Pac-Man 99

Also known as: N/A

Developer: Bandai Namco Games

Joining the list of retro multiplayer battles that has been appearing on the Switch, like Tetris 99 and Super Mario Bros. 35, Bandai Namco has put out Pac-Man 99, and while it’s not an awful game by any means at all, it is the weakest entry of the three, in my opinion. Basically, like the other games mentioned, you focus on the action in the middle of the screen and how you play has an effect on the other players, and vice versa. Pac-Man 99, though, has more modifications to the gameplay than the other two games mentioned. Basically, your goal, like in regular Pac-Man, is to eat up all the pellets, and when needed, eat the larger pellets so you can eat the ghosts that are trying to get to you. In Pac-Man 99, the food items that pop up don’t provide bonus points, but it resets the pellets on the stage. Also, white and red “ghost” Pac-Men will appear on the screen with white ones slowing you down and the red ones providing death. Overall, this is a solid game, especially since it’s free for Nintendo Online subscribers, but if you already played and enjoyed the two other, similar games released on the Switch, this one may be a little disappointing.

Review added: 11/07/2021

Pac-Man Mega Tunnel Battle: Chomp Champs

Also known as: N/A

Developer: Amber Studio

Pac-Man Mega Tunnel Battle: Chomp Champs (what a name, eh?) is kind of like Pac-Man 99, but not as good as Pac-Man 99. At least, not in this player's eyes. Basically, in Chomp Champs, you control your own, personal Pac-Man, whom you can dress up in funny attire, and you compete online with up to 63 other players at a time, with everyone not just competing on their own "table" or Pac-Man level, but each level has paths that open and close at regular intervals that allow you to move to someone else's table. Sometimes resulting with you being in the same table with multiple other people. Like Pac-Man 99, the goal is to be the last one standing. It's a neat concept…however, it only takes playing a few of these "battle royale" matches before you realize that there isn't really anything else waiting for you…you've already seen it all. Had this game come out before Pac-Man 99, I might be a little more forgiving of it…but Pac-Man 99 came out three years earlier and was quite a bit more fun than this game is. If you have to choose between the two, I'd stick with that one instead of Chomp Champs.

Review added: 07/21/2025

Panty Party

Also known as: N/A

Developer: AnimuGame

If you a hear that a game is called Panty Party, you probably immediately think that it’s a game for perverts. Well, in this case, it’s actually not. Panty Party is one of the most bizarre games that I’ve ever played – and if anyone knows me, they know that the more bizarre a game is, the more I’m going to take notice of it. Panty Party is basically a deathmatch game where you are…a pair of panties…fighting other pairs of panties. Yes, really. You shoot, slash, and blow-up enemy panties on your way to victory. If you meet certain tasks in story mode, you’ll unlock more pairs of undergarments to battle with, each with their own abilities and skills. The battles with these underhanded underwear aren’t particularly spectacular, and the gameplay could definitely be tweaked a bit, but for what it is, this really isn’t a horrible game. It’s passable. If you gravitate towards bizarre games like I do, this is worth checking out. If you’re looking for a perverted experience, you won’t find it here - just a goofy premise and harmless entertainment.

Review added: 10/15/2019

Pokemon Scarlet

Also known as: Pocket Monsters Scarlet (Japan)

Developer: Game Freak

I like Pokemon, but I don't play every single game that comes out immediately. In fact, as I type this, I think I've only beaten 5 of the games total so far. So, with that said, I'm not entirely sure what is brand new to Pokemon Violet and Scarlet and what is recycled from previous games. I can say, however, that I thoroughly enjoyed my time playing through them. Having an open world makes it easy to lose yourself and just wander around to see what you're able to discover. Using a Pokemon as a vehicle that you're able to power-up to access more areas is also a nice touch. Pokemon purists may not like some of these changes, one look at Metacritic's user scores for these games show that, but I actually really liked a lot of the newer aspects to the game. Not all of them, but a lot of them. One aspect that I didn't really care for was how to "qualify" to battle a gym leader…just let me fight through a bunch of folks like the previous games. I don't wanna be tasked with a chore just to advance the game. I also felt like the game was way too easy. It takes very minimal effort to make your Pokemon overly powerful to the point where even the final battle requires almost zero effort. Thankfully, though, even with those complaints, I still really enjoyed my time with this game. I don't know if I'd call it these the greatest Pokemon games yet…but they're still solid and well worth checking out if you're a fan of the franchise or even if you're just an RPG fan in general.

Review added: 12/14/2022

Pokemon Violet

Also known as: Pocket Monsters Violet (Japan)

Developer: Game Freak

I like Pokemon, but I don't play every single game that comes out immediately. In fact, as I type this, I think I've only beaten 5 of the games total so far. So, with that said, I'm not entirely sure what is brand new to Pokemon Violet and Scarlet and what is recycled from previous games. I can say, however, that I thoroughly enjoyed my time playing through them. Having an open world makes it easy to lose yourself and just wander around to see what you're able to discover. Using a Pokemon as a vehicle that you're able to power-up to access more areas is also a nice touch. Pokemon purists may not like some of these changes, one look at Metacritic's user scores for these games show that, but I actually really liked a lot of the newer aspects to the game. Not all of them, but a lot of them. One aspect that I didn't really care for was how to "qualify" to battle a gym leader…just let me fight through a bunch of folks like the previous games. I don't wanna be tasked with a chore just to advance the game. I also felt like the game was way too easy. It takes very minimal effort to make your Pokemon overly powerful to the point where even the final battle requires almost zero effort. Thankfully, though, even with those complaints, I still really enjoyed my time with this game. I don't know if I'd call it these the greatest Pokemon games yet…but they're still solid and well worth checking out if you're a fan of the franchise or even if you're just an RPG fan in general.

Review added: 12/14/2022

Puyo Puyo Tetris

Also known as: Puyo Puyo Tetris S (Japan)

Developer: Sonic Team

I absolutely LOVE the Puyo Puyo franchise...and I like Tetris, too. I've always been a bit of a puzzle game nerd...However, I didn't realize how lop-sided my skills were between these two games until I played Puyo Puyo Tetris and dominated any levels with Puyo Puyo and struggled to pass levels with head-to-head Tetris. My Tetris skills aren't bad by any means - I won a Tetris tournament a few years ago at a gaming convention in the area...But for whatever reason, I really struggled to pick up wins in this game when forced to play with Tetris blocks instead of Puyo Puyo blobs...Then the next level would be Puyo Puyo (or a mix of Puyo Puyo and Tetris) and I would absolutely dominate. Anyway, despite my struggles with the Tetris side of things, this is an extremely well done game and I highly recommend it for any puzzle game junkie. The story mode will last you a while, then the multiplayer will keep you coming back for more. So, if the combination of two popular puzzle franchises sounds fun for you, give Puyo Puyo Tetris a try – I bet you’ll like it.

Review added: 08/28/2019

Puzzle & Dragons: Nintendo Switch Edition

Also known as: N/A

Developer: GungHo

I've known about Japan's love of the Puzzles & Dragons game for a while now. I installed the game on my phone years ago, and honestly never sat down to play it to see what all the hooplah was about. However, after seeing that Puzzles & Dragons not only made its way to the Switch, and that it's on the Switch for very cheap (roughly $5, or less if you catch it on sale), I figured that it was about time that I finally gave it a chance. After putting in several hours, I can honestly say that I understand why Japan fell in love with this game. Puzzles & Dragons is similar to a lot of matching puzzle games - match up the colored blocks to make them disappear and try to line things up to create massive combos. Each time you move a block, though, it takes a turn, allowing the monsters that you're battling to make moves of their own, in an effort to wipe out your party. If your party's HP reaches zero, it's game over. The real aspect of this game that makes it interesting and really adds to the strategy is that you're not restricted to only moving a block one spot over. Once you begin moving the block, you can move it as much as you want for whatever time your team specifies - 30 seconds seems to be the norm. By moving the block, you're also shuffling around the blocks around it, allowing you to not just match up the block that you're moving, but you can actually position other blocks to match, or line up blocks in an effort to create a combo - and if your combo is large enough, you can eliminate many of the bosses with a single turn. This aspect of the gameplay is what made everything so addicting for me. I'd get to a difficult boss fight and I'd get destroyed…then I'd try it again and I'd be lucky enough to have the blocks needed for me to position them in a way to get a 15-match combo and absolutely obliterate the boss that I had issues getting past just a few minutes before. If you like puzzle games, then I highly recommend giving Puzzles & Dragons a chance - it's very inexpensive, so what do you have to lose?

Review added: 12/14/2022