There is a Maximus Cup this weekend in Tetris 99 on Nintendo Switch. The 52nd Maximus Cup is for the Wii games Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2. By getting 100 points, you can unlock it all.
Whilst i wasn't able to get my first win in Tetris 99, i did manage to get close to the top 10. i felt quite rusty and there were a few mistakes. Even though Tetris 99 had been updated, it did seem like there was a bug with the "Watch Out" warning at the bottom of the screen sticking around for longer than it should.
For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Rubato, from developer dconn.
going into this demo, i wasn't sure what to expect. the eShop page seemed to make it out to be a platformer where we have to collect stuff to rebuild the solar system. turns out, that's what we actually have to do. perhaps the eShop page revealed a little too much about the game as i was expecting something to happen at the start and instead we're shown something weird and i don't what it's for. that unknown aspect of the story, like there's something deeper or even a second story happening, was felt throughout this demo and i could only guess where things were going to go.
It took some time to get used to how this game plays. the jumping especially is an aspect of this game where i don't think i fully adjusted to it in this demo. i always seem to go further than expected and have less control than expected. another aspect that i struggled to adapt to was the tongue mechanic. i had full control of the tongue but my brain kept thinking that it would automatically face in the direction of the character whereas it didn't move unless i moved it. the rocket launcher i got later also did this but it was as expected whereas the tongue wasn't.
so the controls take sometime to get used to and the story is a little weird, but playing it went quite well. the stages are vast and the story seems to explain why we're able to play the same level again but with a new ability. having a rocket launcher really opened up new areas for us to go, but as i showed during the mid point i was able to take a projectile and carry it to a section and blow it up and get in. i can see how there's a lot of replayability in a level and the with the game's collecting nature it could be fun to go and explore these locations.
But it wasn't until much later that i found where the map is. the game has a good tutorial that's incorporated fairly well into the game's story but it never told me to press +. other than that, i found the tutorial and first area i was in to be appropriate for newcomers. the boss at the end took a bit if time and i liked how it smartly didn't do the trope of 3 hits and it's down. there is a message from the developers after the boss battle but no where does it say whether the save file from the demo will carry over to the final game.
Overall, it's a decent demo taken from the start of the game. using it a practice before getting the main game might be a smart way to play it. there are options to customise the difficulty and this demo offers the perfect place to practice and find what works for you before you decide to spend money on the game.
For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Bubblegum Galaxy, from developer Smarto Club and publisher Astrolabe Games.
At the time of playing this demo, it looks like it might've been removed from the eShop, or at the very least it wasn't easy to find. the game itself is also out now. But i did find that the eShop page for this game to be quite revealing as to what the game is. to me, it came across something like a Katamari game, and with the unique art style i was genuinely looking forward to trying this demo.
Even though the eShop page spoils a little of the story, it was still told well. i enjoyed how they used the game's tutorial to tell the start of the story. playing through the demo, i got the feeling that there maybe more of a serious story behind the nice art. you'll have to let me know in the comments if there was or not.
I didn't find the tutorial to be as comprehensive as i wanted it to be. it explained the basics well, telling us about them, letting us use them, then having a video highlighting it, but there were other aspects of the gameplay that i didn't fully understand and had to guess. even now, after i've finished the demo, i'm still not sure how the game's score multiplier works or how i think i managed to turn the color of one plate into another.
the social aspect of the game seemed fine. each of the characters we met were very different and each had their own customised booth. though the way one of them talked to us did seem to be a little racist. it would be interesting to see a little bit more of this social aspect of the game as in the demo, the focus seemed to be more on the tutorial. but what was there was interesting.
as a demo, i think Bubblegum Galaxy is one of the better one's i've tried. it was clear when we started that the save file doesn't carry over into the retail game. this simple message is soo rare and yet soo important. i would say that the demo was also clear what was in it by calling the section of planets we made the demo section. we got a good bit of story, characters, tutorials, as well as a story hook at the end with the introduction of the managers.
For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Back to the Dawn, from developers Metal Head Games.
Back to the Dawn is a style of RPG that i'm not familiar with so it having a demo is welcomed. going into this demo, i didn't know what the expect other than that it would take place in a prison and that there's some sort of "relationship" mechanic.
i'll admit that i came away from this demo not wanting to go and get the game. in this long video, essentially one day had passed. the pace was very slow and whilst i had no issues with the setting of the game, the things we had to do seemed a little boring. i also felt that there was little guidance,. for me, someone who has little to no experience of this style of RPG, i would've welcomed as much help and hints as possible. with no way to change the difficulty, i feel that Back to the Dawn isn't best for new comers. i don't know how much longer this demo was, nor do i know if this demo had cut any story from the start of the game. very little information is given that this is actually a demo. a final example of how the game could do better with messaging is the options. there is a color blind toggle but no information or examples on what the changes are.
the art and the music were great. i would've liked a little more animation from the characters though. it did feel like stuff was happening but the characters weren't animating it. an example in the hospital is that on screen it says one character is using the intercom to talk to us, but looking at them it looks like they're doing nothing. the same applies to when characters talk, it didn't look like their in-game models were actually talking. there's such a high level of detail in the characters and art style that meant that this was more noticeable than expected.
For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Revolgear Zero, from developers Bikkuri Software.
Side Scrolling Shooters is another genre, much like last week's Vertical Shooter, that i'm not great at. i've got more practice with this one but it's been a while since i last played a game like this. so the fact that there's a demo is great for me as i'm always happy to try one of these games, as i hope to find one i enjoy and might be decent at.
Revolgear Zero certainly got the look and soundtrack down. it feels like a game from the Mega Drive, SNES, PlayStation era but with none of the slowdown. It has some interesting gameplay mechanics revolving around your ships power and weapon platform looking things called bits. But the game fails to properly convey how it all works. there is a tutorial to watch, but it goes fast and does it's best to never mention which buttons it's pressing. in the top right there is a listing of what some of the buttons do, but the terminology used there is different to what's said in the tutorial.
This demo only has Standard mode, consisting of two levels, and Mission mode but there is replay-ability as there's 4 different difficulty levels and you're able to play as different characters who have different attributes and also there's a large variety of bits you're able to equip. the two levels i played were very different from each other, not just in music and style but also in enemy mechanics and level hazards. the 10 missions available took place elsewhere and challenge you to do something specific in a very short time.
Because the tutorial for Revolgear Zero is a bit rough, i didn't quite get how best to play it and this affected both modes in the demo. however, now i've practiced a little and realise some things i was doing wrong, i feel like i could play the game better than i did this demo. so that almost makes the demo required playing before the retail game. other than that, i think that this is a decent demo but i don't think Revolgear Zero is quite for me.
For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Blaze of Storm.
I'm not good at vertical shoot'em ups but i'm always on the look out for some to try, and hopefully find one i like and i'm decent at. Blaze of Storm interested me because it's not small in size, the graphics are a bit chunky. this means the gameplay takes place in a fairly sizeable 2 thirds of the screen with the final third being used to show what power-up is currently equipped.
The demo is fairly limited, only giving us a tutorial and a 5 minute score attack mode. the demo is quite effective as it goes over the game's mechanics and how power-ups work. it could be a little slower so we can read and then try to do what it says, but even with my low skill level i was able to manage the tutorial. if you let the screen stay on the main menu, a "Demo Play" mode activates and 1 of the demoes is showing the tutorial in action. it was first in my rotation so it might be worth watching it before tackling it if Blaze of Storm is your first vertical shooter.
An interesting aspect of the gameplay was that i found it just as tough evading enemy attacks as evading weapon power-ups i didn't want. the power-ups themselves aren't bad, it's more like there were a couple i liked to use more. i wouldn't say the difficulty was too high or too easy. i felt like i could clearly see and understand when it was Game Over.
If you're interested in vertical shoot'em ups, i wouldn't say Blaze of Storm is the easiest. but i would say that it's quite approachable and this demo is well worth checking out if you're curious.
I really enjoyed my time with Pokémon Legends: Z-A. playing it in my own time meant i was able to play the game at my own pace and try different Pokémon in my team. As i went, i recorded the battles of my Z to A journey as well as the end game. The Battle for F video had some tech issues but the key battle was safe.
For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of BlazBlue Entropy Effect X.
I had previously played the iPhone version in 2025 and put it 3rd in my Game of the Year list, https://youtube.com/shorts/UdYDuVw0L74, so i had an idea as to what to expect from this Nintendo Switch version.
One big thing i noticed immediately was how much better the UI looked. on phone's, because of the icons on screen it can look a little cluttered. but here on TV all the icons were pushed to the edge and we get to see so much more of the game. BlazBlue Entropy Effect X still looks great and on a Switch 2 i imagine the HDR would work great with the neon lights. the music is still great, too. before, i was pressing buttons on the screen but here i was using a Pro Controller and found the game to be responsive and the combat till fluid.
As fun as the game still is, the tutorial issues from the iPhone version are still here. the game starts with a good tutorial, but it just stops and then the game adds more mechanics and terminology to the experience with little to no information about what any of it means.
For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Dragon Quest VII Reimagined from HexaDrive.
I haven't played the original PlayStation One version of Dragon Quest VII nor the first remake of the game on 3DS so i came into this demo knowing nothing about it's story or who the characters are. one of the reasons why i wanted to try this demo is because of the game's art. there's something about the art style of the characters that grabs my attention more than the usual Akira Toriyama Dragon Quest Characters. i had wanted to try it on PS4, but the demo hasn't come out there but in the end this Switch version played great.
This is a much longer video than typical Demo Play Thursday videos and yet i didn't reach the end of it's story. but i did a lot in the demo and i had a great time doing it, too. i found the pacing very good, the story interesting, the game's performance solid, and most of the characters were cool. there was just one that really annoyed me and in 3 hours only really had 1 moment i could look at and say was nice. the rest of the time, Maribel was just unpleasant.
The game's premise was odd, that this is the only island in the world. logically, it doesn't work. but as we played and learned that there are characters in -game who also think this, the story became more mysterious. in this video we uncover some secrets and go on an adventure and by the end when we came back, i couldn't help but wonder whether our island was the bad guys. it probably won't go that way, but after playing the demo i am curious about how the story will play out.
something i really liked about this demo, that will carry over into the main game, was how much you can customise your playing experience. when you start the demo the game will ask you to set the game's settings how you like. i chose to keep things normal but i did change it so my party's health would go back to full after battles. for me, this made the game's difficulty pleasant. but there are many other ways of making it easier or harder. thankfully, you're then able to change these whilst your playing the game so it's possible to fine tune the experience to how you want to play it.
I had a great time playing the Dragon Quest VII Reimagined DEMO, so much so that i'm really interested in getting the game now and continuing from where i left off in this demo. the art style might be a little polarizing but for me it works and it really feels modern whilst respectful to the original art. i look forward to Dragon Quest VIII getting the same treatment. this demo is worth trying for anyone curious about the series and i recommend people give it a go.
There is a Maximus Cup this weekend in Tetris 99 on Nintendo Switch. The 51st Maximus Cup is for the upcoming update and DLC for the Switch game Animal Crossing: New Leaf. By getting 100 points, you can unlock it all.
Whilst i wasn't able to get my first win in Tetris 99, i was able to get 4th place twice! it only took 3 games to complete this cup. i added a 4th game but it wasn't as successful as the previous 3. i really enjoyed the music, it helped keep me calm even when things got really hectic. as i haven't had a top 10 in quite a while i was very surprised by how fast the game gets at that point.
In Tetris 99 it's the 50th Maximus Cup this weekend. the theme to unlock is Kirby Air Riders. i played the Switch version and managed to finish in the top 50 in all the games i played.
For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Outlanders from Pomelo Games and Big Games Machine.
I'm a bit behind schedule when it comes to demos so Outlanders is already out now, but i am glad i played it. It's one of my longer videos and yet i only completed the tutorial and 2 scenarios. i don't think i finished the demo nor do i know how much more there was to it. I never saw this demo say it was a demo
I appreciated that the demo came with a tutorial, but it wasn't as comprehensive as i expected. it taught the basic controls of the game but never went into how this game can be won. what's particularly frustrating is how the first scenario i played differed from the tutorial. i think the first scenario should act as a tutorial, too. there appears to be a village elder/leader that doesn't really have any interactions with us, so they would've been great offering some advice and tips.
That's not to say this is an overly complicated game. Outlanders tells the player what their goals are for each scenario, but not how to get there. this does mean that even tho i achieved and completed the first scenario, i do think i could go back and maybe do it 5 minutes quicker, if not more. This is also true for the second scenario, which i barely finished in the time limit. as this is a demo, i don't know if there is a reason to go back and re-do past scenarios. if this game was on a PlayStation or Xbox console then perhaps there would achievements to get by re-doing past levels, but here on Switch i don't know.
Personally, i enjoyed my time with Outlanders. it does have that "one more turn" appeal to it. if it had leaderboards where i could compare my completion time with my friends, then it could become a chill game to play and a competitive one to play, too. if you're curious about this, i would recommend trying out the demo. it isn't as complicated as a Civilisation game, but some of the core Outlanders mechanics are different enough that it may take some time to adapt. the key mechanic i understood was dismantling and moving gathering jobs. for some aspects of village life, you do need to move things around and more people from job to job.
For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Nuclear Gladiators 3000 from Turbo Napalm.
I've played a few games like Vampire Survivors on mobile as part of Mobile Friday and just in my free time, but Nuclear Gladiators 3000 is the first time i've played one on consoles. the big concern i have with these games is that things can get crazy, not just in terms of difficulty but also in terms of explosions and stuff happening on screen and the worry is always can the platform i'm playing it on handle it. thankfully, after playing the DEMO i can say that the Switch was fine playing Nuclear Gladiators 3000.
With it's rocking soundtrack, it makes a good first impression. it's going after a certain 80's vibe and i think pulls it off, tho i would've like the odd sax solo or something similar to The Transformers Movie. Nuclear Gladiators 3000 also does a good job in explaining what the goals are and how to play. i do feel that for the first couple of runs, this could all be simplified and then when you get your first sponsor things could then open up more.
The goal seems simple enough. you defeat wave after wave of enemies until trying to survive for 3 minutes to get to the next stage. by blowing things up and doing combo's, the audience gets more enthusiastic. by defeating enemies, you're able to level up weapons and abilities in a run. when the run is over, you're scores and audience values are converted into Freedom Bucks. these can be spent on permanent upgrades which will help you go further in the next run. But as you'll see in this video, i was never able to survive for 3 minutes on the third stage. the leap from second to third stage seemed a little too big.
As a demo, it's fun to play and worth checking out. But there is a downside to it. there is no trailer nor any screenshots. there's not even a message from the developers. so all i get to use is one character. i don't know how many others there are, how many stages there are, or sponsors. the demo succeeded in showing me the game mechanics but failed in showing me what the game has to offer.
This weekend is November's Eggstra Work Event in Splatoon 3 on Switch. I have felt terrible since Friday with a migraine and general queasiness, so i was unable to Live Stream during the weekend. i got out of bed for a little bit to take part in the event. i got 10 matches done before i gave up due to general fatigue. my highest score was 139 in my tenth and final match. i don't know if this is good enough for bronze. let me know in the comments what your scores were!
For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Majogami from Inti Creates.
The demo for Majogami is short, but because of the game's style and art direction it does leave an impression. the demo starts quite quickly and immediately begins with some story. once it's finished, the tutorial begins and it's quite simple at first. you're introduced to something then get to do it in-game. what's great is that for more complicated things, the game will show videos on what to do. even tho we end up at the tutorial quite abruptly, it's pretty decent.
The Demo seems to be from the start of the game and is essentially the game's opening prologue. we get more story, more tutorials, and then we reach a boss fight. as it's the start of the game, i never felt like i was in danger even tho i was being hit often, but it did take some time to wear down the boss. i do worry that this could get longer as you progress through the game.
I have to imagine that on the OLED Switch, Majogami looks fantastic. i have a launch model Switch and i felt that it ran fine and looked great. the music isn't bad either. with good controls, a fantastic tutorial, a story that leaves you wanting to know more, and of course great style, i'd say that this demo for Majogami is a good one and well worth checking out.
For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds from SEGA and Sonic Team.
I really enjoyed playing this DEMO. the game itself is already out now, i'm a bit behind with the demos after catching Covid, and it's been getting a lot of positive comments and praise so i was quite keen to try the demo and see what the fuss was about.
On Switch, this demo looks great. loading wasn't too bad and the transition from world to world during the race was fine. there is a sense of speed as you race. i initially liked how the tutorial explained how the game is played but soon realized in the race that the tutorial failed to go over the buttons in the game. thankfully it doesn't take long to try them out, but in a race you're up against some strong competition.
In kart racing games, it's tough to make the opposition feel strong and fair. in the past, a criticism of Mario Kart games has been the "Rubber Banding" effect that would bring the other racers back closer to you. here in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds i didn't feel like the other racers were cheating. i could see them doing the tricks, aiming for speed boosts, and attacking other players. it felt like i was racing against some decent opposition.
This meant that i failed to win all of the races i took part in. i typically won around 2 of the 4 races in the cup available in the demo. But as it is competitive and as the other racers are trying hard, the top positions would change race to race. i was racing against a rival and even tho i didn't win all of them, neither did they so i was always able to beat the rival.
The DEMO had some of the racers, some of the cars, and some of the customisation options. it was enough to mix and match and get a feel for how that works, it might be familiar to those who have played the older Sonic Racing games. there was also a Time Trial option which was also useful for practicing the tracks. it felt like there was about an hours worth of content and some replay-ability. i think this is a good demo for Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds and after playing it i do get a sense of why the game is getting more popular and i do want to play the game now.
For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Trails in the Sky: 1st Chapter from Nihon Falcom and GungHo Online Entertainment.
This is one of the longest videos in the Demo Play Thursday series, if not the longest, and i'm not surprised because all of the "The Legend of Heroes" game demos have been long, but unlike them this time i kept playing because i knew from experience that i should. this video only covers the opening story, a time skip, and the first quest of the game.
The demo starts with a screen that lets you buy the game, something that not all demos do. the option menu is quite extensive and has some nice customisations that typically come to early 2000 games remade in the modern day like speed up settings. the next 9 minutes is an opening set in the game's past before having an intro to the modern day setting of the game.
the story we start with is both main characters needing to head into town as today is their final test. their goal, to become a junior bracer. our characters and the world look great on the original Switch, and a launch model too. there was some pop in where shadows appeared before the grass that sat on top, but other than that everything looked and controlled great and it didn't feel like i was playing a lesser version of the game.
by about 40 minutes into the demo, it really started to feel slow. i had turned on auto messages, but they were slow. there was nothing in the options to increase the speed of the text bubbles. the default in this demo just happens to be really slow. i had set the difficult to easy as i wanted to sit back and enjoy the story, but i was starting to get frustrated by how slow things were starting to feel and the auto messages was a key part of this.
it would take about 40 minutes to start our final training quest and get all the back story of the world. having so much information available is useful as i've never played the original on PSP. but it was a lot to take in in such a short period of time. when it came to combat, the game had some nice pictures showing how to do it. as i've played previous The Legend of Heroes games i was also able to bring some of that past experience. what's nice about the combat is that if you're facing a low level enemy you can quicky dispatch them. but if there are many of them or something stronger, you can do a quick hit and then engage them in turn based combat.
it took a little under 20 minutes to complete this final training quest and i ended this video once we became junior bracers. unfortunately, i don't know how much longer this demo was. there was no information on the game's eShop page and the game itself gave no information as to how long and what was in this demo. another issue with this demo is how out of date it is to the game. the developers have done a final job continuously updating the game since it came out, but this demo hasn't been updated. i don't know how different this demo is, or how improved the game is, from what i played in this video.
For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Formula Legends from 3DClouds.
I'm a fan of Formula 1, and racing in general, and i'm always keen on trying new arcade style racers. what interested me in Formula Legends was the inclusion of many different era's of cars, teams, and drivers. the game doesn't have the license for official names so the alternatives they've come up with work well enough.
The makes it clear that it's a demo. but what the game fails to explain is how the demo differs, if it does, from the main game. the issues include not knowing what tracks are included in the game. i pondered whether the game would focus on famous tracks of the eras or just focus on the tracks which are in all eras included. the demo doesn't have all the teams and drivers from some, if not all, the eras included and doesn't detail at any point if this will continue into the main game or not. some games will provide more information, whether via a bullet point list or trailer, as to what more content the retail game has.
i did enjoy the art style, all the cars looked great. the team have taken some liberties with the tracks, shortening them significantly but trying to keep iconic parts of them. But the Switch version seems to have an odd issue with the tyres. they seem to be in a constant state of vibration and never really look like round tyres. it gave the impression the the cars were floating on the track rather than racing on them. i also thought the engine sounds were off when driving the 90's cars.
The demo didn't start with explaining how the controls worked. the demo loads into the main menu with Story Mode being highlighted even tho it's locked and not in the demo. the two modes we can try are Time Attack and Custom Mode. I chose to start with Time Attack to learn how to play the game. unfortunately, the tutorial was in Custom Mode, so i didn't get to experience it for a while.
I felt that the demo for Formula Legends failed to get the message across the players about what the main game is and includes. whether it's a technical issue or limitation of the Switch, the graphical and audio stuff makes me not want to play this version of the game. if there was a trailer showing the game running on other platforms or from the final game then maybe i'd have a different opinion. But the demo as it's presented doesn't do a great job showcasing the game and i honestly wouldn't recommend the Switch version.
For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Space Adventure Cobra - The Awakening from Microids.
This isn't an anime or game series i was aware of. so for me, the appeal was the nostalgic look and feel of the animation. i've learned since i played this demo that the game itself covers the first 12 episodes of the 1982 anime.
Unfortunately, as much as i enjoyed the look of the game, as a demo this isn't great. it takes place from the third mission in the game, which means it's after any proper tutorial. so the developers appear to shoehorn in tutorial and it doesn't work. after the animated intro to the mission, we're shown how to move and then how to jump. but the character quips about the collectable at the same point the game tells us how to jump. but the platform is unstable and means we have to skip the collectable as we have no idea how to get it.
the character next quips about exploring the cemetery, so i do that. but then we're up against bats and have to work out the shooting. thankfully the game does tell us how to use the psycho gun, tho it doesn't call it that.
the tutorial aspect isn't great, but the rest of the demo was quite enjoyable. the mix of animation and gameplay worked well for me. it's not quite seamless switching between the two styles, but it's fine. it was surprising to get a mix of combat styles, there's a shotgun style weapon as well as hand to hand combat. by the end of the demo, i was starting to get into a flow with the gameplay.
What the demo was successful in showing was the varied types of gameplay. there's "traditional" platforming, there's puzzle platforming, there's underwater sections, and there are sections where we're avoiding in-coming enemy fire. it's a demo where playing it a second time would probably feel better.
the demo does have a cool trailer at the end, after a "to be continued section." it shows off other characters, several other locations, and a few other gameplay platforming mechanics and situations. Whilst the demo is aimed at the original Anime, the nostalgic feel of the game, and therefore this demo, worked for me too and after playing this demo i would be interested in trying out the full game. so whilst it wasn't the best execution of a demo, i do think it's a successful demo.
