Damien McFerran

Nintendo Life

Damien McFerran·Mar 29, 2017

Critic60/100

Agreement—

King of Fighters '94 may be the title that started the entire series but it pales in comparison to its sequels - such as the superb King of Fighters '98, also available on the Switch eShop. With that in mind, there's little point in buying this if you already own that particular title, unless you're keen to see how far the franchise advanced in the four years that separate them. King of Fighters '94 is fun to play and presents a stern challenge, but it's a long way from being the best the lineage has to offer. Unless you're really keen on this entry, you're better off buying King of Fighters '98.

Nintendo Life

Damien McFerran·Mar 2, 2017

Critic60/100

Agreement—

1-2-Switch does a great job of showing off the unique feature set of the Switch and its Joy-Con controllers, but it's seriously lacking in long-term appeal. When played with a group of friends or family members it's a proper hoot, and has the same social gaming appeal that made Wii Sports a living room tradition for so many households all over the world, but there's no escaping the fact that many of these mini-games lack longevity; some are so basic that they fail to maintain your interest past the first go, no matter how inebriated you and your pals happen to be.For a retail game, 1-2-Switch feels a little anemic, and would have been much better suited as a pack-in title. Nintendo has countered this stance by claiming that it couldn't bundle the game due to cost, but including a download code with each Switch sold wouldn't have incurred any real physical expense – beyond lost retail sales, of course - and that would have been a sensible trade-off when you consider how solid an advert this game is for the system. How many people were sold on the Wii's merits simply by witnessing Wii Sports at a friend's house? By refusing to bundle 1-2-Switch with the base system, Nintendo has missed out on the kind of exposure that marketing simply cannot buy you; as a stand-alone release it feels too fleeting and ephemeral, but as a free pack-in it would arguably have been much more appealing.

Push Square

Damien McFerran·Jan 2, 2017

Critic90/100

Agreement—

M2 are the undisputed masters of updating past classics, but the studio has perhaps outdone itself with this amazing package. Not only does Battle Garegga Rev.2016 present every previously available version of one of the 2D shooting genre's best efforts – as well as an all-new edition to mark the 20th anniversary – it throws in so many options and additional features that it's genuinely hard to think of what else a fan of the game could possibly demand. It may be an acquired taste these days – to be fair, the same could be said of the original back in 1996 – but Battle Garegga remains a defining release in the shmup canon, and this is without a shadow of a doubt the best way to experience it. You don't have to feel bad about cashing in your valuable SEGA Saturn version anymore.Thanks to Play-Asia for providing the copy of Battle Garegga Rev.2016 used in this review.