|
 On 03/05/2026 at 07:26 PM by Cary Woodham See More From This User » |
St. Patrick’s Day is coming up, and I’ve got a pot of gold for all of you filled with game reviews I’ve recently written at GamerDad.com! Please click on the links and read as many as you can, and maybe post a ‘like’ or comment or two. I’d appreciate it! OK let’s begin!
A couple of weeks ago, my good friend that I’ve known since college and I went to a big new arcade in Lewisville, TX called Push Start Play. I don’t know if it’s the biggest arcade in Texas, but it’s got to be one of the biggest. And it had some really cool and super rare games, too. So I thought I’d talk about it here. So let’s take a tour of it!
The Push Start Play arcade I went to was so big I had to split this article into two parts! So here’s part two of my tour of the arcade!
Nintendo has just started a new line in the US called My Mario. It’s a bunch of toys and games geared towards babies and toddlers and their parents. Some of the items include Mario themed wooden toy blocks, which are cool because they also act as amiibo. I wish I could get them, but right now they’re just exclusive to the Nintendo stores in New York and San Fransico, and I won’t be going to those places any time soon. There’s also other toys like Fischer Price Little People playsets (which still look cool), apparel, plush toys, and videos. Another item in the line is a free ‘game’ you can download on the Switch and Switch 2 and mobile devices called Hello, Mario! (reviewed here on Switch 2). It’s a simple activity where your child can interact with Mario’s face and stretch and mold it to do funny things. So yeah, they basically made a game out of Super Mario 64’s title screen!
In this game you play as Nia, a teenager who just moved temporarily to a remote island with her parents. She’s not too thrilled about being away from civilization, but after accidentally touching a shrine and falling down a pit, she is tasked with collecting four gears that’ll activate the island, which is actually a floating craft. But is everything what it seems here? That’s what you’ll find out in Under the Island, a top down action adventure game similar to Zelda. It features modern day settings and elements, so you use a hockey stick instead of a sword for instance. You’ll explore the island and solve puzzles and take on creative dungeons and boss battles.
When I was in college and first starting to write game reviews for The Dallas Morning News, I went to my first E3 in 1997. At this show, Nintendo was gearing up to bring Pokémon to the West, and I saw how they were going to market it and I knew it would be a big hit. I immediately called my editor and requested that I cover everything Pokémon related. He was like, “Yeah sure, whatever.” But he at least stayed true to his word and for a few years I was the resident Pokémon expert at the newspaper and writing articles and covering events left and right. I like to say that Pokémon helped pay my way through college. But it wasn’t just Pokémon I was covering. Any of the imitators that came out I was game for, too, which included Digimon, Monster Rancher, Dragon Warrior Monsters, etc. And that’s what Doki Monsters: Quest reminds me of, one of those imitators. It plays so much like a classic Game Boy Color Pokémon game that I’m surprised Nintendo didn’t sue. You know how they’ve been lately.
This game reminds me a bit of one of my favorite classic puzzlers: Pipe Dream. Make the water (or lava) flow through all the destinations by rotating pieces of pipe in three biomes: Forest, Volcano, and Winter, with 50 levels in each biome.
The Prisoning: Fletcher’s Quest (Switch)
Fletcher is a game developer who is running on hard times and goes to see a psychiatrist about it. The psychiatrist puts him under hypnosis and now he must escape his own mind. You’ll play as him in this 2D Metroidvania style platform adventure featuring off the wall humor and challenge. Probably the weirdest thing about the game is that it’s published by Acclaim! Huh, I guess they’re back!
You are Korvald, an old scribe who lives in a Nordic village. When crusaders come and invade, you are kidnapped and tortured to near death. But then a demon comes and gives you strength to fight back in this 2D action hack and slash platformer. It kind of reminds me of a mix between Odin Sphere and Splatterhouse.
And that’s all for now! Thanks for reading my reviews and posting ‘likes’ and comments on them. I do appreciate it. Happy St. Patrick’s Day and don’t forget to wear green! Later! --Cary
That arcade looks crazy good. I love the Cup Head cabinet and the four-player Marble Madness.
Tiny Biomes reminds me of a favorite PopCap game I used to play, Rocket Mania. I wish that was on a cart or disc I could own.
Book of Korvald looks interesting. I like those hack 'n slash games.
Comments