Advance Wars is chess in style

Advance Wars 1 and 2 were previously released on the Game Boy Advance. They are strategy games where you command an army and engage the opponent in turn-based battles. Each level/map is a tactical puzzle because not every unit can move freely across the entire map. Fortunately, the same applies to the opponent. Resource management and positioning therefore determine everything: victory or defeat.

The graphics in this remake are completely new. While the original was entirely pixelated, the switch has now been made to 3D models. The new style is cartoonish and quite charming. Units are clearly recognizable, and the associated animations are smooth. The music has also been remastered and has a nice, upbeat military theme. Each commander has its own theme. The controls have been revised and can now also be used via the touchscreen. If you prefer a more classic style, the buttons work perfectly. Advance Wars has always been about depth, and a clean interface is essential for that. This remake retains that. The interface is clean and informative.

In the campaign mode, you learn the mechanics. Tutorials are built into the levels, guiding you through the process and gradually increasing the difficulty. Later levels present serious challenges and get you thinking. If you manage to pull off a master plan that would make a chess master jealous, you'll feel like a true victor. Creativity in finding solutions is rewarded. There's also the War Room, which offers additional missions. This mode is perfect for practicing and testing master plans.

The multiplayer mode is also worth mentioning. It can be played locally and online with up to four players simultaneously. You'll quickly see that devising and applying strategy to a human opponent is very different from a programmed opponent. Bluffing and prediction suddenly become crucial.

In short, a fantastic package with more than enough gameplay that feels modern, but even for players experienced with the original Game Boy Advance editions, this is nostalgia on steroids. These remakes bring the game into a new generation, and we can only applaud them.

Xenoblade is an influential game. Many modern games look to Xenoblade and learn from it: Pokémon, Zelda, and countless others. What makes Xenoblade so compelling? Firstly, it's the enormous open world, which has been stylishly captured. The beautiful world of Aionios is showcased in all its splendor on the Nintendo Switch. That world is impressive, with vistas that simply make you say "wow!"

In this game, the protagonists live only ten years during a war. They aren't born, but enter this war as teenagers. This makes the game start bleak and dark. The world has only two factions: Keves and Agnus. As soon as the red tattoo on your body runs out, you die and are used as fuel for your faction. To prevent this, you must keep fighting. Fight to stay alive.

When it turns out there's a third faction, the Consuls, who drain other factions for eternal life, that's when things get interesting. With a much more accessible system than previous installments and good training missions, you'll quickly learn the ropes, and the real-time combat becomes more manageable. Auto-attacks and powerful Arts will quickly get you far. Once you've combined enough Arts, you can interlink. Interlinking fuses characters into grotesque apparitions (called an Ouroboros form). Stomping around in Oroboros form is cool and gives you a sense of power. Of course, this is all temporary, as there's a timer. You will, however, be much stronger, making it ideal for use against the various bosses.

The sidequests were always a bit lackluster in this series, but they've improved now. The fetch quests can be found in the main menu, via a kind of Vinted. Blue quests are story-driven and location-based. Yellow sidequests are the ones you really want to pursue. These are grotesque in story and scale and offer substantial rewards, such as a new class.

Classes can be assigned to a character and provide unique playstyles. Essentially, there are three styles, which are self-explanatory:

• Attacker;
• Defender;
• Healer.

The main story is filled with heavy themes, driven by lengthy cutscenes. Cutscenes lasting half an hour are not uncommon. Add to that the masterful soundtrack, and you have a super-long, yet fantastic anime that can keep you occupied for almost 100 hours.

Ever wanted to create your own Mario levels?

Mario Maker makes it possible. As the title suggests, this isn't the first game, but a sequel. While the original was very pleased with the design, some elements were missing. Consider the second installment the ultimate, because Nintendo listened and added objects/features that were missing from the first. And let's be honest, who hasn't dreamed of creating their own levels? In this installment, you can do so using the controller or the Nintendo Switch's touchscreen. Both methods work perfectly, and before you know it, you'll be dragging question marks, enemies, and other building blocks across the screen. Elements are grouped in circles, which you can delete with the L and R buttons for quick access. It's intuitive, despite the sheer number of objects. If you get lost, you can visit the pigeon Yamamura. He has an academy with no fewer than 45 Mario Maker lessons. Those tutorials are secretly essential to help you progress. There's so much to choose from and create that a little insight and ideas are a great start.

If you finally think you've built a great level, you can test it with a single button press. In terms of look and feel, you can choose from no fewer than five classic Mario games:

• The original Super Mario Bros. 1 style, familiar from the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES);
• Super Mario Bros. 3, the unique style also familiar from the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES);
• Super Mario World, familiar from the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES);
• New Super Mario Bros. U style, familiar from the Nintendo Wii U and Nintendo Switch;
• Mario 3D World, also known from the Nintendo Wii U and Nintendo Switch.

You can also customize themes like snow, desert, and night. You can also set unique wind conditions. Once you've finally created a perfect level, you can share it or decide to combine it with other levels in World Maker to create a whole world. You can share your levels and worlds with others and see how successful they are, but it's also possible the other way around. This gives you endless fun with this game.

The real professionals at work

If you're tired of playing and building all those custom levels, you can also tackle levels created by Nintendo itself. You'll find no fewer than 100 of them in the story mode. You have to complete them all to restore Peach's castle.

Working together

Finally, there's the option to play and build levels together simultaneously. Up to four players can play, and you can build alone or with an extra construction worker. When playing together, you can start a level as a race: the first to finish wins, or as a collective effort: together we'll reach that flagpole.

Mario and endless content

Well, with so many options, so many possibilities for creating something or enjoying other people's art, it's inevitable that this game won't make it onto any top lists. If there's one downside, it would have been nice if the Game Boy titles had also been included in terms of style and gameplay. That's our wish for Mario Maker 3.

Besides new games, older ones are often rereleased. Sometimes with a modern twist, sometimes bundled together, and sometimes as a complete museum with all the information surrounding them. Atari 50 is a vast museum showcasing the best of Atari as a hardware manufacturer and game publisher. This collection features interviews, images, in-depth articles, and even games. Games released on the Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 7800, Atari Lynx, and Atari Jaguar. The latter is particularly unique, as, until this release, no Atari Jaguar games were available on other consoles or handhelds.

Besides games for the aforementioned console, there are also several "reimagined" titles. These are classics that have been modernized. Think modern graphics and sound, and often updates to the level design and gameplay. The complete list of games is impressive:

This complete history lesson is an example for other parties who want to reissue classics.

One, two, three, four... paper hat

Paper Mario is a beloved RPG series that has suffered somewhat from subpar releases on the Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo Wii U. Many wondered if Nintendo still had the skills to create a good story that optimally utilizes the paper setting and is also fun to play. Paper Mario Origami King is the first original Paper Mario to succeed in standing as a classic after the first two installments.

In Origami King, everything you see is once again made of paper. With the power of the Nintendo Switch, this creates a beautiful and convincing visual. The game begins with a fantastic invitation to an origami festival, but upon arrival, the village is empty. Princess Peach appears completely folded, and Origami King Olly appears to be the culprit. He wants to take over the world and has started locking up or converting everything and everyone who isn't origami into origami. Not cool, then. Plenty of fodder to seek out and defeat this bad guy. Of course, that won't happen easily. And in Paper Mario Origami King, that's anything but a bad thing. The game doesn't take itself seriously at all. The jokes fly around you. Jokes about the Nintendo universe, but even more jokes about paper and origami.

To save the princess and restore all your Toad friends to normal, you'll have to traverse an entire world. Fortunately, Olly's sister finds it terrifying too and supports you throughout the journey, offering sound advice and plenty of help. The journey isn't just classic Paper Mario, but also manages to surprise you. For example, you'll suddenly find yourself riding around the desert in a giant shoe, exploring the sea in a boat (which is extremely reminiscent of Zelda Wind Waker), and playing hide-and-seek multiple times.

What makes this edition special is that battles take place on a rotating platform. You'll have to solve puzzles to align enemies so you can easily attack them with, for example, your hammer, or jumping with your Mario boots. This battle concept is new and works surprisingly well. Just when it gets tedious, the game throws in new variations that force you to think even harder about how to approach the battle. In short, battling is transformed into small puzzles followed by good timing.

Exploring the world is never boring, and in every corner you'll find a stuck Toad to rescue. Every Toad you rescue comes to cheer you on the battlefield. A really nice touch! This game will keep you smiling for thirty hours. That deserves a spot!