Loved the premise; wished it were longer!

Putting random objects in a bottomless pit is up there as one of the most satisfying experiences a person can have, and this game captures that feeling exquisitely. Appearances are deceiving (I should know) when you first start this low-poly, colorful indie title. From the start, one of our main characters Mira engages in a typical run-of-the-mill, duck emoji-filled texting conversation with our other protagonist, her boss: a scarf wearing raccoon named BK. His nonchalant attitude would seem the perfect fit for running the titular Donut County's donut shop; however, one glaring issue arises regarding what BK defines as a "donut." Donuts, to this particular raccoon, require no dough and consist of a gapping hole in the ground that grow increasingly larger as it swallows everyone and everything that gets in its way. And it's addictively entertaining!

We, as the player, get to live out our fantasies as a unstoppable giant hole - completely overpowered. And that is simultaneously my favorite aspect of this game and my least favorite. Majority of the time the game feels like it plays itself - not much thinking happens outside of a few levels that contain logic puzzles. And a large percentage of puzzles can be solved relatively quick.

The loop consists of a story cutscene where our cast of goofy animals banter about how BK got himself and the rest of the town trapped 999 feet below their town. Then, a flashback to when the "donut" was delivered to whatever character was the focus of the cutscene. Finally, the donut spawns in and we swallow objects with the hole until everything on screen is falling straight down into the hollow Earth. Extremely fun and extremely brief. Most levels will take no longer than a couple minutes to beat, even the hardest one should only set you back no longer than 5 minutes.

Five years later and it seems the developers do not have any more planned, which is a shame. There is a lot of potential here, but based on the game's attitude, the creators did their thing and that's that, tough luck if you want more lol (The creator is also a oceanologist studying more important matters). While funny occasionally, that type of approach gets old (especially with he humor); thankfully this is not a "dialogue-heavy" game. The goofy nature of the sound design helps lessen the more annoying moments. And the chilled-out soundtrack drives home the instinctual joy of putting things in a hole.

If you have a couple hours to burn, try this out - especially if you are a puzzle game fan. While not the most revolutionary title, it makes an impact through its gameplay and sound design. Maybe one day we'll revisit our hole-dropping, quadcopter driving, trash collecting friends in Donut County. Until then, to satisfy my hole related desires, I'll need to invest in shovels and a legion of trained raccoons...

Wowie zowie! A huge breath of fresh air for 2D Mario - proves there is still so much that can be done with series. The developers had so many ideas and they implemented all of them nearly flawlessly.This will go down as one of the best Mario games, no doubt. Unfortunately, there are a couple issues holding it back from perfection.

First, the positive: the online system is the greatest edition and needs to be in every Mario game from now on. Seriously, the amount of pure joy just interacting and playing with random people was an unforgettable gaming experience. Another point of perfection were the new models for existing characters and enemies - gorgeous. And do we even need to acknowledge that the music is fantastic as always? Now, the less than fantastic additions (but still great).

Badges open up a world of strategies readily available to use to conquer a challenging level, sometimes. Ultimately, I found myself using the same three badges over and over. And that strategy was enough to 100% the game. They will be fun to use for different types of speed runs though. There are some levels where the badges do not matter due to Wonder Power - that is a plus for me but others may dislike being unable to rely on the aid.

Art direction is the main issue, for me. While the game is gorgeous and the new models perfect, new enemies and the Flower Kingdom feel...off... There are more memorable interactions and moments that involve old enemies. Giant walking mushrooms and those buffalos are the only newcomers I can recall. All the others feel so bland. And the Flower Kingdom itself is no better. While individually, the levels are enjoyable, as a congruous world, it clashes at every turn compared to Super Mario World's Dinosaur Land. It was though there were a list of the types of levels they needed and plopped them all down right next to each other.

Overall, this is a must play game. So many ideas implemented in ways I would have imagined being in a platformer, let alone the sequel series to New Super Mario Bros. A huge cast can be a tad suffocating but it is nice to have so many options (although do we really need four Yoshis and Nabbit?). Bowser Jr. coming back for a boss fights is fine but I personally miss having a cast of Boss Enemies like in Mario 2 and Yoshi's Island. Those are my final thoughts - and no matter my opinions, I could not put down my Switch and played it at least once a day since I picked it up. Go out and play this, may not be your GOTY, but it's the right direction for the 2D Mario series, cannot wait to see where it leads.

I had an enjoyable time with this one! It's a 3-D geometric space shooter with unconventional controls that hamper the gameplay often. After a while, you get used to it but it was still pretty annoying at times relying solely on the stylus to control my movements.

Apparently, the story connects back to an older Nintendo game, one I was unfamiliar with until after I played this one. The AI sidekick does a decent job explaining the first one but it felt like it mentioned the events of that game way too often - it ended up making this feel unable to stand on its own. Graphics reminded me a lot of Star Fox which is nifty if you also enjoy that early 3-D geometry aesthetic.

Not a fan of when you do all the extras in the game and there is zero acknowledgment - what is the point in clearing out all the enemies and finding all warp gates? A hidden planet or enemy bestiary would have been nice. Final Boss can get frustrating but it is not hard to learn. Music and overall atmosphere kept me the most engaged - exploring planets and fighting off robots will never, not be something I find intense pleasure in doing.

I would say go try this out but Nintendo sucks so try your best to set sail and nab a digital copy. Can't say that I have ever played a game like this before and it kept me coming back!