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Valentine’s Day is coming up in a couple of weeks, so before the Blog A Day deluge comes, I wanted to give you all some Valentine presents: game reviews I’ve recently written over at GamerDad.com!  Please click on the links and read as many as you can, and maybe even post a ‘like’ or comment or two.  I’d appreciate it.  And speaking of BaD, I probably won’t be participating in it again this year because I have enough to keep track of over at GamerDad.com, plus I want to focus more on taking care of my mom since she’s recovering from breast cancer surgery.  But I’ll still read all of your blogs, of course!  OK, let’s begin!

Animal Crossing Valentines!

Nintendo’s Animal Crossing game franchise got a big boost in popularity this past year thanks to the release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons right in the beginning of the COVID pandemic.  It was just what a lot of people needed, including myself.  But I’ve always been a big fan of the series.  Anyway, the recent popularity of the game is probably why they now have Animal Crossing Valentines!  You know, they’re like the ones you used to give out to classmates in elementary school, or maybe you have kids who do that now.  Anyway, I found these at a Kroger grocery store, so let’s take a look at them!

Reader Review: My Universe: School Teacher (Switch)

There are many real life super heroes out there making this world a better place.  Some include firefighters, police officers, and teachers.  Teachers educate our kids and get them ready for the future, and do so much more that we don’t even realize.  I’m proud to say my brother Jeff is a teacher, so I thought it would be neat to have him review My Universe: School Teacher, a game about that occupation.  I really hope you get to read this review since he wrote it.

Fatal Fury: First Contact (Switch)

When Street Fighter 2 was super popular in arcades, one of the first fighting games to kind of steal its thunder was SNK’s Fatal Fury.  Aside from new characters, it didn’t really do much different than Street Fighter.  But fans were so starved for more brawling action that they were willing to take more of the same.  Even though they’re more famous in the King of Fighters series, characters like Terry Bogard, Joe Higashi, and Mai Shiranui got their start in Fatal Fury.  Terry Bogard is sometimes even considered the mascot of SNK and was recently added in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate!  So when SNK brought out their handheld game system, the NEO GEO Pocket Color in the late 90’s, it only makes sense that one of the first games for it would be a Fatal Fury title.  And now you can play Fatal Fury: First Contact on the Switch!

Barbie Fashion Closet (Mobile)

There are not as many games targeted toward young girls, so when I get a chance to review one, I always like to do so.  Toy icon Barbie is known to be a fashionista, but where does she put all her clothes?  Must be a pretty big closet!  Her closet is so big, in fact, that it gets its own mobile game! Pick out Barbie and friends’ clothes, accessories, hair, make up, and more!  Yeah it’s about as exciting as it sounds.

Pretty Princess Party (Switch)

Here’s another girly game.  You are a young girl just minding your own business in your backyard when suddenly a talking rabbit bumps into you and runs past.  When you catch up to it, you see a portal to another world.  When you step in, you are magically transformed into a princess in another realm with enchanted castles and more bunnies who can speak.  The talking rabbit tasks you to use your princess magic to redecorate the castle and bring back its former glory.  And you can play some mini-games, too.  This is the only way to re-open the portal back to your world.  And so begins your adventure in Pretty Princess Party for Switch!  It plays a lot like Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer, but also has some Mario Party style mini-games as well.

Lunch-A-Palooza (PS4)

Pick a food character like a burger, meatball, donut, gelatin mold, and more as you try to knock each other off the table in this silly multiplayer battle game.  Gameplay is a bit sloppy, although I do like the stage where you’re fighting at a Chuck E Cheese style pizza place in an arcade, and are on top of an air hockey table that can flip to a foosball table.  I first played this game at PAX South, and it was made in Mexico.

Destropolis (Switch)

The rest of the games on here were sent to me by No Gravity Games.  I didn’t even ask for them, they just sent them.  But hey, gives me stuff to review!  This is one of the better ones on here.  Most of the others were pretty bad.  I would say I shouldn’t give these games such bad reviews because they may stop sending me games, but I don’t do that.  Anyway, Destropolis is a minimalist twin stick shooter where you’re a square shooting other squares.  Zap the cubes to collect power-ups and weapons to level up and select skills to reach as high of a score as you can.

Apparition (Switch)

We all have guilty pleasures.  You wanna know what one of mine is?  You know those ghost shows on the History Channel or Travel Channel where paranormal investigators try to find evidence of hauntings?  Yeah I know those shows are dopey and probably most of the stuff they find isn’t real or overly exaggerated for TV.  But you know what?  I like watching them anyway, I don’t care.  Well now there’s a game on the Switch where you get to be a paranormal investigator in a first person adventure perspective.  Is it any good?  Well you’ll just have to read on to find out…if you dare!

Splashy Cube (Switch)

Splashy Cube is a minimalistic action game where you maneuver a cube through an ever collapsing obstacle course filled maze as you try to make it to the goal.  I’m not sure what’s so splashy about it, though.

Tanuki Justice (Switch)

Tanuki are actual real life animals that look like raccoons but they are more closely related to the dog family.  Sometimes they’re even called ‘raccoon dogs.’  They live in forests in Japan and other Asian countries, and these animals play a big part in Japanese myths and folklore.  They’ve even seeped their way into video games, too!  In some Mario games, there is a power-up called the ”Tanooki Suit.”  And you know Tom Nook from Animal Crossing?  Yep, also a tanuki.  And now you can play as a tanuki ninja in Tanuki Justice, a Switch side scrolling platform action game that imitates classic arcade and console games from the mid-80s.  It really reminds me of Kid Niki: Radical Ninja if any of you are old enough to remember that one.

PickLock (Switch)

Ditch the honest life and become a thief in PickLock.  Featuring stylized blocky graphics, rob neighbors and businesses blind and use your ill-gotten loot to furnish your house, purchase new getaway cars, and even buy new houses in other countries!  It’s an overhead viewed stealth action game, but isn’t very good and lacks the charm of other robber games like SEGA’s arcade Bonanza Bros.  Now there’s a game that needs a comeback!

Body of Evidence (Switch)

And last and definitely least.  Boy they’ll make a game out of anything these days!  Body of Evidence is a 3-D first person game where you are tasked with hiding and getting rid of dead bodies in creative ways.  Blech!  It uses light puzzle solving and lots of rag doll physics, and is pretty awful.

And that’s all for now!  Thanks for reading and posting ‘likes’ and comments on my reviews.  I really do appreciate it.  And Happy Valentine’s Day!  If you could give a valentine to any video game character, who would it be?  Can you guess who I would give one to?  Later!  --Cary