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Ranking Every Game I Finished in 2025

In 2025, I finally got my rumpus room sorted out, and I managed to finish plenty of video games. It’s been quite the eclectic mix of old and new, and I decided that it would be fun to rank them. That’s what people like, right? Rankings? Obviously this is just my opinion, and could quite easily change if I looked at it on a different day, but what follows is my attempt to wrangle every video game I completed for the first time in 2025 into some kind of order.

I’ll quickly mention Mario Kart World, RoadCraft, and Dorfromantik, because they’re not really the sort of games you can “complete” but all got a lot of play from me and were games that I played for the first time this year. RoadCraft is a MudRunner-type game where you find yourself in a big truck in the aftermath of a natural disaster and are tasked with repairing roads and pipelines and things, and Dorfromantik is a map-builder where you place tiles next to other tiles and gradually create an expansive landmass while trying not to run out of map pieces. I’m not going to describe Mario Kart World – you know what Mario Kart World is – but you could call these three my honourable mentions.

I’ll also mention Metaphor: ReFantazio and Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes. I enjoyed both, but bounced off both. Metaphor: ReFantazio became a bit of a slog (although I was suffering from excruciating back pain at the time and it hurt to even sit down, so that didn’t help) and Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes was just too much faff, as I discuss here. I did still like both games, though, and may well come back and knock them on the head in 2026.

Anyway, enough preamble, let’s get to the ranking! Watch out, here comes number 25!

25. Princess Peach: Showtime! – Switch

I get that I’m not exactly the target audience for this one, and I don’t really remember what possessed me to buy and play it, but honestly, it was still pretty good even though it’s all the way down here at the bottom. If it was bad, I wouldn’t have bothered finishing it, after all. You play as the second best princess from the Mario franchise and collect different outfits that unlock various powers on your quest to save the theatre or something, and the more action-coded stages were a lot of fun. Some nasty performance issues and some less-interesting sections let this one down.

24. Exo One – PC

A short and sweet Steam purchase that I’d had on my wishlist for some time, this one puts you in control of a technologically advanced space sphere/disc thing and uses momentum-based controls to take you on a ride through beautiful, alien worlds. I smashed the campaign in an afternoon but enjoyed it. There’s a story behind it about a missing astronaut and some mysterious space anomalies, and when the pace was high and the mysteries were mounting it was a thrill ride, but it loses some places for the moments when the controls worked against me and the pace was brought to a near-halt (and it felt a little tiny bit like playing crazy golf).

23. Arrow Flash – Mega Drive

A classic shoot-’em-up that I played to completion on my actual Mega Drive in my actual rumpus room. Reviewers of the early ’90s weren’t too impressed, saying that it was too easy and could be completed in an hour or so. I can confirm that this is true, but I still enjoyed it, switching between spaceship and mech forms, and experiencing some trippy visuals and cool tunes. I wouldn’t say it should be mentioned in the same breath as some of the legendary shooters from that era – it’s an early Mega Drive game and it feels like one – but I still enjoyed it.

22. Untitled Goose Game – Switch

I finished it this year but I started it last year and never quite got to the end for some reason. I played it with my daughter this time around, and we enjoyed unleashing our inner aggravating, surly goose personas. Charming and fun, but occasionally a little fiddly and frustrating, this is another game that you can finish in an afternoon. Any game with a dedicated “honk” button is okay in my book.

21. Orcs & Elves – DS

A random eBay pickup that got a few days of solid gameplay out of me. A traditional, first-person dungeon crawler with orcs, skeletons, dragons, zombies, and all that other Dungeons & Dragons-adjacent stuff that gives off cosy, fantasy vibes. It was developed by id Software and published by EA, which I only point out because it just feels quite unexpected. Archaic by design and occasionally esoteric, it’s still an enjoyable and atmospheric experience that I’m glad I picked up.

20. Donald Duck: Quack Attack – PS2

I’ve never really liked Crash Bandicoot. I find the games frustrating and find the character a little grating. I did, however, finish this random PS2 game that’s basically a Crash Bandicoot clone. In general I found it easier and more agreeable than Sony’s then flagship, and I’ll take the cantankerous waterfowl over the wacky marsupial any day of the week. Surprisingly good music, too. The game is known as Donald Duck: Goin’ Quackers in America.

19. The Precinct – PS5

I did a Game Diary on it here and it was a gift from my daughter for Father’s Day, which makes it super special to me. The Precinct has a great soundtrack and a cool, retro top-down view that brings to mind the original couple of GTA games. When it works, it’s all delightful chaos and ’80s vibes, but it had a few too many bugs and random odd NPC behaviours that took me out of the zone. Still, it produced plenty of hilarious emergent moments that make me smirk to look back on.

18. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker – Switch

A game that I love the idea of slightly more than I love the execution of, but I did still really enjoy this sentient fungus-based puzzler. The compact worlds are cosy and visually interesting, and the brain-teasing gameplay is on point, with lots of additional content made available in the Switch version. I did occasionally find it a bit slow-going and wished my little mushroom pal could run a bit faster, and when played in cooperative mode with my daughter we found that the motion controls could be a pain in the arse. Still great, though.

17. Broken Sword – Shadow of the Templars: Reforged – Switch

I found it especially difficult to rank this one as Broken Sword is one of my all-time favourite game series’ and a go-to for YouTube lets plays when I can’t sleep, but re-playing this in its modern incarnation I couldn’t help but notice where the cracks are starting to show, and feel that if I didn’t have the nostalgia and the pre-knowledge of what to do going in, I would’ve got frustrated and given up. Still, impeccable atmosphere, and George Stobbart’s voice is one of the comfiest in gaming for my money.

16. Uncharted: Golden Abyss – PS Vita

Now for a more action-based take on the globe-trotting adventure genre, as Nathan Drake is responsible for uncountable murders while George Stobbart is still on a big fat zero. This handheld iteration manages to take everything that’s enjoyable about the Uncharted franchise – the spectacle, the atmosphere, the fast-flowing, ever-changing gameplay – and shrink it down to handheld size. I didn’t always want to be fiddling with the touch-screen and gyroscope, however, and the smaller screen took away from the “blockbuster” feel the series is known for.

15. Kena: Bridge of Spirits – PS5

I wrote about this one here, but to put it more succinctly; it’s a somewhat Zelda-adjacent adventure with a Dreamworks-inspired visual style, surprisingly deep and difficult combat, and adorable little critters to locate and manipulate (and put hats on). It was graphically stunning at times and enjoyable throughout, but I didn’t feel much of a connection with the protagonist and the side characters. Still, a great experience from beginning to end.

14. The Plucky Squire – Switch

The short and quirky tale of a young squire kicked out of his storybook, this game delighted with its writing, charm, and Zelda-like gameplay. I finished it right at the end of the year to take my number of games completed (for the first time) in 2025 up from a nondescript 24 to a thematically pleasing 25, and thanks to its imaginative design, clever puzzles, and some amusing dialogue and visual storytelling, I had a very good time doing so. A humble but entertaining slice of wholesome and colourful video game fun. I wrote about it here.

13. Drainus – Switch

Honestly, I didn’t spend anywhere near as many hours on this one as I did the likes of Kena: Bridge of Spirits and The Precinct, but I did thoroughly enjoy every moment, and it was so nice to play a mechanically near-perfect shooter with awesome graphics and music that I could actually get through. The best of the “short” games I played this year, Drainus definitely has a lot to offer for high-score chasers and self-challengers. I, however, just like the pew pew pew. I wrote about it in more depth here.

12. Super Princess Peach – DS

Probably my pleasant surprise of the year, I saw that a lot of contemporary reviewers were generally unimpressed with Peach’s first solo outing, but I found it to be a wonderful balance of accessible platforming, visual charm, neat music, and semi-sneakily hidden collectibles. Not too difficult but with some mildly challenging moments, this title kept me interested until the end and more than delivered on what I was expecting from it; a visually pleasing and well-crafted casual platformer experience.

11. Uncharted: The Lost Legacy – PS4

After having an agreeable time with Uncharted: Golden Abyss I decided to continue my Uncharted adventure by picking up this super-cheap and expertly-crafted thrill-ride and smashing the campaign over a few sessions. I enjoyed playing as Chloe for a change (and I always enjoy Claudia Black’s voice work), and found the set-pieces as exciting as always. I also appreciated the downtime, snooping around spectacular ruins and breathtaking vistas in search of treasures and trinkets. Short but very sweet, and with a nice ending where everyone enjoyed some pizza.

10. Super Mario Bros. Wonder – Switch

For my money, Sonic is the king of the 2D platformer. Having said that, I did find this endlessly inventive platform experience to be a fun and challenging ride. The Wonder Flower effects added such a surreal tone to the game that it always felt like anything could happen, and it let me play as Daisy, so that automatically puts it above the two Peach games I’ve already talked about. Daisy is the best princess, after all. A worthy way to kick off the top ten.

9. Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound – Switch

The first ninja-based game to appear on the list, this one stayed true to its NES roots while modernising the gameplay in a few key ways that resulted in a fun and challenging experience. I enjoyed the interplay between the two playable characters and found the bosses to be quite demanding, but wasn’t overly enamoured with the visuals and never felt too compelled to go back once I’d got the campaign in the bag. Still a top-quality, retro ninja adventure, though.

8. Ninja Gaiden 4 – PS5

This game should have been challenging for the number one spot but was honestly a little disappointing. The visuals are great, the combat is poised, tight, and brutal, and the violence is satisfying, but compared to Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden II it lacked variety and x-factor, and the new protagonist, Yakumo, came across as a socially-awkward emo-kid who all the female characters and some far-cooler male characters seem to have nothing but respect and adoration for despite his complete lack of charisma. It played brilliantly, but the game, like its hero, lacked personality.

7. Shinobi: Art of Vengeance – PS5

The triumvirate of ninja action games concludes with Shinobi: Art of Vengeance, which just won me over with its awesome presentation, animation, combat, and controls. The platforming was really solid too, and I enjoyed the Metroidvania-lite mechanics. An excellent return to the limelight for a classic Sega character that warmed the cockles, but some of the levels felt a bit underwhelming and some of the backgrounds felt a bit lacking in detail. I guess I’m still just a bit salty that the gross, body horror sections weren’t disgusting enough. I wrote about this game and Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound here.

6. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom – Switch

With Tears of the Kingdom and the Link’s Awakening remake still in my unfinished pile, I wasn’t betting on myself to get through this one, but the quirky gameplay and charm carried me right through to the end. I had a great time summoning creatures and items to help with traversal, puzzles, and combat, and adored the atmosphere and visual style. I’m pretty sure I played the entire thing through in handheld mode, and it really worked beautifully as a handheld adventure that kept me occupied for hours. I didn’t even mind the menu interface thing that everyone was complaining about. Good stuff.

5. Prodeus – Switch

The first game I finished in 2025 was this gem of a “boomer shooter”. I wrote about it here, and while I haven’t played it since knocking the campaign on the head in January, it’s definitely one I can see myself blasting through again in the future. Feeling somewhere in between Doom and Quake with a few mod-cons strapped on, Prodeus was an extremely enjoyable romp through sinister enemies and grimy stages overflowing with ominous atmosphere. It was just a really visceral old-school FPS that I look back on with great fondness. Top five material.

4. Metal Slug Tactics – Switch

I’d read about this game (and watched a few videos) before it was released physically, and knew to expect an experience close to the excellent Into the Breach before sticking the cartridge in, so it had a lot to live up to. Thankfully, it turned out to be a very fun and finely balanced strategy roguelike with just the right amount of challenge. Full of personality, Metal Slug Tactics recreates the classic Metal Slug art-style admirably from an isometric perspective, and has some really cool music too. I often go back to Into the Breach, but now I have another option to sate that hankering for tactical grid-based goodness.

3. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond – Switch 2

My final anticipated release of the year, it lived up to my expectations and provided a beautiful and atmospheric space adventure that had far fewer frustrating moments compared to Metroid Prime Remastered. I wrote about it in more detail here, but I found that a lot of the problems people are talking about online – like the radio buddy and the green crystal hunt – didn’t bug me anywhere near as much as they seem to be offending other people, and I found Samus’ latest outing to be a top-quality experience from beginning to end.

2. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown – PS5

My surprise of the year! When your biggest complaint about a game is that everyone seems really tall compared to the protagonist, then you know you’re onto a winner (everyone does seem so much taller than poor old Sargon though, and it does really bug me because seriously what is up with that?). I did a game diary on it here, and I look back on that time spent with the game very fondly. Great combat, satisfying puzzle solving and progression, and an awesomely charismatic protagonist all combine to form a brilliant Metroidvania experience. It’s super-cheap, too.

1. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – PS5

Recent controversies from the Indie Game Awards aside, this has to be my GOTY, and I previously wrote about it here. A fascinating premise that was followed up on beautifully, gorgeous visuals, stunning music, and challenging gameplay that made the whole thing feel way more involved than your average turn-based RPG (not that there’s anything wrong with a traditional turn-based battle system). The passion of the developers is palpable throughout the game’s rollercoaster of a campaign, and I think it’ll live on as one of the true greats in years to come.

Kizuna Encounter: Super Tag Battle

NEO-GEO Nostalgia

I’m not lucky enough to have a NEO-GEO floating about in the rumpus room (obviously, I really wish I did), and until recently I don’t think I’d ever even seen one. I am interested in lesser-known video gaming lore, though, and have watched many a video and read many an article on SNK’s surprisingly flat box of wires and circuit boards. I’ve also played ports of the various Metal Slug, Fatal Fury and The King of Fighters games that have sprung up on other consoles throughout the years, so it’s not like I’m completely clueless about the world of Shin Nihon Kikaku, just mostly clueless.

Kizuna Encounter: Super Tag Battle is a game that kept coming up in my research for articles and scripts I was writing. Most recently, it came up in my research for my as-yet unreleased Alien/Predator video game ranked list I put together for TripleJump. You see, a 2010, unlicensed mobile title called Predators: The Great Hunt swiped its backgrounds directly from SNK fighting games. I was first made aware of this when a contributor on tvtropes.org pointed out that the stage background from Krizalid’s arena from The King of Fighters ’99 was used, and this got me interested enough to do some sleuthing myself. Through a bit of reverse image searching I was able to identify a background from Kizuna Encounter: Super Tag Battle and, once I’d recovered from my distress at the brazen plagiarism on display, was yet again reminded just how frickin’ awesome this NEO-GEO tag team fighter looked.

I adore the grimy city aesthetic. This stage reminds me of the scene in The Warriors where the gang are avoiding a bus filled with nut-jobs out for their blood.

Fast forward to the other day, and I’m needing to think of a game that was released on a non-Sega, Nintendo, Sony, or Microsoft console (and wasn’t Metal Slug – long story) that I could nominate into the Video Game Hall of Fame, and I thought “maybe it’s time to see if that Kizuna Encounter thingy plays as good as it looks”. A bit of cheeky emulation later and I’m glad to report that it does indeed play wonderfully, and is an all-round tasty slice of fast-paced, one-on-one, weapons-based fighting action.

Kizuna Encounter: Super Tag Battle is a sequel to another NEO-GEO fighter called Savage Reign, and lots of its controls and mechanics are lifted from Real Bout Fatal Fury. However, each combatant has their very own deadly weapon and the tag team mechanic is placed front and centre. It’s the tag team thing that really makes Kizuna Encounter stand out, as you’ll lose the bout if one of your characters goes down regardless of how much health your other character has left, and tags can only be made in a certain indicated section of the arena. This means that new tactics open up, like using quick tags to isolate your opponent, and dramatic struggles to get back to your tag partner become commonplace when things get dangerous. Combatants can regain some health while tagged out, too, so the game definitely encourages players to engage with the tag mechanic. I also like how your tag partner is visible in the background at all times, and will appear raring to go or sagging and depleted, depending on how much of a beating they’ve taken.

I love a pixel art night-time city-scape. I could look at it all day. All day!

I’m far from an authority when it comes to fighting games. I’m more interested in them for the cool characters they can offer and the spectacle they can present than I am for technical moves and combos. I button mash, I rarely block, and sometimes I even play them on easy mode. With all that out in the open so that you can take my opinion with the recommended amount of salt, I did really enjoy Kizuna Encounter. It was easy to pick up and within a few bouts I was able to unleash some pretty cool moves. There’s also plenty to master, and while I never got anywhere near anything resembling “mastery” during my time with the game, I definitely got better with a couple of roster members.

Speaking of the roster, it’s pretty bombastic. I had a lot of fun playing as Max Eagle, the big, axe-wielding American wrestler with a positive attitude, and some of the character designs are super-cool. Sho Hayate is the slick, hero type character, Gordon Bowman looks like an overweight M Bison cosplayer, and rollerblading clown-punk, Joker, could be a Streets of Rage mini-boss. There are even a pair of Mortal Kombat-style pallet-swapped ninja in Mezu and Gozu, the latter of which has some pretty nifty fire-based moves.

The two new characters that were added since the previous game are probably the highlights, though, as Rosa is an eye-catching and badass katana-wielder and staff-fighting police detective Kim Sue-il is the epitome of effortless suave. They both look great against the game’s stunning backdrops, and add to the overall vibe of urban cool.

The pallet-swapped ninja have water and fire attacks respectively. Reminds me of that other game. You know, Shinobi on the Game Gear.

Those stunning backgrounds were what brought me to the party, though, being a shallow, visual kind of fellow who likes looking at cool things. The pixel art on display is phenomenal, and every stage oozes that classic SNK artistry. Glittering skyscrapers viewed from below, sprawling cityscapes seen from above, run-down alleyways, cloudy docks, neon signs, grimy overpasses, and more all await those who are ready to brave the Battle of the Beast God Tournament, and every stage is fantastically atmospheric in its own way. This includes the final arena, a sinister shrine filled with eerie statues inhabited by the final boss, mysterious crow helmet-wearing bad guy, Jyazu. That’s the background that was nicked by the Predator game, by the way.

Like I said, I’m no authority on fighting games, or on the NEO-GEO, or on SNK in general, but I do know what I like and I like Kizuna Encounter: Super Tag Battle, and I wanted to write about it so that its wonderful pixel art could grace my humble web page. SNK really knew their stuff when it came to chucking pixels on a screen, eh?

Played Via Emulation.

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes

A Hundred Hours of Procrastination

My first impressions of Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, Yoshitaka Murayama’s 2024 spiritual successor to the Suikoden series, were exceedingly positive. Retro but in the right ways, Eiyuden Chronicle has all the hallmarks of a fun and fascinating, reasonably challenging, super-cosy JRPG experience, but my initial positivity was curbed somewhat by some mechanics and gameplay directions that caused the game’s pace to almost grind to a complete halt, and while the lengthy campaign is still soaking up plenty of my precious gaming time (I think I’m about halfway through the story right now), I’ve been finding it a bit of a chore to get through of late.

The early party – I’ve moved on from all of these guys now (except protagonist, Nowa, of course), but a couple of them still live on in my memories.

You see, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes tasks the player with recruiting over one-hundred “heroes” to the player character’s faction, many of which are capable of taking part directly in battles. If you’re like me, you’ll feel obliged to locate and recruit every single one of them. This is fine when it’s just a case of locating a more colourful and detailed sprite in one of the various settlements or dungeons dotted around the map, realising that this means it’s likely a recruitable character, and doing a quick quest to get them on board, but many of the characters are hidden behind lengthy side activities, and this is where my problem lies.

The in-game card game is fine, but that doesn’t mean I want to play it for hours on end. I’m really not interested in playing the Bakugan rip-off (give me “Tin Pin Slammer” from The World Ends With You any day of the week). Fishing is an RPG staple at this point but Eiyuden Chronicle’s take on the noble pastime is hardly riveting, and the saga-like cooking “mini-game” and side-quest can get scraped directly from the plate and into the bin, thank you very much. I want all of the characters though, so I guess I’ve got to engage deeply with all of the above. What was that about a quest to save the free nations from a scheming noble wielding the full power of the Empire’s armies? I can’t remember, I’ve been so busy miserably playing with my little spinning tops that the main story feels like a barely-remembered dream.

Secondary protagonist, Seign, gets his day in the limelight.

The actual RPG gameplay of Eiyduen Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is great; the graphics are pleasing, the character sprites are awesome, the music is lovely, developing your own town and castle is actually a worthy side activity, and the actual battles are fun. I was concerned that the vast number of recruitable characters would just result in a whole host of sidelined party members who never get the chance to shine, but thanks to the guild missions and the odd larger-scope battle where party members act as lieutenants for squads of soldiers, those unappreciated companions will still pop up here and there even if they never get a chance to do a dungeon delve with the protagonists.

Sure, it has its share of jank, can occasionally feel sluggish, and has some archaic systems, but it’s all part of the old-school charm. The full package is very positive, and classic RPG enthusiasts are sure to have a great time. However, as an adult with a wife and a child, a job, friends, other hobbies and other games to play, I like it when video games respect my time. I don’t have a problem with long games, but only if they’re naturally long and don’t feel padded out by backtracking and faff. If you want to get all of the potential party members and town helpers, Eiyuden Chronicle is very much padded out by backtracking and faff.

Sometimes, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes can really nail those cosy RPG vibes.

The card game is fine, and I wish it was the only minigame included. It can be a bit of a time-sink, but the pacing of the adventure would have been so much more agreeable if it was the only time-sink. Get rid of the egg-monster races that feel completely superfluous, get rid of the Bakugan-like “Begioma”, because the characters it introduces feel out of place and take away from the game’s more serious story aspects (and also the actual minigame is boring), and please, for the love of all that is sacred, get rid of the cooking side-quest.

There’s this recruitable chef character, you see. His name is Kurtz and he can provide the party with stat-boosting meals. This is fine, but he also comes with a completely nonsensical and lengthy side-quest where various rival chefs (often with completely ridiculous voice acting) will turn up at the inn demanding a cook-off. What follows is a “mini-game” where you just have to tap a button a lot, and a food-tasting session that takes far too long to get through and is almost completely random as to whether you’re going to win or not. A waste of my precious time, but if I want all the characters, I’ve got to engage.

Today’s main course is a freshly prepared helping of “I don’t care” accompanied by a generous side-dish of “please just leave me alone”.

For me, this is Eiyuden Chronicle’s main downfall; if you want to recruit all of the characters (and why wouldn’t you? It’s kind of the game’s thing) then you have no choice but to engage with all the nonsense, and the story’s pacing suffers hugely, as will your enjoyment level. A perfect example of a game that does too much, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is great, but it could have been so much better if it was a bit … less.

My intention with Eiyuden Chronicle from now on is to play it sparingly when I have a bit of free time and maybe get through the second half gradually in between other games (like the upcoming Metroid Prime 4: Beyond), but when you only have an hour or so spare for a session and you check off another two or three card battles and then find another goddam rival chef waiting for you at the inn it’s way too easy to lose this hour without engaging with the campaign or even with the battle system once.

The game will often require certain party members to be present. Marisa and her kangaroo pal probably wouldn’t have made it into my main team otherwise.

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes looks set to become one of my most-played games of the year, but I kind of resent it for this. When I think that I’ll have sunk more hours into it this year than I sunk into the likes of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom I find that thought distasteful, as those games were far more worthy of my time. I still like Eiyuden Chronicle, I really do, but it’s just not designed for a busy, popular, handsome man-about-town like myself. If you have a job, a significant other, or some semblance of a social life, maybe don’t get involved with this one.

Played on Nintendo Switch 2

Mario Kart World – Four Months Later

Keep on Karting

If you read my previous article about Mario Kart World (written on the day of release, I believe), you might remember that I said my favourite thing to do was drive across water. I’ve since changed this opinion. Don’t get me wrong, tricking off the crest of dynamic waves caused by exploding blue shells and bob-ombs is good, chaotic fun, but the long stretches of calm water actually tend to be the low-points of your average intermission.

Right, now that I’ve retconned that outrageous take, let’s talk about how Mario Kart World is holding up four months after release to a casual player like me. I’ve seen loads of analysis online, but YouTube suggests the popular analysis and the popular analysis is made by competitive, online players. I play Mario Kart World with my daughter, I can barely remember where all the whacky rail shortcuts are supposed to be let alone hit them with anything remotely resembling consistency, and I don’t need to be constantly challenged and faced with split second decisions at all times to stay entertained. Sometimes I just want to look at a nice sunset and listen to some cool music while I strategically place banana peels on the tarmac.

Well, Mario Kart World has plenty of dazzling vistas and an awesome soundtrack to go along with them. Many of the tunes have made it onto my list of regularly played video game music pieces on YouTube, and I often find myself whistling the themes to Faraway Oasis or Cheep Cheep Falls while at work, much to the chagrin of my new manager who apparently doesn’t like whistling. Maybe she just doesn’t like my whistling. Sucks to be her, I guess.

I only played as King Boo for a bit of screenshot variety.

The actual racing gameplay of Mario Kart World is best in class, too. All of the courses are awesome, with very few tracks that come across as weak or forgettable, and this latest iteration of Rainbow Road is absolutely stunning. I was quite moved on my first play-through, dazzled by the gorgeous visuals, glorious music, and beautiful set-pieces. What an experience.

I also don’t mind the intermissions, and I guess this is where my casual nature – and my lack of interest in playing online – comes in. It’s nice to just blast through some open lanes, chucking shells at my fellow road-users and taking in the sights. Sure, I don’t always want to play them, but it’s easy enough to do a series of full courses while offline, so I really don’t see them as an issue. So far, so good, right? Right. Well, I do have some concerns, and they’re mostly to do with the open world.

I’ve always had a thing with driving games where I imagine longingly what it would be like to break free from the track and drive wherever I wish. I’m sure I’m not alone in that feeling. Whether its being fascinated by those pixelated mountains on unattainable horizons in Lotus Turbo Challenge, being compelled to veer off the track and direct my Lancia Delta into the Finnish forests in Colin McRae Rally ’04, or indeed wondering what’s beyond those colourful, ocularly endowed hills in earlier Mario Kart games. However, when I do play games that actually allow you to do this, I tend to fall off of them pretty quickly, the Forza Horizon series being an appropriate example. I guess the realised worlds, no matter how gorgeous and expansive, can never live up to our imaginations.

I thought that Mario Kart World might be the exception – this is a big budget game made by one of Nintendo’s top level teams, after all – but it’s actually kind of empty. There’s stuff to do, like the missions and the blocks and the Peach coins, but there’s also a heck of a lot of nothing, and the missions, blocks, and coins only unlock stickers anyway. The stickers are wonderfully designed, but all you can do is look at them (and choose one for your little emblem, I think?). It’s been said many times, but it would have made way more sense if the outfits and characters were locked behind these open world aspects. The way you unlock both seems crazy to me. Why are outfits locked behind food? Why are characters locked behind the barely-seen Kamek item? Both mechanics just feel esoteric and unfinished.

Mario Kart World’s open world is beautiful, and I do enjoy driving around, finding missions, listening to the music and taking in the scenery with Daisy, the best princess of all, but it’s also a facade. There’s not really anything going on, the toads, yoshis, and shyguys wave and get in and out of their cars, but they’re not really doing anything, there are no real secrets to find, very little in the way of Easter eggs or cool hard-to-reach areas (I don’t count Daisy’s palace because it’s, well, right there), and no one to interact with outside of the occasional Chargin’ Chuck who you’ve got to hit with a green shell. No secret Blooper cave, no mysterious, caged Thwomp that the internet can theorize over, no out-of-the-way corner where a strange, creepy sound plays for no apparent reason. It’s just a bit bland, and I wanted more.

It helps if you think of it as more of a theme park than an actual functioning, populated landmass, but that still doesn’t make up for the general emptiness. Still, they’ve just added an update with a few more UFOs around the place, and they’ve apparently addressed that thing that people are upset about online with the intermissions. There’s no telling what future DLC might bring, so I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out as the game inevitably grows, and in the meantime, playing the cups and the knockout tours with my daughter is always going to be great for an hour of fun. Still, my dreams of exploring a vast, beautiful and interesting Nintendo-fied world and immersing myself in the bright colours as a form of beautiful escapism during these trying times have not come to pass.

The music often adds to the theme park vibe.

It’s still the only proper Switch 2 game I own. I’ve got Metroid Prime 4: Beyond preordered, and will hopefully be getting Yooka-Re-Playee because it looks great and is getting a proper physical release, but I’d like to have a few more excuses to turn my new Nintendo on other than using it to play Switch games. I’m a little worried that my Switch 2 collection won’t grow to epic proportions, as I refuse to buy key cards and the grand majority of third parties seem to be going with them even when they’re releasing their games physically on other consoles. That’s another rant, though, that I don’t want to get into right now. Let’s try to stay focused on the matter at hand. Mario Kart World; it’s bloody great in some ways and somewhat disappointing in others. I should’ve just said that at the start and saved everyone some time.

Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound vs. Shinobi: Art of Vengeance

Battle of the Ninja

Sometime in the last couple of years, the planets aligned on the same night that a full moon cast an eerie light over the bamboo forests at the base of Mount Fuji, and two separate studios came up with the idea of resurrecting a classic 2D ninja franchise for modern consoles at the same time. Lizardcube dragged Joe Musashi out of the shadows with the Sega-published Shinobi: Art of Vengeance, and The Game Kitchen shone a spotlight on Ryu Hayabusa, creating the Koei Tecmo and Dotemu-published Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound. Well, kind of. Ryu Hayabusa is in the game, but he’s not playable.

Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound came out first, but Shinobi: Art of Vengeance was the first one to get a physical release, so it was the first one I played. I was going to buy them both on Switch, but the boxed release of Shinobi was a code-in-a-box, which I soundly rejected as everyone should, so I got that one on PS5. Still, I played Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound docked on my Switch 2, and didn’t notice any particular performance issues in either game, so I think it’s still a fair fight. As such, it’s time for me to figure out which 2D ninja action game is the best, and I do this as a fan of both franchises who is old enough to have played both back when they were first released. No ninja favouritism from me!

I’m going to use the most coveted and respected review setup of all, that being the method adopted by premier 90’s periodical, Mean Machines Sega. As such, we’ll be judging each title on the following aspects; Presentation, Graphics, Sound, Playability, Lastability, and Overall. Make sense? No, not to me either, but we’ll get into that shortly, so get your tabi on and bring your kunai, it’s time to take to the shadows.

Presentation

So, what’s the difference between presentation and graphics/sound, then? I guess I’m just not on the level of those fabled Mean Machines Sega writers of old, because I don’t really get it. I’ll tell you what, I’ll use this section to talk about each title’s story setup instead. That’s kind of like presentation.

Shinobi: Art of Vengeance’s story is pretty basic, with a fairly unremarkable bad guy who is leading an enormous and incredibly well-equipped army of soldiers, creatures, and demons on a steamroller journey of world domination. The bad guy, known as Lord Ruse, has somehow cheated Death (yes, the Death) out of his scythe, and so wields incredible power. Ruse’s forces hit Musashi’s village early on and burn the whole place to the ground, murdering everyone except Joe and Joe’s pregnant wife. Mr. Musashi is obviously fairly pissed, and goes on his own rampage with vengeance on his mind.

Being able to play as a ninja of the Black Spider Clan is pretty cool for Ninja Gaiden fans.

Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound has an interesting story hook in which main character, Kenji of the Hayabusa Clan, ends up becoming a vessel for the soul of Kumori, an equally skilled kunoichi aligned with the shady Black Spider Clan. The two must work together to defeat the minions of a powerful fiend who plans to open the veil into the human world and wreak havoc. The bad guys feel less important than those of Shinobi: The Art of Vengeance, but the relationship between Kenji and Kumori is actually pretty fun to see develop, and the game’s finale wraps up their story in a surprising way, so I think this one takes it.

Winner: Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound

Graphics

Shinobi: Art of Vengeance goes for that playing-a-comic art-style that Lizardcube had previously used for Streets of Rage 4. It looked great for that game, and it looks great here, and most of the enemy designs are very memorable (I especially like the big guys with the electric gauntlet weapons).

The symbol over this unfortunate fellow’s head means that he’s ready to be executed. Finish him off, Joe!

The backgrounds can be spectacular, with highlights including the sparkling lantern festival, the gorgeous fields that the game starts in, and the rooftops of the night-time city stage. Where Shinobi: Art of Vengeance really excels though is in its animation. Joe’s movements are incredibly fluid and the battles look spectacular, and this helps you feel super cool and badass when you pull off spectacular moves while managing to avoid damage.

Do the visuals lose some personality and authenticity with the move away from pixel art, though? Possibly, and occasionally it feels like the backgrounds lack detail, but it’s a superb-looking game overall nonetheless.

Both games feature a really cool-looking bamboo forest early on.

Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound has more of a retro feel, opting for the familiar pixel art style. This looks great, although perhaps not as striking as Shinobi. Some of the backgrounds look awesome, especially the early-game bamboo forest and the areas in and around Mount Fuji. However, there were locations that I thought were a little bland with uninteresting colour palettes, especially the stage that’s a big construction area. I also found that Keni’s arms looked cartoonishly huge when he was holding onto the ceiling or hanging off a helicopter. Both he and Kumori’s sprites are gorgeous, though.

Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound gives players the option to turn off the gore, but honestly it’s pretty cartoony anyway.

Interestingly, both games have a couple of levels and a sub-section of enemies based around body horror themes, and both of them kind of fall flat when it comes to making it, well, gross enough. You know, that sort of stuff should send shivers down your spine, leave you morbidly fascinated and unable to look away despite the soul-clenching nature of what you’re seeing. For an example, look at Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master and its Hydra boss fight, as well as the stage that proceeds it. Shinobi: Art of Vengeance’s gribblies look too clean and sleek thanks to the art style. Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound’s pixel art style gives the twisted horrors a bit more of a visceral nature, but they still look a bit too cartoony to be effective, even the monstrosity fought at the end of the train stage. Disappointing.

Honestly, there were times during Shinobi: Art of Vengeance where I found myself wishing it went for a pixel art style (especially in the underground laboratory level), but I think that it looks better overall. Both games look great, but Shinobi: Art of Vengeance has that extra edge. Lizarcube are winning this one, but it’s darned close.

Winner: Shinobi: Art of Vengeance

Sound

While both games sound good, and both games have great, appropriately action-packed soundtracks, only Shinobi: Art of Vengeance had any pieces that I remembered after I’d finished the game. They were the track that plays during the “Ankou Rift” sections, and the battle music from the Lantern Festival stage, if anyone is interested.

Winner: Shinobi: Art of Vengeance

Playability

Here we go, the meat and potatoes of any ninja game, or should that be the rice and tofu? Let’s get one thing cleared up straight away; Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound is harder. I beat most bosses in Shinobi: Art of Vengeance on my second try, and didn’t have any real trouble until the very last showdown with Lord Ruse himself. The first boss in Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound (a giant fire bat monster demon guy) took me numerous retries, and things only got more challenging. It never felt insurmountable, though, and I persevered and finished the game in the end. Incidentally, Shadow of the Ninja – Reborn (click here for my review), is harder than either of these games.

This floating boss might not look like much, but is an absolute bitch.

Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound is a decidedly old-school action platformer that plays like an updated version of the classic Ninja Gaiden games, and it’s definitely closer to its inspiration than Shinobi. Kenji can do two quick slashes with his sword, and can fling projectiles thanks to Kumori’s assistance. The pair have access to a few equippable special weapons and abilities, and can leap from enemies, projectiles, and certain pick-ups using a mid-air attack, which becomes very important for traversal and combat as the game progresses.

Most enemies fall in one hit, but others are much tougher and require Kenji to get up close and slash away, putting himself at risk of some health bar-sapping counter-attacks. However, there’s a nifty mechanic that can help to make these big boys and girls less of a pain. Certain enemies will have visible auras, and depending on whether you defeat them with the right kind of attack, Kenji can sap this aura, super-powering his next strike, which will make short work of the tougher enemies if you play it right. This mechanic also comes up during every boss fight, and it can feel pretty good when you take out a group of tough enemies or stun a boss thanks to smart use of the available auras.

Shinobi: Art of Vengeance feels much more modern and further away from the Shinobi games of old, with Joe Musashi gaining directional attacks, upgradeable combos, and a satisfying execution move. There’s a similar system of equippable items that have in-game effects, but I felt more compelled to experiment with different loadouts in Musashi’s outing. Art of Vengeance will also have players going back to earlier stages once new abilities have been unlocked in order to get to new areas, and as such it has a bit of a Metroidvania flavour. I’m a fan of the ways Lizardcube have expanded on the traditional gameplay, and it still feels like a Shinobi game despite these changes.

Moving platforms over electrified water with rotating flamethrower turrets. Good luck!

Shinobi: Art of Vengeance also has some devious platforming sections. I didn’t find the Ankou Rifts too bad (optional areas that provide combat or platforming challenges that provide Joe with a stronger weapon if you beat them all) but there were occasional optional areas in the main levels that slipped from challenging to aggravating. The most egregious example of this was a platforming section known as the “secret bunker” in the battlefield stage late in the game. That place was a nightmare, and was the only time I felt like the controls were working against me, but I beat it.

Both games have some really cool set-pieces, including levels based on moving trains, and “mounted” stages, with Shinobi having a mechanised surfboard interlude as well as another one that’s a slight spoiler, and Ninja Gaiden having a couple of sections on a scrambler bike belonging to Kumori. One later stage in Ninja Gaiden has Kenji leaping from vehicle to vehicle in a military convoy, which was a nice bit of spectacle.

You wouldn’t believe how unnaturally talented Kumori is in the saddle.

Lastly, I encountered glitches in both games. Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound had Kumori riding her motorcycle backwards after a collision in one of the on-wheels stages, which was a little confusing and immersion-breaking but didn’t hurt in the long run, but there was one instance of a section of a level starting with Kenji falling through the floor and dying, even when I restarted from the last checkpoint. I had to quit the game completely and restart the level from the beginning to get past it, which was annoying.

Shinobi: The Art of Vengeance hit me with a recurring glitch where the map screen wouldn’t correctly identify where Joe was in the stage, which actually proved to be a major setback when I was searching for the last few collectibles in a stage. Also annoying.

Both games are incredibly smooth and satisfying to play, though, and are challenging in such a way that rarely falls into frustration. However, due to the sheer spectacle and “cool” factor of Shinobi’s combat, I have to hand it to Joe.

Winner: Shinobi: Art of Vengeance

Lastability

Well, the campaign in Shinobi: Art of Vengeance is a lot longer. With the expansive, Metroidvania-lite levels and the backtracking Joe Musashi’s adventure will last you a fair bit longer if you’re the type to play through a campaign once and then move on. When the campaign is completed an arcade mode is unlocked where the goal is to finish each stage in a good time while locating all the collectibles and taking as little damage as possible (as well as finishing the boss off using the awesome execution mechanic). Attaining S rank is pretty challenging, and then when you add in the Ankou Rifts, an unlockable boss rush mode, and the optional secret boss, there’s plenty there for completionists to get on with.

Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound is a more focused experience, with the ranking mechanic applied from the beginning of the game. In my experience it was slightly easier to attain an S rank in Ninja Gaiden (depending on whether one of the stage’s challenges involved beating the boss without damage or something crazy like that), but I didn’t especially try for the S ranks in either game so I can’t speak with too much authority on it. Once the campaign is completed a hard mode is unlocked, and there are also secret ops missions which are challenging optional stages in the vein of Shinobi’s Ankou Rifts.

When it comes to sheer content, though, I’ve got to give this one to Mr. Musashi again.

Winner: Shinobi: Art of Vengeance

Overall

Well, it’s looking like a bit of a Shinobi whitewash at the moment, but that’s really not the case. Every single category was very close, especially the all-important playability category, and the relationship between Kenji and Kumori in Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound did add a lot of personality to win me over. Of course, Joe Musashi is a legend, and Kenji and Kumori are mere newcomers, but I really enjoyed their interactions and this iteration of Joe comes across as more of a personification of vengeance who says literally one word over the course of the entire game. That does give him a badass edge, though.

Like I said early on, both franchises mean a lot to me. I played and loved the Shinobi games as a kid on the Master System and Mega Drive, but I didn’t play any Ninja Gaiden games until the 2004 reboot and only played the classic games in retrospect. However, whereas I view the Shinobi games as great titles, 2004’s Ninja Gaiden is one of my favourite games of all time, so there’s no real favouritism here. Just based on how I feel about both games, though, I don’t think I can wrangle a plot twist and name Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound as the overall winner despite Shinobi taking most of the categories. It’s great, but Shinobi: Art of Vengeance just has that edge, a more palpable “cool” factor, and the combat is so darned satisfying.

Winner: Shinobi: Art of Vengeance

Really, though, both games are winners, and I’m just grateful to have had the opportunity to play two brand new 2D ninja action games here in 2025. Which ever game you choose to play you’re in for a fun and challenging time that has plenty of spectacular content to offer, and if you’ve got a few extra pennies, you could always double up. Support your local ninja in these trying times. Buy both!

Alien: Isolation

Is This a Rescue Mission, or Another Bug Hunt?

One of the last scripts I wrote for the sadly-defunct TripleJump YouTube channel was a giant list ranking every single Alien and/or Predator video game ever made. Unfortunately, the channel went under before the video was released, but here’s a peek behind the curtain for you; Sega’s 2014 survival horror hit, Alien: Isolation, was at number one. However, despite heavily featuring the perfect organism in a starring role, Alien: Isolation isn’t a perfect game, but it is probably the closest a video game has come to perfectly capturing the atmosphere of the movie franchise upon which it’s based, Alien or otherwise.

This is Amanda Ripley. Her family line has pretty appalling luck when it comes to run-ins with predatory space bugs.

Creatively assembled by British studio, Creative Assembly, who are most well known for the Total War series and its combination of real-time battles and grand strategy, Alien: Isolation took the developers into unfamiliar territory. With very little experience in the survival horror genre, Creative Assembly made a host of outside hires, and soon enough a 100-strong team were orchestrating visceral encounters and crafting ’70s-style retro tech.

The crew were reportedly handed around three terabytes of production material from 20^th Century Fox, and through deconstructing this “gold mine” of information, they were able to build a startlingly authentic world that specifically recalled the atmosphere of Ridley Scott’s 1979 original. Stellar lighting and graphical effects, flawless sound design, and a talented cast of voice actors all combined with this vision to create one of the most atmospheric and genuine movie-to-game experiences ever seen.

For a game released in 2014, Alien: Isolation’s environments can look pretty insane. The character models are showing their age a bit though.

It’s pretty scary, too. For most of the game, the player character (Amanda Ripley, daughter of the legendary Ellen Ripley) is completely defenceless against the overwhelming speed, power, and bitey bits of the towering xenomorph, and will have to sneak around quietly, hiding in every available nook, cranny, or orifice in order to avoid a swift and gory demise. They even made it so that the alien can hear sounds that come through your mic, breaking the fourth wall in an unsettling manner and making it so that the hoot of an errant owl in your living room can spell death for poor old Amanda. I told you to keep that window shut.

As I already mentioned, though, this is not a perfect game. Progression can fall into a trial and error process at times, and clever players can work out the xenomorph’s AI, thus being able to manipulate the initially panic-inducing monstrosity into easily-avoidable loops. On the other end of that scale, less proficient players might find themselves constantly harassed by the chitinous terror’s perpetual presence, with observers noting that the xenomorph’s AI tends to be a little too adept at homing in on Miss Ripley even when it should logically be at the other end of the station, violently breaking and entering the cranium of some other defenceless schlub.

Can I tell you a secret? I haven’t finished this game. It’s just too long.

It’s at times like this when Alien: Isolation’s cloying horror can teeter on the verge of aggravation and annoyance, and players might find themselves desensitised to Amanda’s torso getting brutally severed by the xenomorph’s spiky tail after the fourteenth time in a row while fear turns to frustration and frustration turns to controller-throwing rage. All of this, along with long stretches of dealing with the less-interesting android enemies, means that Sega’s most beloved Alien adaptation can outstay its welcome a bit.

During its high points, though, Alien: Isolation is excellent – a stunning interpretation of the first film’s timeless atmosphere and an almost unbearably tense and trouser-ruining experience throughout. As the game celebrated its ten-year anniversary in October 2024, Creative Assembly employee and Alien: Isolation creative director, Al Hope, confirmed that the team are working on a follow-up, and if they iron out the annoyances that made Alien: Isolation fall just short of all-time great status, this follow-up has a chance to be the best sequel since Aliens.

The Seegson androids have more in common with Ash than Bishop. That’s a bad thing.

This article was written for the now-defunct Sega Force Mega as part of a planned Halloween special featuring lots of Sega-published Halloween-appropriate games, alongside The Ooze and Devilish. This is the last unpublished article I’d written for that magazine. I updated the intro to reflect the fact that TripleJump are also now defunct.

Mario Kart World – Impressions

It’s a Knockout

I bought a Nintendo Switch 2 on the day of release. I’m not actually sure if I’ve ever done this before. Maybe with the PS Vita? I got really caught up in the hype for that one. Let’s hope the Switch 2 lasts a bit longer than Sony’s sleek, handheld, unwanted stepchild, shall we? The only Switch 2 launch game I was interested in was Mario Kart World (I already own Cyberpunk 2077 twice, okay?) so that was all I bought with it, and I spent most of June the 5^th 2025 racing, battling, free-roaming, and unlocking and beating the Special Cup in 150cc. I like playing as Daisy, but she’s not unlocked from the start. I played as Dry Bones, Mario, and the bee for a bit before I unlocked the Queen of Princesses, and then I never looked back.

Mario Kart World handles better than Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. There, I said it. The karts are more satisfying to control and they feel more like they’re doing what you’re telling them to do. It’s probably a me problem, but I would often find myself frustratingly over-steering on tight corners while drifting in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and trundling off-road, hitting a barrier, or troubling Lakitu. In Mario Kart World when I feel like this oversteer is about to happen I can keep hold of it, and end up hugging the inside line like Travis Pastrana in a flouncy orange dress.

If you jump into that water during free roam, Lakitu will show up and ruin your fun. Only certain bodies of water are accessible. I guess he doesn’t want you to catch a cold.

Being a careful and conscientious kind of fellow, I started playing in 50CC. I do not recommend this if you’re coming from Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as the controls are exactly the same and the handling is close enough that you’ll slide right back into the zone and 50CC will bore you to tears. If you saw all those previewers and YouTubers worrying about the “boring” straightaways during the build up to release, you’re going to live it if you play on 50CC. It’s for young kids and pensioners only. 100CC offers a bit of challenge and the occasional surprise, but 150CC is where it’s at. It feels fast, there’s plenty of chaos, and the other drivers will trouble you for most of the race.

Mario Kart World looks fantastic. The environments are wonderfully designed and the weather effects and skyboxes are gorgeous. As you progress through the cups the tracks really up the ante in spectacle, and there are some awesome moments. My first “okay, this is really fucking good” realisation came during the Wario Stadium circuit later in the Flower Cup that leads into Airship Fortress, and things only escalate from there, culminating in everyone’s favourite kaleidoscopic Mario Kart mainstay. Mario Kart World Rainbow Road is absolutely stunning, by the way. Transcendent, even.

A few of the P-switch missions I’ve encountered involve sliding around on these vines. You’ll tend to mess up if you try and get too fancy, so just keep the stunts to a minimum, okay?

I tried Battle Mode a couple of times. It’s fine, it’s the same as it’s always been. I like that balloon battle is knockout-based again. The arenas are all fairly large so it doesn’t feel overwhelming having 24 characters sliding around everywhere. In fact, you’ll barely see most of the back-markers during standard races, so upping the participant count to 24 seems a little superfluous. It’ll make a difference online, to be sure, but I’ve not dabbled in that yet.

The Knockout Tour is a lot of fun, but again seems geared towards multiplayer. It’s a bit of a shitter to get knocked out late on, but the mode is a good alternative if you fancy something different to standard races. Other than that, the new items seem cool, the costumes are pretty nice (but there aren’t as many as you might hope), and the new characters are cute if you can put aside any misgivings about bats and crabs and other such critters “steering” karts without arms.

Oh yeah, the Free Roam. I like the free roam, but I’m not sure of its lasting appeal. So far, though, I’ve enjoyed mooching around, finding P-switches, and undertaking the little missions. Many of them are tricky enough that you won’t beat them first time, but you can easily restart if you mess up. I’ve found a few Peach Coins and ? Panels, but they only seem to unlock stickers and I haven’t figured out what those do yet.

Would it have been better if they’d brought in some cool characters from the expanded Mario universe (Geno, Vivian, etc…) instead of sticking all these minions in karts? I think so, but I’m not going to lose any sleep over it.

My absolute favourite thing to do in Mario Kart World, though, is race over water. The watery sections of tracks are genuinely spectacular, and tricking off of the crest of the waves as bob-ombs and blue shells cause mini-tsunamis is an absolute blast. Hopefully someone in power at Nintendo will see how cool the water sections of Mario Kart World are and decide to dredge up Wave Race from the depths. We can hope, right?

Jet-ski dreams aside, everyone is talking about the price of Mario Kart World. Is it worth it? That depends on what you’re giving up to afford it. If you’re paying for Mario Kart World instead of feeding your children this week, then I’d probably recommend that you rethink your purchase. If you’re sacrificing a night out on the town for it, then yeah, you’ll probably get more out of this in the long run. Mario Kart World isn’t the next step in gaming, it’s not the ultimate, endless, open world experience that justifies the price hike, it’s just a really good Mario Kart game. It’s possibly the best Mario Kart game yet. I don’t know, just buy it if you want, I guess. I’m not your mum.

Gauntlet IV

Warrior, Valkyrie, Wizard, Elf, and a Couple of Legendary Bards

The idea of the Gauntlet games always appealed to me as a kid. It had that exotic-yet-comfortable classic fantasy vibe, featuring swords and sorcery, Valkyries and barbarians, and hordes of evil minions to slay in the name of justice (probably, I never paid too much attention to the storyline), but it combined this with a heavy dose of good old-fashioned, co-operative multiplayer. The venerable series takes an arcadey approach to dungeon crawling, with its fast-paced, projectile-based combat, maze-like levels, and constantly dwindling health reserves designed to suck up your coins, and leaves concepts like party management and stat wrangling to the likes of Wizardry and SSI’s Gold Box series of stuffy D&D games.

In 1993, a game called Gauntlet IV was released exclusively for the Sega Mega Drive. Developed by M2 and published by Tengen, it served as a sequel as well as a remake, providing a port of the original game as its “Arcade Mode”, and adding in a unique “Quest Mode”, where players could purchase items and access limited character levelling.

The controls are tight and it’s satisfying to lay waste to hordes of enemies. It’s easy to get overwhelmed, though.

The game is good; a very competent translation of Atari’s original title with plenty of added content and four player multiplayer available across Arcade, Quest, and Battle modes. The tried-and-tested Gauntlet gameplay survives intact and the twists put on the formula by M2 are welcome. The graphics are fine, if a little dull (the dragon bosses added in Quest Mode are very flat and barely-animated), the digitised voices are kind of a mess but have a janky charm, and there’s enough content to keep enthusiasts occupied for weeks. A sterling game, but unremarkable by the stellar standards of the Mega Drive’s top titles. Here in 2025, Gauntlet IV is all but forgotten, and it’s no real surprise, as there isn’t a whole lot about the game that makes it stand out.

Well, apart from the fucking incredible music, that is.

That’s right – this isn’t one of my retro reviews, this is a love letter to one of the most overlooked soundtracks on Sega’s 16-bit banger factory, as when it comes to perfectly-realised musical accompaniment, Gauntlet IV is (in my opinion) right up there alongside the three big S’s, Sonic the Hedgehog, Shinobi, and Streets of Rage. The soundtrack was produced by a pair of musical wizards; Hiroshi Sakimoto and Masaharu Iwata, whose best-known works include Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy XII, and combines Conan-style, bleak, heroic fantasy fare with atmospheric electronica to masterful affect.

It may not look like much, but by the four elemental towers does it sound great.

If you look up this soundtrack on YouTube or some other soundtrack-storing app or website, you’ll find that the first five tracks consist of a somewhat generic-sounding main title theme followed by four tempo-shifted versions of a rather grating “Treasure Room” song. You’d be forgiven for writing off the soundtrack as forgettable, uninspired plinky-plonk at this point, but I advise pushing on through, as 16-bit, dark fantasy masterpieces await the determined.

For the last part of this article, just for fun and to indulge myself a bit, I’m going to pick out some of the musical highlights and attempt to flex my creative writing muscles to describe the atmosphere each tune evokes to me. If you read this, perhaps check out the soundtrack and see if it takes you to the same magical places.

Whisper of Phantom

A lone traveller crosses a barren swamp where once a great battle was fought. The warrior’s heartbeat pulses, gripped with fear as he peers into the unnatural darkness, the shapes of twisted trees and the shattered remnants of ancient fortifications looming like spectres from an unnatural mist. Hulking scavenger birds peer from their gnarled perches and unseen creatures skulk in the muck and fog. A lonely pipe or flute plays a distant, unsettling tune that calls to the ghosts of warriors that still haunt this place, the notes occasionally threatening to bring a tone of hope, but always descending into loss and loneliness, perfectly suited to this forsaken, haunted land.

Sortie

A hero returns home from a triumphant victory, the high walls of the city topped with rows of baying admirers and draped with shining pennants. The hero has triumphed through strength of arms, and his servants bring carts loaded with treasures from another land and decorated with grizzly trophies of an ancient and hated foe. The people are elated, foreseeing a time of wealth and plenty, but every great victory comes at a cost, and an ominous, orange sun sets as the mighty gates close behind the hero’s retinue, painting the city’s walls in a blood-red glow. Tonight, though, is a time for rejoicing. They can worry about the future tomorrow.

Adventures of Iron

A band of stalwart warriors defend the walls of a mountain fortress as a storm descends across the walls. The fortress is a rare bastion of good in a barren and savage land, and dark hordes accompanied by furious beasts ascend the rocky slopes. Lumbering giants scale the walls with ease, only to be met by the axes and arrows of the heroic defenders, and minions of the dark gods astride snapping wyvern mounts descend from the darkened skies, but many are brought low by hurtling ballista bolts, their winged corpses crashing on the mountainside below. The tide of the battle is slowly turning. This encounter will be hard fought yet, but beams of golden light begin to penetrate the clouds.

Transparent Obstacle

A group of adventurers have been tempted into a crystalline cave by a malicious spirit. Deep inside, a supernatural light shimmers along shining surfaces, and all sense of space is lost. Powerful treasures and untold riches sit in out-of-reach places beyond thick walls of clear crystal. A jade statuette appears to move out of the corner of an eye, a spoke of radiant, near-invisible thread seems to vibrate, like the web of some unseen arachnid. A passage descends into the earth, both ominous and enticing. The adventurers gather their wits and press onwards, and from some unseen location, an unknown intelligence watches them closely through the eyes of its skittering familiars.

There you go, and I only used a thesaurus once.

Tumblepop

A Tumble in the Jungle

As a small child with a wide-eyed interest in the natural world, I embarked on one or two trips to a place called the Tropiqaria in West Somerset. It was (and still is) a small tropical house and zoo built in and around an old BBC radio transmitter. I have two memories from visiting the Tropiquaria; one school trip during which I held a snake around my neck (they’re dry, not slimy!) and one trip with my parents where I sank a few coins into the single arcade machine that stood near the snack bar.

Over the following thirty years I would think about this game every now and then, surrounded by snakes, lizards and tropical flora as it was, but could never remember the name. It was a single-screen platformer along the lines of Bomb Jack but with a bit of a Ghostbusters vibe; the characters had vacuum guns with packs on their backs, and you’d suck up enemies into your pack and then fire them at other enemies. It was bright and colourful and whimsical, and something about it burrowed into the back of my mind and found a permanent home there.

Incredibly, by using the modern art of “Googling it” I have managed to identify this mysterious game from my youth, so I’d like to bring your attention to Tumblepop, released in 1991 and developed by Data East. Tumblepop is an arcade platformer for up to two players starring a pair of ghost hunters who travel the world, sucking up spooks and blasting them into their allies. The machine was published by Namco in Japan, a company called Leprechaun Inc. in the US, and a company called Mitchell Corporation in Europe. Despite sounding very English, the Mitchell Corporation was apparently a Japanese developer and publisher, and somehow delivered a Tumblepop cabinet to a random exhibition of tropical animals in the depths of the English West Country. Strange how things work out, isn’t it?

The Japanese stages take place during sunset, just like in Road Rash 3. Wait, it’s probably sunrise, come to think of it.

Thanks to the modern gift of emulation, I spent some time today playing Tumblepop on my desktop PC using a USB Nintendo Switch controller, and I have to say I had a pretty good experience with it, despite there being very few lizards nearby. The game definitely has an air of Bomb Jack about it, with its single-screen layouts and backgrounds featuring world landmarks, but the rainbow-hued suction beams of the magic vacuum guns add a whole extra dimension to the gameplay.

After selecting the nation they’d like to save from a simple world map, players will battle through a number of stages, slurping up a variety of enemies as they work their way towards a boss battle. The gameplay is simple and satisfying, and it’s not as tricky as a lot of arcade platformers, but it’s still easy to get caught out with so many enemies packed into the single-screen areas that are capable of attacking from above and below. As you progress through the stages, projectile-spewing baddies will begin to appear, as well as baddie-producing generator-type enemies that take a couple of hits to remove.

Each location has a boss waiting at the end of it, and the bosses tend to dominate the screen and represent an interesting change of pace. Despite each boss encounter having its own simple gimmick they all have the same solution; suck up their minions and empty the tank right in their enormous, ugly faces. Oh, don’t hold the suck button down for too long though, or your guy’s backpack will explode and you’ll lose a life. It’s a tragic and shameful way for a ghost hunter to go out.

Remember when that giant octopus terrorised New York? Yeah that was crazy.

As far as I can tell, Tumblepop was never ported out of the arcade with the single exception of a Game Boy version that was later released for the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console, meaning that outside of emulation there’s no way of playing Tumblepop in full, living colour – unless you want to track down what must now be an exceptionally rare and obscure arcade machine, that is. I wonder if the Tropiquaria still has theirs? Maybe I’ll go over there soon and check it out. Worst-case scenario; I get to see some turtles.

Expeditions: A MudRunner Game

Man (and Truck) vs. Nature (and Ghosts)

Have you ever been driving at night through country lanes? Cowering behind the wheel from looming, pale branches and convinced of glowing eyes watching from hedgerows? Have you ever seen hunched figures in the distance only to realise it was actually a road sign, or been shocked by the sudden emergence of a wayward owl? SnowRunner has that feeling in spades. I mean, I haven’t noticed any owls, but there are definitely glowing eyes watching from the undergrowth.

If I was writing a script for a YouTube video about non-horror games that have spooky bits in them, SnowRunner would be on it. The aforementioned glowing eyes are the obvious example, but there’s other stuff too, like spooky singing coming from abandoned churches, abandoned villages that are apparently irradiated, and just a general feeling of isolated creepiness once the sun disappears behind that distant ridge of trees.

You want me to go that way, eh? Should I trust this fellow?

There are also trucks in it, big trucks. That’s what the MudRunner/SnowRunner/Spintires games are, by the way; slide into the driver’s seat of a massive truck with vast tyres and chunky metal bits, and smash it into nature. Take on a task, like delivering cargo or finding a broken down truck in the wilderness, and face puddles of sticky mud, fallen trees, swamps, muck, rocks, and dangerous slopes as you try to get from A to B. You will get stuck, but with careful use of your winch, gears, variable tyre pressures, and possibly other vehicles in your fleet, you’ll get satisfyingly unstuck and be able to move on to the next helping of nigh-impassable terrain.

Expeditions: A MudRunner Game is, at the time of writing, the most recent title in the franchise, and eschews the “odd-job guy in rural, isolated locations” feel in favour of an “adventurous type in the literal middle of nowhere” kind of vibe. Most of the massive hardware is gone, with a new focus on “scout” type vehicles, there are no towns, paved roads, or permanent residences around, the player can make use of a drone to scout out the landscape, and most of the missions will be quests of discovery, looking for dinosaur bones or evidence of prehistoric civilisations.

That’s where this game’s weirdness comes in. I’ve not gotten too far yet, but Expeditions: A MudRunner Game feels even more isolated than its predecessors, and many of the missions will send you searching for little statues of odd-looking fellows that seem to point out the direction of safe routes. This paints them in a benevolent light, but they still strike me as kind of creepy. Also, the ones in the desert levels have oars. What are they doing with oars in deserts, eh? Something to do with the large, abundant rivers nearby, you say? A likely story.

I was doing okay until you lot stuck your oar in.

I got lost in Expeditions: A MudRunner Game at first, and I don’t just mean I rolled my truck down a ravine and didn’t know the way back to base. The missions aren’t clear, the controls take some getting used to, and the menus aren’t the most intuitive. I was lost at the beginning of SnowRunner, too, but it wasn’t long before I got out of first gear. The same thing happened here, and I was soon charging up rocky hillsides with wild abandon, and only toppling back down again about half the time.

Expeditions: A MudRunner Game is for those players who preferred the exploration and scouting aspect of SnowRunner and MudRunner, but I must admit that I was mostly happiest when I was hauling cargo along a busted up road with gigantic, muddy swamps along the way, so Expeditions doesn’t scratch that same itch. It’s still kind of spooky though, and I’ve seen posts online about ghosts and bears and UFOs, so who knows what I’ve yet to uncover. I’ll let you know if I find anything in the wilds.

Played on PS5