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With more of what you loved from 1+2, though with less appreciable music selections, THPS3+4 delivers another needed package of skating fun, though the Switch 2 port is download-only.

Its story may be officially sanctioned as canon this time, but this "Hyrule Warriors" entry has a bit of a repetition problem, that isn't helped by a backstory from "Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom" that wasn't all that interesting to begin with. Of course, I would be remiss if I said the Link-type construct character isn't cool, and the gameplay and hundreds of side quests weren't addicting, but I would've loved more variety and life in this ancient timeline than just one-dimensional text lore and characters.

A gob-smackingly beautiful REMAKE that has to be one of the best-looking Switch games, while retaining the original version's sense of wonder, fear, and satisfying challenge.

With a number of improvements over the previous Legends game, such as moving the setting from Breath of the Wild-adjacent biomes to an open modern city, and finally giving the Pokémon series it's first action-RPG gameplay, Z-A is just as charming and fun to collect little creatures as it's always been, if not with the most worthwhile of rivals.

An excellent showcase of the GameCube’s capabilities early on, Luigi’s Mansion is a Mario spinoff that’s entirely worthy of its own off-kilter place in the franchise, with a very expressive Luigi and a gameplay approach that works on paper, but may be difficult to control, especially when aiming your vacuum.

Shadow of the Colossus is a special Zelda-like PlayStation exclusive adventure that also has a place in gaming history that's entirely its own, providing 16 colossi that each have their own challenging (and at times quite esoteric) strategies that are so satisfying to accomplish. On the other hand, and this might just be because I decided to go straight to hard mode, but the protagonist (who I had to look on Wikipedia to know at all that his name is Wander) has some of the most unresponsive controls I've ever fought against.

Kick your feet up after a hard day's work for Tales of the Shire, a cozier Rings game that understands the assignment of a farm community simulator, that is to let you live the simple life of a hobbit and grow bonds with your hobbit neighbors, complete with dialogue that's funny and filled with lore. The detailed gardening and cooking mechanics feel like the big standout feature. It just feels like such a letdown to see the Switch version's graphics downgraded so far from the promotional footage, which looked perfectly Switch-friendly to begin with, but now look Gamecube-level at best.

Exploding onto the Switch 2 scene is Donkey Kong, back in top form with his first full 3D game in decades, with most of the "Super Mario Odyssey" formula also making a return, being fun to play, visually gobsmacking, and sprinkled with satisfying challenges; notwithstanding its complete fever dream of a story.

Nice as a pack-in, but probably not worth it alone, and I don't just mean the price. Nintendo's Switch 2 launch title expands on the Mario Kart formula with an open world and dozens of charming outfits to fit your characters in, this just barely edges ahead to the top of my Mario Kart list, but said world is pretty bare bones when you're not playing in a cup.

I picked this up over a year after the "plus" edition's release, so maybe the reported bugs have been patched out by now, because replaying the Sonic classics in this package on Switch was a buttery smooth trip down memory lane. Being over 30 now, though, I had forgotten how much anxiety a good Sonic game gives me as it requires such pinpoint precision around every corner! Regardless, the integrity of the base games plus new playable characters, modes, and missions thrown in help make this a most recommendable, and portable, collection.

Not only a solid (if still frustrating to control, sometimes) remaster of the original 2011 Sonic anniversary title, but now including a brand new deep story campaign for Shadow, in commemoration of this "Year of Shadow", SxSG is by all accounts, another solid release in the franchise's current resurgence.

Could not finish due to poor design. The character-shoving plot and un-interesting battle maps aside, I was at least willing to finish this game out of my love for visually-beautiful large-scale space sci-fi. When the Guardian boss happened though, that was the last straw. It is way, way too tough, even on the easiest difficulty setting, and even after I learned its strategy, the poor dodging controls and sluggish gun reloads just couldn't let me do any more than a quarter of damage to it. I'm putting this away for now, but maybe I'll come back to it later.

Improving on the series formula in every respect, Uncharted 4 concludes the Nathan Drake saga in action-packed, narratively complex, and beautifully crafted panache, but with one early plot point that just seems majorly stupid when remembering the previous adventures.

While the story could use a little more context and length, “Neva” is an evolution for the creators of “Gris” in every way, resulting in a rapturously beautiful and exciting adventure with all the Studio Ghibli inspiration you could want!

An emotionally powerful and visually stunning sci-fi story-based game that sings the same cinematic immersion as "Uncharted", even with a few technical hiccups (no ability to climb ledges, really?)

A totally remarkable achievement for a free game in making you believe you are an actual lunar astronaut with futuristic bells and whistles, but also giving you objectives to pursue, a mystery to solve, and enemies to fight which require strategy.

As the only Ratchet & Clank title on the PS4, it's definitely a stunner and a fun enough diversion that follows the old series gameplay formula well enough to satisfy young players, but it's obvious that this remake of the original has had the edges sanded off to make it a kid-friendly tie-in to the movie released at the same time, which some of the cutscenes are ripped straight from, and it's barely as funny as it tries to be, or once was.

An original top-down Zelda that breaks the glass ceiling on letting us play as the titular princess, Echoes of Wisdom makes a strong case for sticking to simpler designs as long as the challenges are fresh, but with very little replay value, this also goes down as one of the smaller games in the series.

Even by RPG expectations, the game goes a bit long for a very standard Mario plot, but gameplay wise, Paper Mario kicks off this side series with engaging partner and badge mechanics, and fun personalities to interact with.

With fun characters and cheesier action on the side, Uncharted 3 charts more adventure and a few more combat mechanics, but not much new, story wise, compared to previous entries.

As difficult it may be to get running smoothly, like its predecessor (only a little rougher), Respawn has developed a substantially significant Star Wars game sequel, with more exciting gameplay, amazingly expansive worlds, and a continuously satisfying story, though some of the new characters seem a bit on the cheesy side.

Many expansions later, with lots of open activities to complete and literally a whole galaxy of various biomes to get lost in, No Man's Sky is really quite a revolutionary space exploration game, hollow plotline notwithstanding.

Increasing the scope of the original with higher stakes, new stealth-based mechanics, and more cinematic moments, Uncharted 2 earns its place for immersion, at the cost of all the flat characters.

Taking the Ocarina of Time formula and enhancing it above and beyond to be bigger, darker, harder, and more cinematically dazzling, Twilight Princess ranks among the finest Zelda entries even to this day, but the almost lack of Zelda herself is kind of a bummer, plus the Wii version's forced motion control over the sword swings can get tedious with time, even with the pointer controls turned off.

While the story is dark and surreal, this game has beautiful visuals, impressive mechanics and unfailing curiosity.

A refreshing change of pace for a 20-year-old formula, Arceus picks up the pace in Pokémon gameplay to positive effect, making this the only game I’ve been interested in playing all the way through.

A charming and perfectly identical port from the original WiiWare version (pointer controls and all), World of Goo is still a fun afternoon's worth of zany puzzles.

The Pedestrian has the makings of a fresh 2.5D puzzle adventure game with an inventive and satisfyingly challenging gimmick that feels like it may pay off in a full-size sequel, but its short length on its own leaves a lot to be desired.

With a charmingly voiced cast of characters, an epic story (by most Fire Emblem standards), and perfected gameplay, Echoes is a remake of an 8-bit Japan-exclusive of the highest caliber.

This remake of the first ever Fire Emblem game is fun to play, with suitably challenging battles, and a more polished presentation than its GameBoy Advance predecessors, but since the story is derived from the original 8-bit days, from before characters aside from the protagonist even mattered, it makes sense that that they are pretty 1-dimensional, leaving you to judge your units by their strengths instead of emotional impact.

A monumentally influential classic that truly transformed Zelda into what it is today, the 3D controls are intuitive, the storytelling is nice, and the music is great, too. The overworld can feel empty though, and the Water Temple is still the worst part.

Expanding the map of "Breath of the Wild"'s Hyrule Kingdom to mind-blowing new heights, "Tears of the Kingdom" may have some missed opportunities, but it does have a richer & bolder story this time, and develops the gameplay, dungeon designs and characters in satisfying directions.

An ultra-delightful (and generously free) treat for the fans, going for a surprising 2 for 2 in quality Sonic releases in the last few months, this Sonic-themed mystery visual novel comes with expressive artwork and a winsome story!

A real childhood treat that has a difficulty spike that goes well above that target demographic, Zoombinis plays just as well today with logical brain teasers that are so satisfying to accomplish, and in service of a premise that, quite surprisingly, still feels relevant today; but it does feel repetitive before long, plus the programmers still haven't ironed out all the bugs or provided enough context to fairly solve one puzzle in the middle.

Yes, it's less than half as long as its 2018 Peter Parker-focused predecessor, but it packs quite a bit of substantial punch into its story, while making no mistakes in adapting the gameplay to fit Miles' style.

The BEST "Wizarding World" franchise entry in years, but also a pretty darn solid game in its own right, Hogwarts Legacy is immersive, beautiful, action-packed and mysterious, though with some missed opportunities.

Since I've never played the often-quoted Uncharted and Souls games, I went into this with a completely blank slate in terms of gameplay, and it delivered a payload of goodness. The new worlds are gorgeous, the play ranges from very simple platforming to nerve-wracking combat, the sense of adventure is as real as it needs to be, and the story and characters - they're just so great!

Expanding heavily on the original games on OG iPhones and iPod Touches, Jelly Car Worlds is a perfectly unique platformer with super fun controls, satisfying challenges, and no pretentious fluff - it's like a 2000's kid's childhood gone right!

With tight platforming action, colorful visuals and an earned sense of challenging fun, the Donkey Kong Country series hardly has seen better entries than this.

A spinoff that hardly needs any connections to the original, Deltarune is another aesthetically vibrant and endearingly written trip down the dark rabbit hole from Toby Fox.

One of the most thoroughly enjoyable retro-style RPGs I've ever played (on the pacifist run), Undertale succeeds above its style's limitations to deliver fleshed out characters, surprisingly challenging combat systems, a great soundtrack, and shocking story twists.

With better level flow, incentive for replayability, and a simply rocking fun time, the Rayman reboot sequel is everything you could want! (Except that the Switch version of the Murphy's Touch bonus levels are impassable due to their incompatibility with the gyroscope in the rotation segments, for some reason.)

The beautiful artwork and buttery smooth platforming adds up to a good reboot in every sense, even if it eventually gets long and repetitive for older players.

While the new train mechanic may sound more restricting than a boat, it actually adds a sense of strategy to the adventure, which being a distant second sequel to "The Wind Waker", continues the younger-fan-focused handheld gameplay we've seen for years already, but with much better cutscenes and the welcomed twist of Zelda herself as a companion.

While there are many little frustrating programming details that really make you question how thoroughly Sonic Team playtests their modern releases, Sonic Frontiers is nonetheless, dare I say it, a breath of fresh air for the franchise, providing a solid case of open-zone style gameplay for Sonic that feels really addictive. In addition, the music is solid, and the script - my, my, the SCRIPT - is the most impressive improvement as it incorporates many tastefully applied references to franchise lore, this time in such a mix that it actually builds the characters up and promises a very interesting future, both gameplay and story-wise.

A pick-up-and-play friendly sandbox game that respects your time but gives back graciously from it, AC:NH is inoffensive, relaxing, and liberating with how much design control you have.

Probably only worth it for those who have had some experience playing one of these classic games on their original hardware, the now-complete collection of 16-bit and handheld 8-bit games based on 3 classic Disney films is a light breeze through licensed gaming history, including the bonus artwork and behind-the-scenes videos, though they're quite weak in the storytelling department in comparison with their film counterparts.

The Metroid series officially, and finally, advances forward with a new main entry that builds on its entire history and then some! The story is subtle but tastefully visualized, the controls are extremely smooth, the visual design is a dream, and the bosses, while not letting up on the challenge, are so satisfying to finish.

Nailing the perfect blend of being fun to play and true to the legacy of the character, the basic setup may be similar to the Batman Arkham series, but as far as I'm concerned, this is a winning superhero game formula!

Fascinating and well-designed, Fusion is a more accessible Metroid title with its narrative structure, but it still has the blisteringly hard bosses that make you earn your victory.