🕹️ Horrors and Niceties

🎮 In Rotation

So, after never owning one, I picked up a 3DS. Not just any 3DS either, a "New 3DS XL" which is basically the highest end of the DS range in terms of screen size and processor speed. For the real geeks out there, it also features an IPS screen on the top, so I won the lottery on that one. As a result, the games that I have in rotation this month are mostly 3DS games. Here are some of my top games.

👶 Kid Icarus: Uprising

I'm a huge Smash Bros. fan and this is an earlier release from Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai, so I really wanted to pick it up.

There is a LOT to like about this shmup / beat-em-up. Some innovations:

• Unique Control Scheme: Wait, this is not actually that great. The game came with a dock to rest the DS on so that you don't strain your left hand too much. Essentially, you have to hold the device one-handed because the left hand controls the movement of Pit and the right hand uses the stylus on the screen to aim and rotate Pit... Painful.
  • As mentioned above, the game is a blend of on-rails aerial combat with ground-based exploration and battles which is a nice touch.
• Customizable Weapons System: You can fuse weapons together to get the best parts of them in a new fusion!
• Difficulty selection: Before you start a level, you can gamble with the currency that you earned to get bigger rewards on completion.
  • Think you can clear the level easily? → Bet a large amount of hearts.
  • Not feeling it? → Go for an easier difficulty and clear it without dying.

🐍 Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D

It's the classic 3rd instalment of the MGS series. In 3D!

It runs a bit slow, and the controls are a bit janky, but its passable.

I like the fact that I can play this (or should I say, listen to all the cutscenes) on the train to work now.

📦 Pushmo

A cute lil puzzler that makes use of the 3D vision aspect of the 3DS. You have to push and pull panels out and climb to the top. It's very highly rated, so I picked it up.

As for other platforms, I got sucked into this ridiculous backpack battler game on iOS called Bacon's Revenge after seeing a list of all Backpack Battlers on App Raven (an excellent app for keeping track on app prices, and finding new things like this. It's an inventory management game (AKA backpack battler, as mentioned above) where you have to constantly upgrade and rearrange the items in your backpack to fight waves of enemies. FUN! But crazy addictive. And crazy full of ads that you need to watch to get decent upgrades for your backpack... be warned!

🆕 On the Shelves

🎮 No Skin

Horror Roguelike characterized by an experimental artstyle and storytelling, strategic gameplay and deep mysteries

🆚 P8GO

Found out about this app from the PICO-8 subreddit. It's not available for iOS yet, but is for Android. Apparently, a mix of Tictok-style discovery and Wordle-style challenges.

📡 On the Radar

🤝 Kind Words 2

A game about being kind to real people. Send nice letters from your cozy room, go outside and say hi to your neighbors, swap recommendations, dress up for the poetry slam and add your dreams to a sky full of wishes. Join a community of real people with their hearts on their sleeves.

🍄 Shroom and Gloom

Shroom and Gloom is a fungus-filled hand-drawn first-person dungeon-crawling roguelike where you use cards to battle hordes of fungal abominations.

🦀 Quest Master

Makes me think of Mario Maker, but for dungeon crawlers.

Quest Master is a dungeon maker inspired by the classics that first made us love dungeon crawling. Unleash your imagination, alone or in local co-op, to make dungeons full of puzzles, traps and monsters. Upload them for others to explore and challenge yourself with other players’ creations.

🥳 Mario Party Jamboree

Super Mario Party Jamboree is pure Mario Party through and through. It has plenty of new additions, like all-new minigames and two characters fresh to the franchise — Pauline and Ninji — but you probably know what you’re getting yourself into with this 25-year-old franchise. If you skipped out on Mario Party Superstars and Super Mario Party for Switch, Super Mario Party Jamboree is a great place to jump in. Super Mario Party Jamboree is coming to Nintendo Switch on Oct. 17.