El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron HD Remaster (Switch eShop) Review

Title: El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron HD Remaster
Platform: Nintendo Switch eShop
Developer: UTV Ignition Tokyo (original)/Aqualead (Switch version)
Publisher: Crim (NA)
Release Date: April 28th, 2024 (NA)
File Size: 5GB

Review copy provided by Crim

This game has a bit of an interesting history. This was created by Sawaki Takeyasu, a veteran from Capcom’s Clover studio, the same studio that many key people from went on to form Platinum Games. Sawaki apparently took other Clover folks with him, and went to work at Ignition Entertainment (later renamed UTV Ignition) at their Tokyo studio. Nintendo fans may remember Ignition as the publisher that localized key games like Marvelous’ Muramasa: The Demon Blade and Arc Rise Fantasia for Wii, but also had created their own IPs like Mercury Meltdown by the late Archer Maclean. They most commonly published more niche stuff, like say, Tornado on DS plus a few Taito and SNK games here and there. There’s more to it so I’ll go into more detail below.

Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters (Switch) Review

Title: Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Developer: Compile Heart
Publisher: Idea Factory International (NA)
Release Date: January 24th, 2024 (NA)
File Size: 6.1GB

Review copy provided by Idea Factory International

Well it took long enough, but we not only got another Neptunia game on Switch, but at long last, one that was made internally at Compile Heart themselves (Super Neptunia RPG was by Artisan Studio in Canada and Megadimension Neptunia VII was ported by Ghostlight in EU). And from what I’ve seen, this is not like the prior mere down-ports from PS4 that Compile Heart have done before. There’s exclusive content and even modifications to some of the core game itself to better suit running on Switch. Yeah, actual effort! So how does this game fare? Let’s find out!

Disgaea 4 Complete+ (Switch) Review

Title: Disgaea 4 Complete+
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Developer: Nippon-Ichi Software
Publisher: NIS America
Release Date: October 29th, 2019 (NA)
File Size: 4.5GB

Review copy provided by NIS America

Today I’m reviewing my second Disgaea game. I reviewed Disgaea 1 Complete last year which I enjoyed enough but had issues with it so I only ended up giving it a 7 out of 10. This is actually the third Disgaea game on Switch, with the first release being Disgaea 5 Complete back in 2017, so NIS is oddly going out of order for these; 5, 1, 4. I’m going to take a wild guess and say Disgaea 2 Complete will follow next year. Anyway, will this game make you feel dissed, or will it be your number one guy…uh. Oof, that was bad even for me. 😛

The Princess Guide (Switch) Review

Title: The Princess Guide
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Developer: Nippon Ichi Software
Publisher: Nippon Ichi Software America
Release Date: March 26th, 2019 (NA)
ROM File Size: 1.5GB
Amazon retail purchase pages: US/UK/JP
eShop purchase and info pages: US/UK/JP

Review copy provided by Nippon Ichi Software America

Today’s NISA game comes from the same team that created Penny-Punching Princess (here’s my review of that) and evidently so. You can see from screenshots alone that the visual style is very similar, but with less pixelated sprites. Does this game guide you to fun, or will it be so bad that it’s INCONCEIVABLE! Let’s find out!

The Caligula Effect: Overdose (Switch) Review

Title: The Caligula Effect Overdose
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Developer: Aquria (Vita original)/Historia (PS4 remake)/Engine Software (Switch version)
Publisher: Nippon Ichi Software America
Release Date: March 12th, 2019 (NA)
ROM File Size: 5.3GB
Amazon retail purchase pages: US/UK/JP
eShop purchase and info pages: US/UK/JP

Review copy provided by Nippon Ichi Software America

This is a port of a remake so to speak. The game originated as simply The Caligula Effect on Vita which was localized by Atlus some bit ago. Last year the game was sort of remade for PS4 by a different dev called Historia. The PS4 version was made on Unreal Engine 4 instead (I don’t know what engine the Vita original used), had numerous changes including rewriting the script and changing some things around, and added a female playable character (you could only play as a male in the Vita original). The Switch version is a port of the PS4 version. This port was by Engine Software, a dev well-known by Nintendo fans for a variety of ports.

Engine Software did the Switch ports of games such as Little Nightmares: Complete Edition, Monopoly, Risk, RIVE, Into the Breach, Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas, etc. How does the game and Engine’s port work handle on Switch? Let’s find out!

The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince (Switch) Review

Title: The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Developer: Nippon Ichi Software
Publisher: Nippon Ichi Software America
Release Date: February 12th, 2019 (NA)

Review copy provided by Nippon Ichi Software America

The first NISA Switch game of 2019 is here! This is another in NIS’s “indie” sort of projects where they hold a sort of internal pitch contest and the winning ones get made into smaller budget games. Prior examples include Penny-Punching Princess and the original Yomawari: Night Alone. You can read my reviews of both on Switch here and here.

So how does this one fare? Let’s find out!

Fairy Fencer F: Advent Dark Force (Switch) Review

Title: Fairy Fencer F: Advent Dark Force
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Developer: Compile Heart/Ghostlight Games (Switch version)
Publisher: Idea Factory International (NA)
Release Date: January 17th, 2019 (NA)

Review copy provided by Idea Factory International

This is the first Idea Factory game I’ve reviewed. After a long absence on Nintendo hardware since the Wii days, Idea Factory and Compile Heart have returned with a Switch port of a JRPG that originated on PS3. The only thing is that the port was instead done by longtime PC port and EU publishing house Ghostlight Games, who’ve ported a number of Idea Factory and Compile Heart’s games to PC over the years.

And this is their first Switch port and their first one on a console in a long time, possibly ever. So how does the game itself fare and how did it turn out on Switch? Will the game’s Fairize technique Maximize your enjoyment of the game, or will the game turn out to be so bad that it’ll Terrorize you? Let’s fine out!

SNK 40th Anniversary Collection (Switch) Review

Title: SNK 40th Anniversary Collection
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Developer: Digital Eclipse
Publisher: Nippon Ichi Software America
Release Date: November 13th, 2018 (NA)

Review copy provided by Nippon Ichi Software America

SNK was a titan in the arcade business with their signature Neo Geo arcade and home console systems. They created numerous franchises including Metal Slug, The King of Fighters, Samurai Shodown, etc. They just recently with NISA put out SNK Heroines ~Tag Team Frenzy~ on Switch (here’s my review!). Most today know them from their Neo Geo days, but what about their beginnings, before the Neo Geo? That’s where this collection comes in. This is a compilation of many of SNK’s earliest arcade and console games, generally from the 8 and 16-bit era (vs the 32-bit era that the Neo Geo was from).

This review will be a bit different from normal. Normally I’d be focusing on the games in the collection, but there’s a lot of games. On top of that, one of the main people behind the collection at Digital Eclipse, founder Frank Cifaldi, actually wants reviewers to focus on the sheer hard work they poured into the details and options in the collection. And so, I will happily grant him that request and will focus on that. It’s far easier for me, so win-win! 😛 So how is the collection? Let’s dig right into it!

Disgaea 1 Complete (Switch) Review

Title: Disgaea 1 Complete
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Developer: Nippon Ichi Software
Publisher: Nippon Ichi Software America
Release Date: October 9th, 2018 (NA)

Review copy provided by Nippon Ichi Software America

At the Switch’s launch in Japan, NIS released a port of the formerly PS4-exclusive Disgaea 5 on Switch as Disgaea 5 Complete, which contained all the DLC. Fast forward to now, and NIS has released a remake of the original Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, originally for PS2, on the Switch in HD! This is actually the game’s second go on Nintendo platforms, after Disgaea DS on the, you guessed it, DS.

How is the game? Will it be fun as hell or make you feel like hell? Let’s find out!

Ms. Splosion Man (Switch eShop) Review

Title: Ms. Splosion Man
Platform: Nintendo Switch eShop
Developer: Twisted Pixel Games
Publisher: Twisted Pixel Games
Release Date: November 22nd, 2018 (NA)

Review copy provided by Twisted Pixel Games

This is a shocker. What we have here is the first ever non-Microsoft console game by the formerly Microsoft-owned developer Twisted Pixel Games. Microsoft bought them back in 2011 but spun them off in 2015. Every one of their projects before and after they were owned by Microsoft were (console-wise) only on Microsoft consoles (exceptions being PC and mobile devices, which Microsoft release games on anyway).

Ms Splosion Man was Twisted Pixel Games’ fourth title (released back in 2011 on Xbox 360) and is the sequel to the original Splosion Man released back in 2009. For the Switch version, Twisted Pixel Games made a number of enhancements. Most notable is the framerate being doubled from 30fps to 60fps, and it’s apparently higher resolution to boot (though I don’t know the exact numbers). HD Rumble is also supported, AND single-Joy-Con play is as well! So how is this game anyway? Read on and find out!