A few weeks ago we had the third in our ‘Reader Recommendations’ series featuring a dozen community-nominated gems that slipped through our review net but which Nintendo Life readers believe deserve some love and attention.
Well, we had so many nominations for Part 3 that we’ve decided to bring the next entry in the series forward with another twelve nominees. In fact, we’ve even got a handful more waiting in the wings, so if there are other games you’d like to see featured, feel free to follow the instructions at the end of the article and nominate other entries — perhaps we’ll get on to Part 5 sooner than we originally planned, too.
Thank you to everyone who responded. As with the last articles, we’ve discounting several nominations for games we have in fact reviewed and assembled the following list of games we missed. As before, each entry features a brief user comment (lightly edited for brevity or spelling in some cases), plus a trailer for some flavour. There’s also a poll at the end where you can hopefully get a sense for how other readers feel about these games.
So let’s take a look — in no particular order — at another batch of games NL readers recommend looking out for.
Publisher: Screenwave Media
Here’s what NL reader cherryghost14 has to say about Eagle Island:
Eagle Island is a very fun and challenging game, that I don’t think gets the attention it deserves. It is a 2D platformer with some rogue-lite elements and procedurally generated levels.
What stands out to me is the combat. Your owl companion is used as a projectile attack, and you can build up combos to restore mana and health. There are a few different biomes, and abilities to unlock as you go. A free expansion recently released with a new character and 45 new creator-designed levels.
Publisher: Godspeed Games / Developer: Jae Lee
Toshiro_Baloney was impressed by Shaolin vs Wutang:
I know… it’s made by one guy and the fighting is pretty barebones. But the effort and presentation on display is magnificent. Every fighter is modelled after famous Kung Fu movie actors/characters, the sound/music is actually licensed from these films (and punches you in the face). And while the action seems at first uninspired, it’s almost Virtua Fighter-esque in being easy-to-learn-hard-to-master.
It’s as close as one will find to playing an old Kung Fu movie and my heart grew a whole other size while doing so.
Publisher: Plug In Digital
Justin found puzzler Linelight to be a calming experience:
Linelight is a delightfully beautiful game whose minimalist setting and music make for a relaxing, but still challenging puzzle solving experience. The whole game takes place on a line, and there is no talking or plot. Just moving along a line. But increasingly challenging puzzle mechanics are introduced to get you from point A to point B. Avoid getting caught by enemies, or use their movements to your advantage! Or put the controller down and just get lost staring at the beautifully designed lines and listening to one of the best soundtracks around.
Publisher: MoeNovel
AstroTheGamosian had good things to say about visual novel If I Heart Had Wings:
A darling visual novel about a boy named Aoi who comes back to his hometown, meets old and new friends, enrolls in school, joins a club where they build and fly gliders, and falls in love (you can choose between Kotori, a paraplegic you meet in the beginning of the game; Ageha, your childhood friend; Amane, the head of the Soaring Club; and the twin girls Asa and Yoru who are first-years at the school).
The art style is beautiful, the music is amazing, the characters are fun and lively, each with their own personalities, and the story is engaging, making you want to know what happens next. It is ripe for an anime adaptation, in my opinion. Of course, the more graphic content has been removed for the North American localization, but a patch does exist to restore it; however, this patch is only for the PC version of the game.
Publisher: YAK
holygeez03 kept things brief while recommending Down in Bermuda:
Simple puzzles with a good mix of difficulty… charming art style… decent story to keep you engaged.
Publisher: Wonderland Kazakiri / Developer: Wonderland Kazakiri
Low_ink was impressed by BQM -BlockQuest Maker-:
It’s essentially a Zelda dungeon maker, with deep enough mechanics to not get stale quickly. The system in place for getting new course parts is very good, unlike SMM2. On top of making and playing people’s levels, there are some dev made levels too! While a bit too hard for me, I’m sure some people would greatly enjoy them. I recommend it to anyone wanting a Zelda Maker in their life.
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