Tired of reading pages upon pages of separate TGS previews? Well, we have the article for you!
Famichatting is our semi-regular site feature where the whole crew chime in with their thoughts on a shared topic, and we have a very special one today as it's all about the games we played at the show!
Joining the regular crew (James, Danny, and Ty) we have our reviews intern Michael, who also got to play a bunch of games at the event. Please to enjoy!
Booth: Coatsink
Game: Sublevel Zero
James: It’s basically Descent, but with a slightly cell-shaded look. Pretty cool, but don’t even think
about playing it if you get motion-sickness!
Michael: They told me it’s a sequel of a game that used to be on Xbox and Playstation.
It’s a roguelike where you control a spaceship in zero G. You can move in all directions and get
lost in entirely new ways.
Game: Transiruby
Michael: A standard metroidvania game. Seems fun, even though the hitboxes seem rather…
out of place? I will keep my eye on this.
Game: Picontier
Michael: Farming simulator, I think. I didn’t get too far as it’s not really my thing. Nothing too
much happened in the first minutes of the game, but that may be normal for this genre.
The presentation is nice though.
Booth: Flyhigh Works
Game: Shovel Knight Showdown [Multiplayer]
Danny: Shovel Knight is already cool. Having a multiplayer version featuring these awesome
characters is even better. I only go to play two or three matches against the staff on hand and
ended up enjoying it. The mode had us competing against each other in an effort to grab
jewels/hearts while trying to avoid the other player or falling down a chasm. The characters
each feel different and I walked away impressed.
Game: Shovel Knight King of Cards
Michael: I never played Shovel Knight, but from what I have seen from that game, it seems
this expansion is entirely different. You battle people with cards to take their gems.
Booth: Inti Creates
Game: Dragon Marked for Death
Danny: I got to play this game with three others for some four player beat ‘em up action.
The game looks pretty good with large, detailed sprites with decent animations. Combat felt okay,
but nothing really stood out to me here, honestly.
Booth: Konami
Game: Hyper Sports R
Danny: If you liked Wii Sports and are yearning for the glory days of motion control gaming,
Hyper Sports R might be for you. They had three events at hand - 100 meter race, javelin throw,
and a long jump. I got to play the first two. The race is super simple. Using both Joy Con in each
hand, you make a running motion. The faster you move your arms like a lunatic, the faster your
on screen character will run. The javelin throw was a little bit of a mix of play styles. With your
left arm, you do the running motion while you hold your right arm in the air as if you’re going to
throw a javelin. It was fun? I guess. This is not a game that I’m going to be rushing out to get.
Might be fun in a party atmosphere or with kids.
Game: La-Mulana 2
Michael: It was definitely like the first game, which means enemies hit hard, bosses hit harder
and the hints to solving all of the puzzles are cryptic as hell. La Mulana had this massive
sense of adventure to it, with tons of puzzles to solve and things to collect. This promises to be
more of that. I am sold. Even if Konami is the publisher.
Booth: Level 5
Game: Inazuma Eleven: Ares
Danny: See my full preview. Short version, it was pretty neat.
Game: Yokai Watch 4
JC: I guess this game looks good...until you start moving the camera! As Danny said in his in-depth
impressions, it can get pretty choppy. However it’s cool seeing this anime-take on modern Japan.
Good luck to the localisers who have to pretend that this is actually America.
Danny: See full preview here, with video! It was pretty okay.
Michael: Played it too. Was looking forward to it, but now I have a confused feeling of “do I really
want this?” The problem I feel with the demo is that it essentially discards most of what made the
previous Yokai Watch games what they were. Instead of turn based, they switched to action
gameplay and, at least for the demo, it felt like I could just button-mash my way through fights.
I hope they address this in the final product. I also hope that the Yokai get a more center stage
role, like they had in all the previous Yokai Watch games. The demo put the focus on a rather
bland main character, when I could have been playing with the far more colorful Yokai.
Booth: Pikii
Game: Crystal Crisis
Michael: Like puyo pop fever, but with indie game characters.
Game: Ikaruga
It’s Ikaruga just as you remember. It’s a bullet hell game where you are constantly
bombarded with two colors of projectiles. You change your ship’s shield to coincide with the
color of the incoming projectile to protect yourself. Sound more simple than it is though.
Other than that, nothing changed much. It should be noted that this is not a remaster or
anything; it’s just a straight-up port of the original.
Game: Blade Strangers
JC: I know this is already out everywhere, but I’ve been wanting to play this! I got to play
as Shovel Knight and kick some ass! Only in Japanese and Chinese in the version that’s
on sale here. Shame!
Booth: German representatives stand
Game: Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom
JC: This was a real stand-out in the last indies Direct, and I can confirm in person it looks and
plays amazingly well! They had 3 playable characters on the showfloor, human, frog, and pig,
and they all have their own abilities. Visually it’s stunning, straight up anime in motion. Definitely
one to watch! (Check out the gameplay videos [Easy Stage] [Hard Stage])
Michael: It’s a side-scrolling game, but I am not sure yet whether it’s a metroidvania or a stage
based game. Fun, but rather easy, at least the part I played. It was hard to concentrate though,
as PUBG was blasting behind me. I liked the colorful presentation a lot, and will keep my eye on this.
Booth Netherlands representatives stand
Game: Kunai
Michael: They didn’t have anything playable, but it seems to be a side-scrolling action game.
The theme is some possessed iPad needs to destroy evil old technology with Japanese weapons
and rocket launchers. Looks fast paced and fun.
Booth: Success
Game: Umihara Kawase Fresh! (Yumi’s Odd Odyssey)
JC: Feels unfinished with some dodgy or simplistic textures, plus the controls are weird and hard
to get used to. I just want to swing like in Bionic Commando, but I guess it’s just not that kind of game.
DB: Read my full impressions here! This game is not easy.
Booth: Sega
Game: Team Sonic Racing
DB: I was not really impressed here.
Ty: This series is better than Mario Kart now, though.
Indie Area (Co-sponsored by Nintendo & Sony)
Game: Ninja Warriors: Once Again
JC: This game is a straight up port of a Super Famicom game, in fact they had an actual SFC
next to the Switch version so you could compare! However they’ve redrawn all the sprites and
tightened everything up, it plays really well and I love this 90s look anyway. Hopefully it comes
out at a decent price.
Ty: A 90’s SNES game is one of the best looking games at TGS. Style is everything.
Game: HAMMER WORLD: DIMENSION TRAVELER (Neo Future Labs)
JC: It’s a 3D FPS adventure in a Metroid Prime kind of way, except it’s cell-shaded and has
cute mushroom enemies! It’s so colourful my eyes almost melted, in a good way. Hopefully it
opens up more in the final build and has more variety in the enemies. I played this on PS4,
but it’s coming to Switch too.
Game: Astalon: Tears of the Earth
JC: Basically a simple Castlevania game with 3 main characters. Lovely pixel art, although
currently everything’s a bit blurry (they’re working on it). The chibi-sized characters all have
unique skills, and you have to use them to progress. There was a room that had 3 switches
and you needed to to backtrack to the room where the other guys were waiting to switch to
the next person. Hopefully they make that switch on a button for the final build.
Game: Crystal Clash
JC: It’s like that Pixel Lines DX game (think Picross), except you playing against the CPU to
see who can clear lines the fastest. The faster you are, the more your troops advance. Has
a glowing/futuristic look. Not really my thing.
Game: Oshaberi Orijyo
JC: It’s like Mr Driller mixed with SteamWorld Dig. Looks like a smartphone game, because it is!
Basically you drill until you run out of gas, collect diamonds then return to the surface. Upgrade
and do it all again. Kinda OK. Better be cheap.
Game: Fight Knight (Dangen)
JC: Thie devs really want to make this perfect, so they’re taking their time with this one! What
can I say? I punched stuff and it died. I talked to NPCs by punching them too. Looks great, in a
grungy/retro original Doom kinda way. Definitely coming to Switch, but I played it on PC.
Game: Battle Princess Madelyn
JC: This is a very cool concept, basically a Dad wanted to make Ghosts and Goblins for his
daughter!, The main character is a girl whose armour falls off when she gets hit, but not in a
pervy way! Potential to be a big hit, looks really good.
Game: Minoria (DANGEN Entertainment)
JC: 2D hack and slash, kinda like Castlevania with more rolling and dodging. All the characters
are girls (both good and evil), and everything has a gothic/cute look. Check out our video footage
from the show floor!
Game: Altero (Electronic Motion Games)
JC: Devs played it for me (Xbox, but coming to Switch). Kinda puzzle platformer where you control
a voodoo doll, and die on purpose to be resurrected at other parts of the level. Interesting idea,
hope it works out as a full game.
Game: Renaine (Octosoft)
JC: Amazing-looking pixel-art platformer, with procedurally generated levels! The town that you
start in never changes, so you can upgrade your stuff and get missions from the people there.
After you die your taken back to the start and things are re-jigged, so you’re never playing the
exact same level twice. A lot of depth to the controls, you can roll jump for example to get extra
distance. Music is exceptional, almost too good for a small indie game! Check out our amazing
captured footage!
Game: Leif’s Adventure: Netherworld Hero (Swiss Games)
JC: 2D platformer with 2-player support character. Think Rayman Legends/Origins where you
could control that small fairy dude with the GamePad on WiiU, but now your friend can control
it with a 2nd joy-con. Looks nice and is quite challenging. You can pick up weapons from enemies,
and use the environment to your advantage. You don’t need 2 players by the way, it just makes it
easier. Check out our footage of the whole first level!
Game: Dawnblade (Monsterscope)
JC: The devs called it a “hack ‘n’ slash dungeon crawler”. It’s already out on mobile as a free-to-play
game, but it’s coming to Switch with all the in-app-purchases removed!
Game: Otokomizu
JC: Firefighting mixed with Ironman, set in the Edo period. Did your head just explode? This concept
is as mental as it plays. It’s like something from a Japanese TV game show, absolutely mental!
They told me it was made in just 2 weeks!
Game: Yuppie Psycho
Michael: A fresh graduate gets a desk job at a company with all the usual company hyjinx; lady
that drinks all the coffee but never refills it, coworker who thinks his desk is his bed, crazy possessed
copying machine running through the office with giant man hands. It seems to be a visual novel kind
of game, but one where you move your character around. The part I played didn’t have anything in
the form of action or anything. The game wants to be creepy, but I am not sure whether it will be
straight up creepfest or horror comedy. I am inching towards the latter. Either way, I liked the
atmosphere a lot and am looking forward to playing more of it.
JC: I also played it but was completely confused.
Game: Tokyo Dark Remembrance
Michael: According to the developer it’s a visual novel combined with a point and click gameplay.
The theme is horror and mystery. The booth looked interesting, but I didn’t get to play it.
Game: World of Horror (Ysbryd Games)
JC: Black and white text adventure, reminds me on an old Macintosh game. Lots of reading required.
For fans of this genre, there’s a lot going on here, apparently there will be 20 cases to solve, each
one taking about an hour each!
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