Shaun Musgrave

‘Definitive’ has to a great degree lost its meaning when applied to video game releases, but even in that faded context, Sonic Frontiers: Definitive Edition has some real cheek using the word. This Nintendo Switch 2 version of the game includes most of the DLC released for Sonic Frontiers and certainly improves on the troubled technical performance of the original Nintendo Switch release. With that said, I hope for Sonic Frontiers’ sake that this is, in fact, not the definitive release of the game, as it has quite a few problems of its own. I’m not in a position to say if this could have been better, but I can say that it should have been.

Well, this is a dubious distinction I doubt any developer desires. Dust off the rusty trophy, friends: Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land Nintendo Switch 2 Edition

I’ll confess something right away: I’m not a Digimon fan. I have no strong feelings one way or the other for Digimon. It hit after I had already graduated high school, and all my memories of it come down to catching the cartoon on TV once in a while and the cover of Kids in America that Canadian band Len did for the movie soundtrack. Just a “wrong place, wrong time” situation for me. That applied to the games as well until a friend of mine vigorously recommended a PlayStation Vita game in the series called Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth. Seriously, he was pushing it hard. I hesitantly picked it up and found it to be quite a good game all-around. Maybe there was hope for Digimon and me?

What can really be said about the original R-Type that hasn’t been said a million times before? It’s one of the all-time classics of the shoot ’em up genre, both popular and influential in equal measures. Many games have done their best to walk in the footsteps of the game, but very few have matched it. That, unfortunately, is a statement that also applies to its own sequels. Sometimes you just get it right the first time out. Still, you can generally look forward to a good time with any R-Type game. That should have been the case for R-Type Dimensions III, a remake of the Super NES-born third entry in the franchise.

As I write this review, the original PlayStation 2 release of Final Fantasy X just rang in its 25th anniversary in Japan. This Nintendo Switch 2 version of Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster has obviously been timed to coincide with this momentous milestone, offering an opportunity to help it stand out from other recent Square Enix Switch 2 ports of a similar nature. Still, it’s as good an opportunity as any to talk a little about these games and what they meant for a franchise that had been flying high but would soon find itself stalling out. Final Fantasy X, in a lot of ways, is the end of the beginning and the beginning of the end, if you’ll allow me to be a little poetic.

The original Heave Ho was an excellent surprise for me and my family. We often play games together on Sunday nights, and I usually recruit them for any multiplayer game reviews I need to take care of in the week ahead. There are winners and losers in this kind of affair, and it doesn’t typically take all that long for each game to reveal which of the two it is. My son’s quite good with games and my wife is far more casual, so finding a game that pleases everyone is relatively uncommon. Outside of Overcooked, nothing we have played has generated as much joy for everyone involved as Heave Ho did. Hey, here’s a sequel!

Third time’s the charm? The quest to release Switch 2 Edition versions of all of the Xenoblade games released on the Switch hits its penultimate effort with Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Nintendo Switch 2 Edition. Of the four Nintendo Switch Xenoblade Chronicles releases, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is the oldest of the lot. Released in the first year of the console’s life, it impressed many players with its scale and thrilling story. As a result of its age, it also has the most technical issues of the Xeno-lot. That means it stands to gain the most from this glow-up, at least in terms of performance.

If you’re someone who only does their gaming on Nintendo platforms, you would likely only be familiar with Blue Reflection via Blue Reflection: Second Light’s release on the original Nintendo Switch. Developed by Gust, the series consists of two full-sized console RPGs, an anime that bridges the story of those two games, and a mobile gacha game that was not exactly a big success. All of the games are built around an all-girls high school setting where high schoolers-turned-magical girls help people deal with their emotional problems by beating up monsterized manifestations of said issues. You know, the usual.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was not the first game in the series to hit home consoles. Morrowind beat it to the punch when it released on the original Xbox in 2002. Oblivion is, however, the game that made the Elder Scrolls series a big deal on consoles, the way it had been for a long time on home computers. Its huge success was dwarfed by its sequel’s world-beating run, but there are many players out there whose first port of call in Tamriel was via Oblivion. Last year, the game received a remaster on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and Windows. They’ve had to wait a little while longer, but Nintendo Switch 2 owners can now have their own adventures in Cyrodiil via this port of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered.