With a gameplay loop that effortlessly integrates the heroes in a half-shell into the world of roguelikes, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate is a fun and approachable 'Hades-like' that's best played with pals. However, despite the power of the IP and a co-op addition, it doesn't pack enough of a punch to avoid unfavourable comparisons to Supergiant's classic and constantly feels like it's on the back foot because of it. There is fun to be had here, but those who have spent time in the Underworld will find it hard to shake the feeling that this central loop has been done much better elsewhere.
Star Wars: Hunters might not bring anything particularly new to the ever-increasing field of class-based shooters, but there's a lot of fun to be had here. If you can look past the fiddly menus and 'Arena Pass' trappings that have haunted so many in the genre, Hunters offers a level of tactical PvP gameplay that is simple to grasp and entertaining enough to warrant mastering. Best of all, it feels right at home on Switch. There's certainly room for improvement but, like ol' Shiv Palpatine, we will watch its career with great interest.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants is not the steaming cash grab that you might have assumed by seeing the publisher involved. Neither is it anything close to the action-packed highs that we have seen from the heroes in a half-shell in recent years. Instead, we are left with a game that is perfectly serviceable but ultimately forgettable, let down by repetitive levels and combat and lacking any reason to go back for more. If, for some unknown reason, this is the only Turtles beat 'em up that you can access, then you will likely have a perfectly fine 90 minutes of playtime. But the alternatives on Switch deliver much more memorable, satisfying TMNT experiences.
Pocket Card Jockey: Ride On! does not come to Switch with a swathe of bells and whistles or make a host of changes to Game Freak's weirdest mash-up. It's a simple port of the Apple Arcade version - which, in itself, made very few changes to the 3DS original - but with a game this great, that's no bad thing. Sure, not much has changed since 2016 (even less since 2023), but this charming hybrid card-racer is absolutely worth taking for a ride wherever you can. Giddyap.
NBA 2K24 is less a continuation of what made the series good on Switch and more a downgrade of what has come before it. Even with how smoothly this one plays on the console, with some clean animations and a sprinkling of improvements to MyTeam being the real MVPs, all of this is overshadowed by just how watered-down this year's entry feels. With none of the new game modes making the jump to Switch apart from the disappointing Mamba Moments, a severely lessened MyCareer and a model that continues to be plagued by microtransactions and long load times, the 2K franchise on Switch has never needed more of a boost. If you are after a basketball game on the go, last year's offering is a much better option.
This has all the charm of the base game, but with a challenging new stand-alone mode that adds quality and value. The opening challenge won't be for everyone and those early runs can be pretty unforgiving, but once you see those unlocks rolling in and with an upgrade or two under your belt, you'll soon wonder why a Turtles roguelike hasn't been on your wishlist from the very beginning. With these added bells and whistles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge is still totally tubular, dude.
Everybody 1-2-Switch! is a perfectly serviceable party game when playing through one of the mini-games that offers something new, but those moments are few and far between. The rest of the games are not by any means bad, but they fail to stand out on the already-loaded table of Nintendo party titles. Combine this with the noticeable step-down in quality when playing with fewer people, and we are left thinking that this is a game which will only be brought out in very specific circumstances. It's a perfectly harmless party game, but it doesn't come close to what Nintendo has achieved in the genre in the past.