PixlBit

Just one more level...

20XX, despite being thoroughly inspired by Mega Man X, manages to distinguish itself by throwing away a good portion of that formula for something much more chaotic. The team at Batterystaple Games has managed to recreate the feel of Mega Man X, in both its control and enemy design, but mashes it into a roguelike design that includes randomly generated levels and temporal upgrades that are gained and constrained to your given run through the game. Each pass you’ll encounter different power ups, approach bosses in a different order and apply different approaches to make your way through. Level and boss design, as well as their relative challenge, will even vary based on how deep into a run you are. Progress can be slow, but somewhere along the way, 20XX will get its hooks into you and you’ll be unable to resist the pull of taking on another level or starting up a new run in an effort to make it to the end.

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N. Sanely beautiful.

Back when Crash Bandicoot hit the scene, I was a firmly entrenched Nintendo fanboy. Crash, to me, was a second rate 3D platformer that was put to utter shame by the fantastic platformer offerings of the N64. I’ll admit, the N. Sane Trilogy has done little to elevate the core material for me, but it does leave me wishing that other companies would show as much love and care to their older 3D games as Vicarious Visions has shown here.

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Maybe just wait for Daemon X Machina.

I wouldn’t classify myself as any sort of mech game aficionado, I’ve only played a handful of them over the years, but it’s a weird subgenre that I find myself drawn to. That odd pull, coupled with my infatuation with the Switch, made Assault Gunners HD Edition a prime candidate for play. The budget mech experience isn’t exactly what I was expecting, but it does have a surprisingly deep customization system that significantly outclasses the rudimentary gameplay. Though fun at times, Assault Gunners HD Edition is more often a frustrating slog, that doesn’t really scratch the mech game itch in a satisfying way.

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It's like Groundhog Day, in video game form.

At first blush, it’s easy to pass judgment on Fox n Forests as just another retro-throwback pixel-based platformer, but unlike many other games that adopt that style, it’s actually faithful to the time period. The color palettes, music, gameplay, and even the menus will convince you that this is actually an SNES/Genesis game that’s been lost in time. While the audio/visual experience is fantastically retro, the controls and gameplay both are as well. This means character movement can feel sluggish and janky at times and level designs are such that they thoroughly punish player mistakes.

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