Neal Ronaghan
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Writing For
Nintendo World Report
IGNLatest Reviews
Bouncing between comical yet often heartfelt dating segments and double-entendre-laden dungeon crawling combat makes for a good genre fusion that stays enjoyable for the 5-10 hours it takes to complete. The action might not hold up to scrutiny and some aspects of the dating sim might not land well for...
The best part of Dodgeball Academia though is when everything clicks as an RPG. It’s a joy to figure out the right strategy to win a tough fight. I love exploring the world and seeing what happens next in the goofy story. This isn’t just a great sports game, it’s...
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 on Switch isn’t going to hold a candle visually to the 4K renditions on other consoles, but considering the original Tony Hawk games on PlayStation still mostly hold up, the visuals aren’t the driving force here. The key aspect is that Tony Hawk plays phenomenally...
Legend of Mana is, at its core, a profoundly weird RPG, especially following the Super Nintendo-era Mana games. The nonlinear structure and unique map placement concepts are the foundation of this adventure, to the point where the more simplistic combat is deemphasized. I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to PlayStation Mana...
Even with those bouts of frustration, Stonefly is a thoroughly unique game that has novel gameplay ideas and a wonderful story. Dancing around the world while piloting your mech, trying to find emotional catharsis for your heroine while also beating up some bugs so you can get more resources to...
Wonder Boy - Asha in Monster World takes a great Sega Genesis game from the ‘90s and pays faithful tribute to the original gameplay while turning its back on sprites and instead going with 3D models. This is still a fun and enjoyable retro game, but it shows its age...
The short runtime might limit some of the appeal of Aerial_Knight’s Never Yield, but even as someone who is decidedly not a speedrunner, I greatly enjoyed my ride through this action movie adventure. Even without online leaderboards, it’s a game designed for speedrunning. The distinctive look and feel make it...
Fez
When Fez clicks, it’s sublime. Bouncing through the world while rotating it to figure out the right way to reach a platform nails the right balance of difficulty and reward. The way the game opens up as you play, revealing secrets on top of secrets is something I’ve never seen...
I enjoyed Rain on Your Parade, largely due to its consistent creativity and invention. This is a profoundly silly game that operates in that often untouched comedic space in video games. Sure, not every joke lands, and sometimes the goals are underexplained, but that also just sounds like how I...
Lost Words: Beyond the Page is an emotional story with an enjoyable wrapper of art, music, and gameplay that lasts about three or four hours. Turn back if you want an immense challenge or brain-wrinkling puzzles, but if you’re looking to shed a tear or two and take in a...
Signs of the Sojourner is a refreshing game, succeeding largely in how well it takes eternally relatable ideas like talking to other people and transforming them into a very sensical card game that has a surprising amount of depth despite a straightforward presentation. The way playing cards represents conversations is...
Capcom Arcade Stadium
To summarize, it’s a little hard to slam-dunk recommend any of these three packs. The collection of games as a whole is nice, with very few true stinkers. If you haven’t dabbled in any of the other Capcom collections, maybe it’s worth seeing the wider assortment of genres here. Strider...
