauge is completely full), then it breaks immediately. If you are without any rackets left in the middle of the match, you automatically forfeit.

What makes Mario Tennis Aces feel completely broken is a mechanic called the Trick Shot. With a flick of the right analog stick, you can perform a quick juke that sends your character moving towards the ball, with the type of shot that they would otherwise have no chance of returning. Now, you need proper timing and you need to flick the stick in the correct direction. The only problem with this is that it's easily abused. In theory, flicking the stick to perform a Trick Shot too early or too late will result in losing gauge energy. However, the amount of energy that is restored on a successful Trick Shot is so substantial that you'll see players online spam the move, intentionally being away from the ball so they can unleash a Trick Shot, gain easy energy, and then spam Zone Shots and Super Shots.

The mechanic is smart in theory, but it's totally broken in actual practice, at least as it is now. When playing against Defensive characters like Bowser Jr. and Waluigi who already can reach pretty much any ball, it becomes next to impossible to get any ball passed them due to every character's ability to spam Trick Shots. A simple solution would be to lower the amount of energy received from a successful Trick Shot, or better yet, make the window much less generous, but then again, seeing all the other design decisions in Mario Tennis Aces, it seems Nintendo and Camelot weren't interested in making a balanced game of tennis.

The battle of the obnoxious and unbalanced Defense players, Waluigi and Bowser Jr.!

There is a Simple tennis mode, which is your bog standard game of tennis with none of the superfluous and unbalanced rules of Mario Tennis Aces' main form of the sport. In addition to this, a Wii Sports Tennis-style Swing Mode is also supported, using the JoyCon controller's motion control to play tennis casually against the AI or with friends and family. Just don't presume that you can play online with Swing Mode, as for some baffling reason, you can't.

That isn't all with Camelot's baffling decisions with Mario Tennis Aces either. In an immensely stupid and limiting decision, the only types of matches you can actually play online against friends and strangers, as well as offline against friends and the AI, are one-set matches or tiebreakers. Forget pulling off an amazing comeback by being down two sets and coming back to win the next three to win the match, and forget battles of endurance. Apparently, Nintendo knows what you want to play better than you do. The absence of an option to play more than one set, even offline, is just shocking in its stupidity. Furthermore, when choosing a court to play on, you don't actually select a court. Instead, you're forced to select the courts you DON'T want to play on. I mean, why be smart and just let a player choose the exact court they'd like, instead forcing them to uncheck all of the courts except the one they wish to play? Egad! The intelligence of Nintendo and Camelot is on full display here.

In addition to traditional Singles play, Doubles play is also an option.
Just don't expect to be able to play more than a one set match.

What's even more frustrating is that Adventure Mode comes complete with matches against the AI that last longer than just one set. The ability to play more than one set is right in the game, so why can't players do that outside of Adventure Mode!?

Speaking of Adventure Mode, any perceived notion that you're getting a meaty single player experience here can be smashed out of bounds like a botched Zone Shot. This isn't your RPG-centric story mode as seen in Mario Tennis for the Game Boy Color or Game Boy Advance. Instead, it's a series of challenges that span a New Super Mario Bros. U-style world map, where you play as Mario (and only Mario) who searches for five elusive Infinity Stones--er, Power Stones. These stones are the necessary components in putting a halt to the master plan of an evil tennis racket that has possessed poor Luigi and, to a lesser extent, poor Wario and Waluigi as well. There are standard tennis matches, mini-games (which is also confusing why these don't unlock for free play outside of Adventure Mode to add SOME kind of extra content to Aces), and engaging boss battles to partake in. One such challenge has you learning how to perform Zone Shots by aiming at snowball-throwing Shy Guys around and aboard a docked train.

Mario's about to send some snow into your eyes, Shy Guys!

These challenges are indeed fun, but Adventure Mode is over so quick that there's not much substance to be found here. Sure, there's the ability to level up Mario after every match and new rackets to unlock, but these are only good for Adventure Mode. The only main reason to play through Adventure Mode--other than enjoying its limited duration, of course--is to unlock its courts through Free Play.

Outside of the brief Adventure Mode, there isn't much left for single player gamers to enjoy in Mario Tennis Aces. There are tournaments to play against the AI, but these don't unlock anything. There aren't even trophy presentations with your characters celebrating their win. It just seems like this game was built on an obscenely low budget, yet this is supposed to be one of Nintendo's big summer games?

Many courts have hazards to them. This particular court has a mast in the center
of the net that can send the ball flying in unpredictable ways.

As stated, there are the monthly online tournaments for both standard and simple tennis modes, but the lack of balance online will just turn into great annoyance for most players. When you have to decline matches with the fifth Bowser Jr. you come across in a row--a severely broken character--then you know there's something seriously wrong with the balance of the game. As it stands, the only real reason to do tournaments is to unlock a new character a month early in the game (a character that was already on the damn cartridge in the first place), or you're a glutton for punishment. It can be both as well.

Whereas the court, Inferno Isle, houses Mechakoopas that wander around and explode after
a while. Not really conducive to normal tennis, but all court hazards can be turned off, fortunately.

Lag was a huge problem in the online demo that was available early this month before Aces launched, but now it's a much rarer occurrence, thankfully. There are still occasional matches that are borderline unplayable with how bad the lag is, however. Fortunately, if you match up with a player and your connection to them is poor, the match will be automatically declined, which is a smart inclusion to a game with little smart design decisions.

Mario Tennis Aces is a content-lite, unbalanced, and joke of a full priced tennis game. Somehow even with having a foundation to work off of with the Wii U's Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash, Nintendo and Camelot have released a game that has just barely more content than that sham of a tennis title. The full $60 price tag for Mario Tennis Aces is just salt in the wound and an insult in every sense of the word. If and when Nintendo and Camelot add more features and modes to Mario Tennis Aces, like Nintendo has done with their insulting drip feeding of content in also barren-at-launch games like Splatoon and ARMS, then and only then might Mario Tennis Aces be worth its asking price. As of now, the price gets no "love" from me, and the actual game is hardly any better.

[SPC Says: D+]

Mega Man Legacy Collection (NSW) Review

Mega Man returns to a Nintendo home console with a collection of his six NES action-platforming adventures. Mega Man Legacy Collection on the Nintendo Switch gets the SuperPhillip Central review treatment!

Classic Mega Man has returned home to a Nintendo console in one killer collection.

For a long period of time, being a Mega Man fan was incredibly difficult. Between promising games like Mega Man Legends 3 and Mega Man Universe being cancelled and Capcom's apparent hiatus on the franchise, lovers of Mega Man felt left out in the cold. Fortunately, much to my and other fans' delight, Capcom's Blue Bomber sees quite the resurgence in recent years, and 2018 looks absolutely stellar for him. With a new entry in the classic series hitting all major platforms this October with Mega Man 11 and now a duo of classic collections for the Nintendo Switch, Mega Man is back, baby! Released on a multitude of consoles a couple of years ago, Mega Man Legacy Collection finds its way onto the Nintendo Switch with some added features making it the definitive version of Digital Eclipse's collection.

If you've never played a Mega Man game before, allow me to elaborate on the series and each game in the collection. For starters, Mega Man as a series is a 2D side-scroller, and every game in the collection originated on the Nintendo Entertainment System and Famicom. You can easily see through playing the game chronologically (those you can play the games in any order, of course) the technical and graphical upgrades each game added to the series. By Mega Man 6, the developers really had a significant handle on the NES/Famicom hardware to create some truly amazing and detailed levels and environments.

Six games make up the Mega Man Legacy Collection, and there's not a dud in the bunch.

At any rate, what made Mega Man great was its combination of action-platforming, running and shooting, and the ability to play through the initial levels of the game in any order you wanted. The bosses in each level, the Robot Masters, would give Mega Man their special weapon upon their defeat, and each Robot Master was weak against a particular special weapon. For instance, in the original Mega Man, Cut Man's special weapon could take down Elec Man in less than ten seconds, otherwise it'd be a tough, but not impossible fight to engage in. After the initial eight Robot Master levels (six in the original Mega Man) were complete, a new series of final linear levels opened up for the Blue Bomber to right the villain of the series, Dr. Wily's wrongs. 

The original Mega Man is my least favorite of the six featured in the Legacy Collection. Mega Man's movement is a bit slippery, and things like falling on spikes, no matter if you had invincibility frames or not, meant instant death. The game used a one-time point system that was superfluous at best, and as stated already, instead of your standard eight Robot Masters, only six were featured in the first Mega Man game. I can't say I hate Mega Man, as it's actually a pretty good game, and you have to hand it to Capcom for creating a solid foundation for the franchise to grow, and as we've seen, prosper.

Mega Man 2 is one of the most loved entries in the entire franchise, and it really brought some well thought out improvements to the series. For one, a lifesaver at the time of its release, Mega Man 2 has a password system that reveals a password at the end of each level that you can copy down, quit the game, and when you turn it back on, you can insert the code to start back where you left off. Obviously with the collection's save states, this is no longer relevant or necessary, but it was a godsend at the time. Mega Man 2 also introduced Energy Tanks that could refill Mega Man's health when selected from the pause menu, great for giving Mega some extra health in particular tough boss battles or stages. 

Meanwhile, Mega Man 3 is probably my actual favorite of the games in this collection. Two of the reasons for this are the introductions of Mega Man's slide maneuver and the character that was brought into this game, Rush, the Blue Bomber's canine companion. The slide meant Mega Man could cover more distance at a faster clip, also allowing him to evade enemy attacks more easily, and Rush was ultra helpful because Mega Man could collect different adapters to use with him. The Rush Coil could Mega Man extra height to reach high places, whereas the Rush Jet could bring Mega Man across long stretches of level by way of the air. Also, Mega Man 3 was a lengthier game that I feel gets a right mixture of both quantity and quality.

Mega Man 4 gave the Blue Bomber a charge shot in addition to his slide, performed by holding down the shot button and then letting go when the shot is fully charged. The game was made with this new mechanic in mind, making for a re-balanced experience that really shines. Although nothing else major was added to the game, Mega Man 4 still shines as a bright title in this collection that was more about evolution rather than revolution.

Mega Man 5 started to show that the series was merely going through the motions. While the quality of 5 is still high, the gameplay pretty much was standard quo, save for interesting level gimmicks such as the changing gravity as seen in Gravity Man's stage, where Mega Man and enemies would shift from walking on the floor to moving along on the ceiling, and Wave Man's stage, where Mega Man could ride a hover cycle across the ocean waves. Some replay value was also added, featuring eight letters, one found in each level, that spelled out MEGAMANV, and would unlock a supportive bird helper character named Beat. 

Finally, as you'd expect, Mega Man 6 is the most graphically impressive game in the collection. Instead of using Rush as a means to ride, Mega Man in 6 would actually fuse with Rush with a pair of "adaptors", one providing flight and one providing power. Four of the Robot Master levels featured a second entrance to the boss, and getting to this and beating the boss gave a circuit board to the player. When all four were collected, once again, bird buddy Beat  becomes available to help out Mega Man in the game. 

The Nintendo Switch version of Mega Man Legacy Collection comes fully stocked and supplied with all of the main features from the original releases. There are art galleries packed with rarely or never-before-seen concept art, advertisements, and box arts for Japan, North America, and Europe, character and enemy databases that reveal enemy and Robot Master weaknesses, and a music player to listen to all of the marvelous melodies and chiptune delights from Mega Man 1-6. The actual games can be played in full screen or surrounded by borders of character artwork, and you can even change the screen filter to get the genuine look and feel of playing on an old school CRT TV. 

The Museum has all sorts of goodies inside: promotional art, a music player, and an enemy database.

Mega Man Legacy Collection on the Nintendo Switch also comes with an optional exclusive feature, the ability to hold the L button to rewind gameplay. This is perfect for times where you misjudge a jump, collide into spikes, or fall into a bottomless pit, allowing you to rewind time and get to a point prior to that unfortunate occurrence. Of course, save states are still present and accounted for. These combined with the rewind feature make for a collection of Mega Man games that all skill levels can complete and enjoy. If you don't wish to use these, you don't have to. It's just a nice option to have. 

In addition to the six games in the collection, there are also the challenges that were added to the previous versions, taking players through remixed levels and things like boss rushes. As you complete challenges, more unlock for you to flex your Mega Man skills with. Unlike the main games, challenges do not allow you the ability to rewind or use save states. Gotta keep things fair, after all. Furthermore, like the Nintendo 3DS version of Mega Man Legacy Collection, the Switch edition also has amiibo capabilities to use the Mega Man amiibo to unlock exclusive challenges. However, seeing as the actual amiibo is a bit tricky to find nowadays, most might not be able to access this particular bit of content. 

Mega Man Legacy Collection on the Nintendo Switch provides a pleasant compendium of Mega Man's NES action-platforming adventures that come with enough features to make them worth playing through all over again. Heck, just the games themselves make themselves worth playing through all over again. Added features like the ability to rewind during gameplay makes this the most accessible version of the collection for players, and it's just a quick and lovely convenience for those particularly troublesome sections of the six games. Whether you're a longtime fan of the Blue Bomber or just wanting to get into the series, Mega Man Legacy Collection is a good a collection as any to jump into and experience Mega Mania either for the first time or all over again.

[SPC Says: B+]

Hey! Pikmin (3DS) Review

SuperPhillip Central heads towards the end of June with a cavalcade of new reviews! This next one is from a Nintendo 3DS game that released last fall. It's Hey! Pikmin, and hey! It's time for SuperPhillip Central's review!

Little Pikmin, Big Adventure

Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto is one of the most celebrated creators in the video game industry, and it's for good reason--he continually makes amazing games out of simple concepts that most often than not turn into long, thriving franchises. One such franchise is Pikmin, which debuted in 2001 on the Nintendo GameCube, thanks to Miyamoto's own interest in gardening. Since then, three main installments have been released on home consoles, and a fourth game, a bit of a spin-off, is on the Nintendo 3DS as of last fall, Hey! Pikmin. With a developer in Arzest that doesn't have the best reputation with many Nintendo fans, can Hey! Pikmin break new ground, grow, and prosper? Well, in a word, yes!

Hey! Pikmin once again sees Captain Olimar's ship, the Dolphin, crash landing on a planet that is mysteriously reminiscent of a certain planet we all live on. (Hint, hint.) With the help of his longtime friends, the Pikmin, Olimar must journey through dangerous plains, caves, mountains, and more to uncover a whole assortment of objects from the wild. These objects are then converted into energy for the Dolphin, in order for it to repair itself and leave the planet with Olimar in one piece. While the way the game sets itself up will be familiar to any Pikmin series player, instead of exploring a three-dimensional environment like in the console titles, Hey! Pikmin plays out completely in 2D through side-scrolling, relatively linear levels.

The game uses both of the Nintendo 3DS's screens to display each level. You utilize the Circle Pad (or face buttons for left-handed players) to move Olimar around, and use the stylus to toss Pikmin. Where you tap on the screen determines the place a given Pikmin is thrown. Pikmin can be chucked at various enemies, objects, and obstacles in order to proceed through levels, and this feels very nice and natural. The precision granted by the stylus/touch controls is great for picking off even the smallest of enemies with little margin of error. Of course, enemies don't just stand still, waiting to have Pikmin manhandle them. Timing is key to tap the screen at the right time and the right spot to successfully throw Pikmin at moving targets, or else they might be over or under-thrown, perhaps resulting in some grisly Pikmin deaths.

The enemies of Hey! Pikmin feature some well known buggers for fans of the franchise, but there are also plenty of new, exclusive creatures to contend with. Starting out, enemies are easy to dispatch and take care of, but as you progress through the game, they become more dangerous, offering greater offense and resistance. From oval-shaped birds that aim at your Pikmin pals to an overgrown bug that marches back and forth, intent on devouring any and all potential meals that are foolish enough to stick around in front of it, Hey! Pikmin's world definitely isn't too friendly to Olimar and his squad of helpers.

Thankfully, Captain Olimar and the Pikmin are more than capable of fending off any foe or challenge that rests on this perilous planet. Olimar himself has a helpful jet pack that he can use to hover for short distances. This acts as an admittedly clunky way of adding platforming to the game, but the mostly slow and relaxed pace of Hey! Pikmin makes it so the clunky jet pack doesn't ruin the experience.

Like the main Pikmin games, each variety of Pikmin has their own usefulness and abilities. For instance, Red Pikmin are the most common and can walk through fire and flames without being incinerated. Meanwhile, Yellow Pikmin are the lightest of the bunch, able to both be thrown higher than other Pikmin types, and can also defy the dangers of electricity. Blue Pikmin won't drown in water like other Pikmin, swimming and moving freely in the water. Then, there are the strong, crystal-crushing Rock Pikmin and the flying Winged Pikmin to help out as well. Each type is gradually introduced throughout the adventure, and the game teaches the abilities of the varieties of Pikmin in a steady manner as well through showing rather than telling. This is done through cute, animated scenes when Olimar comes across a batch of Pikmin in levels. Not only entertaining and adding personality to Hey! Pikmin, but also a great tutorial as well. Fortunately, not all of the Pikmin's abilities are revealed through these scenes. Some things you stumble upon yourself--particular uses of the Pikmin--and these moments really shine brightly in the game.

Hey! Pikmin isn't too difficult of a game in general, especially if your goal is to just go from the start of levels to their end. However, if you're exploring levels for objects to collect, there's more of a challenge to be found. This challenge is even greater if you want to collect all 20 Pikmin in a level without having any of them perish. Some levels are quite tricky to accomplish this task, and it can get very annoying proceeding through a level only to have a Pikmin get gobbled up or otherwise die at the final enemy or obstacle before the goal. The reward for completing all levels in the game this way is minimal at best, but it's an extra way to challenge yourself and add even more replay value to this 9+ hour game. If that doesn't do it for you, then each level's hidden areas and secret exits leading to unlockable levels can extend the fun of Hey! Pikmin, as well.

Hey! Pikmin's eight major sectors of 5-6 levels each (including a generally pleasing and interesting boss battle at the end of each sector) feature some smart level and puzzle design. Yes, I just said "smart level and puzzle design" when it comes to a game developed by Arzest. Hell hath frozen over. Regardless, levels where you explore a flooded cave that requires emptying its water for your Pikmin to be able to pass through, descend downward through a cavern where your Winged Pikmin carry you as you control your descent, avoiding enemies and hazards on your way down, and speed down a snowy series of slopes on top of a bottle cap as you fling Pikmin at enemies and deadly rolling snowballs alike, all offer excitement and nice variety.

Many of the passages, pathways, and areas leading to treasure have some nicely designed puzzle sequence to solve as well. One had me throwing Pikmin onto a sardine can in order to weigh it down and lift up the platform Olimar was standing on. Then, I could move Olimar over to where the treasure was located after figuring out how to raise up a second sardine can by correctly positioning his Pikmin squad in place. Many times I would be playing Hey! Pikmin and get a revelation as to how to interact with an obstacle in the game, or even realize that I could use this Pikmin in this particular way.

Another reason that avoiding treasure (which amounts to just ordinary everyday objects to people like us) is a negative is that you'll miss out on reading all of the incredibly clever descriptions of objects that Captain Olimar stumbles upon and makes note of in his journal. For example, a combination lock for a locker is described by Olimar as an ominous vault of sorts, complete with foreboding countdown. These entries of both objects and enemies are fun reads, and they add even more welcomed personality to Hey! Pikmin.

What isn't so welcomed is Pikmin Park, which seems like a throwaway mode in the main story of the game. Here, you send Pikmin off to various locations in the park to dig up Sparkium, the energy Olimar's rocket requires to escape the planet. However, the process is so slow and the rewards are so small in comparison to simply going through levels and collecting treasure, that it really feels somewhat worthless in the grand scheme of things.

Eschewing the more photo-realistic take on the visuals as seen in the home console, mainline entries of Pikmin, this 3DS spin-off has a more watercolor look, sort of similar to Yoshi's New Island. However, here it's more impressive with more appealing colors and lighting. With the use of both screens as the playing area, the stereoscopic 3D isn't available in Hey! Pikmin. Furthermore, even when the action isn't intense, some frame-rate issues occur. This is nothing that spoils the game by any means, but it's important to mention. Meanwhile, the sound side of Hey! Pikmin sports a soundtrack that is probably my favorite out of all the Pikmin games, I found myself humming and bobbing my head a lot to the music in the game, and the familiar sound effects of the Pikmin hustling and bustling brought a smile to my face.

In a time where the Nintendo 3DS is winding down, Hey! Pikmin stands as a successful experiment for the Pikmin formula. Controlling Captain Olimar with the 3DS's Circle Pad while commanding his Pikmin with the stylus and touch screen is absolutely stellar. Hey! Pikmin is a terrific conversion of the series's gameplay from 3D to 2D, offering an entry that keeps the franchise feeling fresh. It might not be the Pikmin 4 that many of us have been waiting for, but Hey! Pikmin succeeds at being a great addition to Shigeru Miyamoto's anything-but-garden-variety brain child.

[SPC Says: B]