'Flipper Lifter' is a multi-floor elevator game that is more of a dexterity challenge than a puzzle one. You control the elevators with the Playdate crank. Penguins get on and then get off when they arrive at their floor. There are five different stages, all but the first you unlock when your cumulative high score reaches a particular threshold. There is nothing here but a 'forever mode' on whichever level you select. And the elevator/penguin movements are too sluggish and the door opening/closing too janky for this to be much fun at all. And, worst of all, high score is dictated less by your own skill and more by how conveniently located your penguins' destinations happen to be. Maybe if they had designed in shorter challenges on these stages and framed it with some kind of story, I might have had a better time? As it is, I unlocked the levels, played on all five, and now just don't care if these penguins ever get to their floors. They're probably still sitting there waiting for the elevator. Tough luck, birds. I quit!

'Omaze' is a maze-based puzzle game. Get the ball to the hole. Hard to describe, but there's a bit of miniature golf in it. A bit of 'Marble Madness.' And at this point in Season 1 of Playdate, 'Omaze' and 'Crankin' are my favorite games. Both are enitrely unique puzzle games that make good good use of this very specific platform. For me, 'Omaze' may have the edge over 'Crankin' simply for how perfectly it executes on its concept. Suprises across its entire length. And ends leaving you wanting more. It's a shame so few will ever get to play this game, but it's hard for me to imagine it working without the Playdate crank.

Ignoring the 'Super Mario Maker' games, 'Wonder' is easily the best mainline side-scrolling 'Mario' game since 'Yoshi's Island.' Now that isn't a very strong statement because the 'New Super Mario' era was a dark time indeed. But 'Wonder' finally brings back the magic of 2D Mario, that bopping FLOW that 'New' games never seemed to capture. Perhaps it's the returning focus on solo play that fixed the problem? Ignore all the new additions, the (too few) power ups, the wonder flower effects (that strongly and smartly recall 'Odyssey's' Cappy transformations), the badges, and there is still something so satisfying in just how Mario moves through these spaces. If I have any complaint, it is that none of the music ever even approaches the quality of any given theme from those titanic 'Super Mario' 2D games of the past. A shame then, given the score, that 'Wonder' didn't make more use of some of those legendary tracks. Might have remixed or reconsidered them in new ways just to add a jolt to this songbook. That aside, this a big, satisfying, (at times) insanely difficult 'Super Mario' game. In other words, this is close to peak video game.

I'm calling this one complete after having played all courses in the base game, finding all lost balls, and completing all scavenger hunts. But there is much play left to be had as it is an addicting online multiplayer game and the DLC course options are many. This is simply a rock solid mini golf game in VR. It works exactly as you want it to and, because, it's in VR, it can go to those fantastic places that make it, in many ways, even better than reality. The art doesn't look great in still images, but alive in VR (in motion and with the lovely in-game music, weather effects, etc.), it really is more captivating than you'd expect of a low-priced miniature golf video game. If you have a platform that runs it, play 'Walkabout Mini Golf.' Hard to imagine anyone being disappointed with it.

‘Moss: Book II’ is another enjoyable visit to the world of Quill and the animal characters around her. It is ‘more’ than the original in just about every way except for, perhaps, play time. More varied environments. More abilities. More weapons. More verticality. More playable characters. More boss battles. I enjoyed trying my hand at all of the new features. And the storybook dioramas that make up each screen remain detailed and really beautiful. VR serves this series very well. A few things hold the star rating back for me. For one, though I played 'Book II' on PSVR2, the quality of the visuals did not seem to be improved beyond the game designed for the last generation console. For two, each level of ‘Book II’ is behind a door in a central hub castle to which you return after completing the level. That prevents ‘Moss II’ from ever feeling like the epic journey of 'Book I.’ So, while ‘Book II’ is ‘more’ than ‘Book I,’ it doesn’t ever feel quite as big or as grand.

A joy to play and a master class in open world design, ‘Tears of the Kingdom’ takes the bones of ‘Breath of the Wild’ and builds it out into a grand playground of creative expression. Even moreso than ‘BotW,’ ‘TotK’ encourages you to solve a puzzle, traverse a space, or accomplish a task in a way that makes sense to you (and perhaps only you). No two players will move through this game the same way, and that is remarkable in an open world space. More remarkable still is how the map is managed. The map is not one littered with icons representing the few repeating chores you’d expect to see in other open world games. It is instead a blank slate, encouraging genuine exploration and testing your own skills of mapmaking. And the world is so densely interesting that it is nearly impossible to stay on task. No matter where you go, you’ll encounter (or spot in the distance) something you’ve never seen before. Something you need to quickly check out before you return to your task. And from there, another. And another. And it ends up a miracle that you ever see the credits roll. Roll they did for me, but my time in ‘TotK’ feels even more incomplete, more unsettled, than was ‘BotW’ when I stepped away from it. I put 105 hours into ‘TotK’ and there seems easily to be another 100+ hours of game that remains. And that will beckon to me as I try to make progress in other games. ‘TotK’ is an outstanding game that ranks right up there with the very best in the series, and therefore with the very best in all of gaming.

The visuals aren't particularly artful. And the double jump controls have far too much irreversible momentum. But 'Mechstermination Force' knows what kind of game it is. And it has the very good sense to never slow you down with story and dialogue. You start the game, some superior shouts a line at you, and you are immediately fighting the first boss. First of fourteen you fight before the end credits roll. The bosses are big enough to sometimes become platforming levels in and of themselves. The action is constant and fun.

This is a 'Contra'-like and so most every weapon you remember from that series is here: machine gun, spread, laser, bomb, and hey why not, the wave beam from 'Metroid.' And to make matters easier than 'Contra,' all weapons are always available so you need not collect (and will never lose) a weapon once you purchase it in the shop. The ability to purchase such upgrades (including a seemingly unlimited supply of HP extender hearts) makes the game easier as you go. I suspect the final few bosses are the toughest in the game, but by the time you reach them, you'll be powered up enough that you shouldn't have too much trouble with them. Adding a second (local only) player to your game brings all the same advantages and disadvantages it does in 'Contra,' but very glad to have the option.

Three stars only when compared against the best of the 'Contra' series. But I managed to pick this game up for Switch for $6 and it was well worth that small price tag. Recommended!

I logged this as complete once I made it through the story campaign a single time (with three friends online). In order for this to feel like a complete package though, I want to do more with it. 'Shredder's Revenge' is a plenty successful legasequel to 'TMNT: The Arcade Game.' It retains the artistic style and pixel graphics of the original but is otherwise a modern feeling, beautifully animated brawler that just feels good in your hands, your eyes, and your ears. It helps that character designs from the animated series are so perfectly timeless, but this is a fun game regardless of how pleasing it is to these eyes (that did indeed come of age in the 1980s/90s).