You can find this review in full at GBAtemp.net:
https://gbatemp.net/review/super-mario-bros-wonder.2406/

A series many of us will have grown up with, Super Mario Bros is the absolute titan of the 2D platforming space. With huge releases on all but two of Nintendo’s major platforms, it had previously struck some as odd that the Switch hasn’t seen any new content since its launch in 2017. At last however the dry spell has ended, and an astonishing 11 years after the debut of New Super Mario Bros U as a launch title for the Wii U, we rejoin the peerless plumber himself to see whether it was really worth the wait.

A New Beginning

The story this time opens to Mario and our colourful cast heading to the Flower Kingdom on the invitation of its prince Florian. Much to nobody’s surprise, the festivities are interrupted a certain reptilian monarch, kicking off the quest to once again thwart his evil schemes. So what’s the plan this time? To use the Wonder Flower and, hear me out, merge with a castle to… Frankly I’m not even sure what the end goal was here. Regardless he does need to be stopped, and you have one heck of a crew assembled to stand in his way.

Outside of the series staples Mario and Luigi, and New Super Mario Bros staples of Toad and less good Toad, we’re joined by princesses Peach and Daisy, Toadette, an assortment of Yoshis, and Nabbit. It’s quite refreshing to have a story start out with the princess not being capturing, and it’s great to finally have both Peach and Daisy as a playable characters in a 2D Mario game. This diverse cast does come with a bit of a caveat in that most of them play exactly the same, with Yoshi and Nabbit basically functioning as an easy mode. While Nabbit just walks through any potential source of damage and is a great choice for the younger siblings of the world, it is neat to see Yoshi getting some unique moves in their signature flutter jump and eating abilities. You also won’t take damage as Yoshi, but you will at least be knocked back. It’s a decent middle ground, and also just a really fun character to use if you want some variety later into the game.

Jumping right into the first level gives you a great taste of what’s to come, and believe me there’s a lot to like. Movement feels snappy and responsive, and the larger art style is a real breath of fresh air after seeing much of the same from the New Super Mario Bros games for the past 17 years. The music especially stands out, and this is something you’ll notice throughout the game with the game’s style and flair really shining in the audio. From this early stage it’s small details like the music emphasising brass once you’ve picked up the new Elephant Fruit power up, but as you progress the soundtrack does more and more to stand out. This isn’t just something that just sits in the background, it really goes a long way in supporting the unique and interesting visuals.

Out of the gate you’re given the new Elephant Fruit, which is fairly typical for a 2D Mario game. Mario 3 gave you the Raccoon Suit, New Super Mario Bros gave you the giant mushroom, Wii gave you the Propeller Suit, and U gave you the Squirrel Suit. It follows tradition to show you this shiny new power from the start but I couldn’t help feeling underwhelmed. It set me off on the game with a bit of a sour taste for just how minor the power-up felt compared to its predecessors. You can break blocks and spray water from your trunk, but it lacks the same freedom given to you by the various flight-enabling power-ups that came before it. As I played more though, I did start to understand. It sets a tone that you won’t break a level so easily with power-ups by just avoiding all of its dangers and flying above. Instead, the levels are designed to be broken on their own terms with thanks to the Wonder Flowers, and this is where the game really comes into its own.

Flower Power

At the core of any Mario game is of course its level design, and it’s here we’ve seen the majority of the series development since New Super Mario Bros hit the scene in 2006. We’ve seen new levels, we’ve seen fresh power-ups, but that’s really been it. Thanks to the addition of Wonder Flowers, this game steps things up to another level. With one in each traditional level, these flowers warp and contort your surroundings in any number of unexpected and bizarre ways. Ranging from altered graphics and twisting scenery to a sky raining stars, a singing entourage of plants and ghosts to the game transforming into a top-down Zelda-style dungeon, the Wonder Flowers are an absolute treat in crafting an entirely unique and fresh experience from start to end.

Where I really found myself impressed though is the fact that almost all of them are entirely optional. You see when you beat a level you’ll be rewarded with a Wonder Seed. You’ll need a certain number of these seeds to access key levels to progress in the game, and you can get an extra one from any level with a Wonder Flower by just finding it and playing through the section. You’re rewarded for that exploration and discovery, but you’re also not punished for missing them. With each level you often find yourself with two entirely differing environments, two ways to play. On my first playthrough I had so much fun just running through some levels and getting to the end, and I love that I was entirely able to do so. I think the Wonder Flowers are one of the best things to happen for the 2D Mario series, but it’s fantastic to see the core gameplay hasn’t been neglected for their inclusion. Pick and choose, play how you’d like. If you want to see all there is, you basically have double the levels at your disposal in choosing to or not to take the flower.

Badge of Honour

Beyond new power-ups and the Wonder Flowers though are something far simpler, yet just as impactful on your larger experience as you go from level to level. A first for 2D Mario, badges are additional unlockable abilities that can be equipped prior to entering a level. These abilities range from minor bonuses like getting coins for defeating enemies, to fundamentally changing core mechanics like movement speed and jump height. There’s a lot to like even on a surface level, with these badges enabling really fun mechanics to come back into the game in a much more granular form than something like Toadette’s Crown power-up in the Switch version of New Super Mario Bros U. They’re well-designed where nothing feels particularly broken, and even taking what might be seen as an easy mode option like saving yourself from falling into a pit is a meaningful choice you have to make in depriving yourself of something that may be either more fun or overall more useful in the level. I found myself switching up badges pretty often, even outside of levels that are largely designed for one badge over another (think water levels as a key example here, where one badge lets you dash in water).

Really my only fault with badges is in the linearity of obtaining them. I will admit a lot of this disappointment comes from the fact I was looking forward to playing with the Grappling Vine badge since its inclusion in an early trailer, only to go through the majority of the game with it nowhere in sight. This just comes down to how badges are unlocked, and it’s something I’m not really sure there would be an easy fix for. Badges are either tied to beating specific levels, usually a short challenge to act as a tutorial for the badge in question, or specific shops in the overworld. Because these levels and shops are locations you progress to, you can naturally only have certain badges at certain points in the game. A reasonable middle-ground may have been to pace badge obtaining to the first half of the game, and then spend the second half really ramping up their usage as you’ve had some time to get used to them. It just feels a shame to have these really fun powers and not all that much time to get the most out of some of them.

A Vast World

Between the levels designed for specific badges and levels that just fit them well, you do at least get a glimpse of what each badge can do at its best, and it does take us quite nicely onto talking about the larger topic of level variety. You obviously have your traditional levels. These follow a fairly standard formula that you’ll be familiar with if you’ve played any 2D Mario game before this one, and that’s not a bad thing. Each of these levels has three collectable large coins, a Wonder Seed to be collected by getting to the flagpole, and an additional Wonder Seed to be collected by finding the Wonder Flower in the level and completing its section. You might also find a secret exit here or there to reward you with an additional seed and an alternate path on the world map. Outside of your staples though, it is nice to see something more. I’ve already touched on badge challenges, providing a space to teach you how to use unique badges, and then later going onto test you with them. On top of these, you also have Wiggler races, which are a straight dash to the goal against a roller-blading Wiggler, KO Arenas, which pit you against several rooms of enemies on a timer, and finally Break Times, which are short and often one-screen levels to break up the action a touch.

I really had a great time moving between the level types, and the variety on offer did a good job in keeping the game interesting. There was one type of level in particular though that I felt could just be frustrating if playing alone, these being the Search Parties. These levels take what is potentially the most annoying aspect of user-generated Mario Maker levels, invisible blocks, and decides to run with it several times over through the game. Your goal here is to collect five fragments to form a complete seed to beat the level. These fragments are, as I mentioned, either hidden in invisible blocks, or are accessible by hitting invisible blocks. On paper this is absolutely awful design, and if you’ve played the game entirely offline, I can see very little in the way of redemption for some of these levels, the first one in particular. I do understand what they were going for though, and I can if nothing else appreciate the vision.

A Wonderful Community

Multiplayer in Mario Wonder works a touch differently to its predecessors, in no small part due to the inclusion of an online mode. While this online mode does let you host a lobby with your friends, its primary function serves to put you into a world of random people playing the game at the same time as you, and you’re able to see them in both the overworld and level. Whether playing with friends or random people, you won’t be able to throw them and you can’t mess with them, but you do get a real sense of togetherness as you venture on. This togetherness is the core of the Search Party levels, and it’s only because of it I was able to get through them without just looking up a guide. Seeing other people run around, or standing mysteriously midair ended up being a genuinely fun time. People stopped to help me, and I felt compelled to do the same in pointing the way. This togetherness really does go beyond these specifically-tailored levels and spills into the game as a whole.

My strongest memory of Wonder was playing an auto-scrolling airship level a few days after launch. I had a few people in there with me making progress at their own pace, and I happened to get hit on a section that required using a cloud to navigate it. Thanks to a helpful person nearby I managed to revive myself, and for that I was treated to a surprisingly difficult platforming problem of manoeuvring rotating canons you were really meant to be flying around. I came to enjoy these small interactions, and did my part in return on some of the later levels as I guided two poor souls while they fell into lava comically often. I didn’t expect much from the multiplayer as somebody who usually plays these games alone, but the seamless nature of it connecting automatically once you’ve been online once and the community itself made it a surprise standout. In a way it reminds me of a Dark Souls game though, where I can imagine much of this activity and magic will die down within the weeks and months following release.

I will also mention here that local multiplayer has seen some changes, with the biggest being that players can’t interact with each other anymore. There is one exception here with somebody playing as Yoshi being able to carry another player per the classic mechanic, but that’s really it. I’m personally torn as to whether this is an issue. On one hand we all have our fond memories of dumping a family member or friend into a lava pit when playing New Super Mario Bros Wii, only for them to throw the Wiimote onto the ground and leave the room. We all cherish those memories I’m sure. Is it what Nintendo want these games to be remembered for though? Probably not. Wonder puts a much higher emphasis on players supporting each other, and its version of multiplayer certainly meets this vision. It’s not necessarily worse off for it, but I can understand some degree of disappointment.

The Difficulty of a Mario Game

In terms of difficulty you really have a mixed bag in Wonder. The series as a whole has often put more of an emphasis on accessibility and creativity, and this game really sticks to that principle. It’s marvellously fun, and I feel there’s something to be had here regardless of whether you’re a child joining the series for the first time or somebody like me who’s grown up with it. I will stress there are some challenges, with the Special World in particular standing out in this respect, not to mention the very final level of the game should you choose to seek it out. The key here though is that these challenges are entirely out of the way, and you find that being common among the majority of the game’s major hurdles. They’re optional, and that’s just really good design.

The world map is central to this, and though it’s just a hub to move between levels, it’s certainly the best iteration we’ve seen to date. You can think of it as being made of three parts: linear sections where you have to beat a single level to unlock the next, an open selection of levels to pick between, and locked levels that require a set number of Wonder Seeds to open. Generally speaking the first category are your simpler traditional levels, introducing you to the larger style of a world and the themes at play, and acting as go-betweens for the larger open sections. These open sections are the meat of the game, featuring the assortment of levels available I mentioned earlier. Where this system shines is in the optional Wonder Seeds available to pick up in most traditional levels. With these, you’re open to avoid levels if you do find yourself hitting a wall, allowing for a few solid trials to be scattered around, even as early as the first world. Finally you have your locked stages, these often being castles or other minor hurdles. I did often find these less difficult than some of the stages available in the open areas, but they do strike a good balance for being stages that can’t be avoided. It’s a satisfying step up, if only a minor one, to test you on your journey.

I do also want to say how much I enjoyed the variety in terms of actual world design. In what is to my knowledge a series first, worlds don’t always end in a castle. This sounds like a small change, but it really is refreshing to see new ideas being tossed around. One world sees you tested for your worthiness to obtain the Royal Seed you’re hunting, and another sees you delve deep underground to rescue a group of Toads after a cave-in. They’re small details, but they really do add up to avoid the game feeling stale as it progresses. The castles themselves still managed to feel creative with enemies appearing around you as you make your way through them. One area that really fell short though was the bosses.

The Obligation of Bosses

Disappointing. There’s really no other word for them. In a game that screams creativity and variety, they for some reason decided to make every castle boss into the exact same fight. I hope you like Bowser Jr because you’ll be seeing him a lot! Now these fights have some interesting elements. The core idea is that they start out normal, you jump on the child Koopa’s head, and then things start to spice up with some Wonder power. This might warp the room, it might affect you, or it might affect Bowser Jr. If this were just one fight I think it’d be a fine idea, but it isn’t. It’s especially frustrating when you realise they already had a winning formula for this in 1995 with Yoshi’s Island on the SNES.

In that game, you see Kamek turn completely normal enemies into wildly creative and fun bosses by throwing some magic on them. That’s all we really needed. Enemies have so much personality in this game thanks to their revamped graphics and animations, and I’d have loved to have seen this turned up to 11 and thrown into a spotlight. The bosses here feel more like an obligation than something to look forward to, and that really shouldn’t be the case. To some extent the game redeems itself with a surprisingly fun end to the story, but it just doesn’t do enough for me.

Closing Thoughts

When all is said and done, I can absolutely recommend Mario Wonder to anybody wanting a great platformer on their Switch. Though certainly not without flaws, it stands as my favourite 2D Mario experience thanks to its overwhelming creativity and style. It’s an absolute breath of fresh air to what many have viewed as a stagnating franchise, and it has me excited to see what’s coming next.

You can find this review in full at GBAtemp.net:
https://gbatemp.net/review/disgaea-7-vows-of-the-virtueless.2396/

Disgaea as a series holds a special place in my heart. Discovering it in the early days of the Switch when portable content was far more limited than it is today, Disgaea 5 Complete completely changed my perception of what a Tactical RPG can be. Campy comedic storylines paired with a gameplay loop that laughs at the Fire Emblem games of old with their limited resources, Disgaea sees the peoples’ desire for big stats and big damage and challenges them to turn it up to 11 through hard work and grinding. This is a series that isn’t for everybody, but for those chosen few each new game offers hundreds of hours of min-maxing and discovery. After a lull with the mixed reception of Disgaea 6, we rejoin the series with a new unlikely duo in a new set of stylish Netherworlds to see whether Nippon Ichi Software can put things back on track.

Welcome to the Hinomoto Netherworlds

Though Netherworlds are often known for violence and destruction, ruled over by powerful demons, Hinomoto was different. Unlike the rest of this dark society, its residents valued honour and empathy, following tradition and a long-standing bushido code. All of this changed when the leader of the Netherarmy, Demmodore Opener invaded. Stomping out Hinomoto’s mightiest warriors, he united the warring Netherworlds with a puppet Shogunate under his mighty fist. We join the story many years after this historic event with a starry-eyed Hinomoto otaku Pirilika and her unlikely partner in the bushido-hating Fuji.

Now an unlikely partnership forming the core of your party isn’t new to the series, with staples like Laharl and Etna of the first Disgaea game, and Killia and Seraphina of Disgaea 5 really coming to mind. It’s a good dynamic that’s tried and tested, but I do think this iteration is my favourite out of the games I’ve played. Pirilika’s ditzy and ever-positive outlook is used well throughout the plot to setup jokes, with Fuji falling into the role of the straight man. More characters are added to the mix as the game goes on, but they do a great job in building on what’s established right from the start. Though Fuji takes centre stage in the marketing of the game as its protagonist, it’s fun to see Pirilika really be the guiding force as you progress, with her good will and misunderstandings not quite matching up to the modern-day morals of the Hinomoto Netherworlds.

The game really does find strength in its writing, and I’m not sure why that was such a surprise to me. The series as a whole has never disappointed me with its often-nonsensical antics and over-the-top progression. While it’s the endgame grind that stays in my memory, the writing that gets you there really is something to be appreciated. From start to end you have puns and references fitting with the larger feudal Japanese theme. From character names to maps and locations you really get the impression the writing team, and by extension the localisation team, had a lot of fun. And it doesn’t go unnoticed. I won’t go into too much detail on individual lines, but I will say I did a double-take when I saw a line from Bill Wurtz’s History of Japan video thrown in there. Much like the first time I played Disgaea, I found this such a contrast to the more serious Fire Emblem games I’ve been enjoying again lately. Disgaea 7 doesn’t at all take itself seriously, and yet does so with a straight face acting as though this is just the norm. It’s something so fundamental to the series that I somehow managed to forget prior to coming back now.

The Prologue to Grinding

With 15 chapters of story to play through you have a good chunk of content to get you started before you need to really think about maxing out any stats on your characters. After Disgaea 6, the progression of the story was something I was particularly interested in, with bloated level scaling and inflation of damage numbers being one of my big criticisms of the previous title. I don’t want to be dealing thousands of damage out of the gate; I want to earn it. And Disgaea 7 really met my expectations here.

You start the game in the double digits of damage, and that’s just great. It feels incredibly traditional and though it can feel a little slow at the start, you soon find a sense of momentum as you get back into the swing of things. The start is definitely made a little more cumbersome thanks to some lengthy tutorials (the first one in particular standing out as a colossal 17 page info dump!) but these swiftly clear up after the first few maps.

One area that definitely deserves commendation is the larger design of the maps you’re playing through. Each chapter features five maps that stay within a the confines of the respective Netherworld. Where I’ve found some games can fall into the habit of throwing the same map at you a bunch of times in a row, or fall into the trap of tedium in the name of longevity, Disgaea 7 manages to pull together something really quite enjoyable from start to end. You also see Geo Tiles used well from quite early on, these being colourful panels on the floor that take on the effect of any Geo Crystals placed onto them. My only real complaint in this department is how a number of the boss characters end up being of the same class, resulting in maps that can end up feeling samey despite their otherwise-interesting design. There is a reason for this in terms of the story, so I won’t dwell on it too much, but it’s definitely something that stayed on my mind during the later chapters.

As you progress you’ll come across a few new features to the series to spice up the map, and they’ll have varying impact on you while you’re just working through the story. These are Hell Mode and Jumbification. Hell Mode becomes available quite early on, and is a chargeable meter for any character in possession of an Infernal Treasure. These treasures are unique to certain characters, and with them come both unique trigger conditions and unique effects on activation. All of this is packed together similar to the Revenge system of Disgaea 5 with a meter to track how close you are to being able to pull the trigger. Hell Mode can be incredibly powerful, but I did find myself disappointed to see it limited to a select few. I can understand this to some extent for the story portion, but it feels as though there should have been a way to put these treasures onto generic characters in the postgame. I largely ended up ignoring it with how much I enjoy playing with the generic characters, which is a bit of a shame.

Jumbification is a different story though. Available on every character, it charges using a meter of its own that fills based on the whole team attacking and being attacked. Once full, you can pick any member of your team to Jumbify, supersizing them with a Kaiju-themed scene and placing them at a cardinal side of the board of your choice. This supersizing lasts three turns for you, but is unlimited for AI opponents. Despite this it manages to feel surprisingly balanced. Your actions while Jumbified are limited, but it’s not to say these limits make it bad. On the contrary you become ridiculously strong, fully healing your HP and SP, and granting you access to a 5×5 attack that can be aimed anywhere on the board. As well as this, you can engage in some giant vs giant fighting and take a more powerful swing at another Jumbified character. There’s a lot to enjoy with this one, and there’s some fun strategy in holding onto your Jumbification until you need to heal, or making use of the placement of your Jumbified character to move across the map, with your character reverting to their normal size next to where they were giant, in oppose to where they started.

Moving On and Scaling Back from Disgaea 6

With Disgaea 6 leaving a sour taste in its wake for many long-time fans, it is interesting to see just how many of its systems feature here in one way or another. Starting with what is probably its most egregious sin, I was over the moon to see 17 generic classes available out of the gate, with more than 40 in total to pick between and master. By comparison, Disgaea 6 had just 22. A part of the reason could have been that Disgaea 6 was the first 3D entry to the series, but for what these games cost at launch and just how many classes were cut, it’s not much of a leg to stand on.

Those same 3D graphics return for Disgaea 7 though they do appear to polished up a fair bit. The environments of each world you travel to feel distinct and frankly just look great, this carrying into the hub world where you’ll undoubtedly spend much of your time. Outside of its looks, I really appreciate how compact this hub is. On top of the shortcut radial wheels returning from Disgaea 6, everything is on a single map within a small area. This makes moving from place to place much smoother, and keeps everything within reach. You’re only really slowed down by loading screens, which will vary from platform to platform, and PC to PC.

The Juice Bar is back and serves as a way to pump up your units with stats, experience, and mana you’ve accumulated on your journeys. Notably you cannot use the bar to increase your class or weapon mastery, and perhaps more notable is the fact it no longer costs HL to use. The trade-off is that your stat increases are limited to a billion for HP and SP, and ten million for other stats, per character of course. It’s still an important part of building a strong character, but now it’s more just one piece of a larger puzzle than the core area you should be putting all your attention.

Finally we have what was probably Disgaea 6’s most controversial change in the evolution of auto battling: Demonic Intelligence. Though I came to appreciate the depth of the system, its impact was inevitable in changing the very fabric of the postgame experience. It became a problem of optimisation and figuring out the best way to not play the game. It’s surely interesting, and perhaps something worth an in-depth look of its own, but many saw it as a step too far; it seems NIS was paying attention. Demonic Intelligence does return, but it’s a shadow of what it was in the previous game.

Instead of being able to automate any map, you’re limited to those you’ve already cleared once. That in itself already has serious implications, removing the series staple Item World from the equation completely (we’ll come back to the Item World in more detail later!). On top of this though each automated turn will now use up a new currency, Poltergas, which you earn by clearing maps manually. In essence you still have the same problem of optimised automation, but on a much smaller scale. You need to make sure you clear whatever map you’re farming in one turn, and if you can, you’re rewarded quite handsomely for it. After you’ve cleared a map using DI, you’re given the option to repeat that clear as many times as you want, assuming you’ve got the currency for it, instantly claiming the cumulative reward. This means you can repeat a map up to 300 times once you’ve got your DI down. It’s well-balanced, but I do feel the system’s flexibility is wasted now. I’ve yet to find a situation were I’m not just telling a character to move to a specific place and use a specific attack. There’s no reason for conditions, checks, or any real embellishments. You make one DI to clear one map for grinding, and that’s its use.

There is a new mode on offer that could have offered some redemption for DI, but it ultimately falls on its face for the same reason as stated above. Demonic Shogi sees you controlling set pieces on a map and giving them a set of instructions to be able to clear them. You have a number of stages to clear of increasing difficulty, and I really do like the idea here. Because these are a list of single set maps however, you really just need to pretend you’re controlling the characters and issue direct instructions. There’s nothing complex or varied, and nothing that really requires you use DI to its fullest. This could’ve been fixed in a number of ways. Having multiple maps chained together would’ve been great to see, forcing you to create a single set of instructions that was flexible to adapt. Even giving you a chain of random maps akin to the Item World and grading you based on how far your instructions carried you would’ve been really interesting. The maps that were picked for Demonic Shogi are fun puzzles, but the inclusion of Demonic Intelligence just feels shoehorned in to give it a distinct reason to be in the game.

The Postgame Grind Loop

In terms of building a perfect character, there’s a decent combination of the old and new at play. For series veterans, you’ll be happy to know the Martial Dimension is available pretty early on here. And for those not in the know, the Martial Dimension is a series of five optional maps that are setup to give you a real challenge when you first clear them. For managing this feat however, you get access to some of the best maps to play on repeat to grind experience and mana. Though it’s entirely not necessary, and certainly not optimal, you’re able to start grinding as early as a few chapters into the game. If you want to power level to enable you to rush through the story you’re completely able to, and the Cheat Shop further supports you.

Available from Chapter 2, the Cheat Shop again returns to allow you to fine-tune the Disgaea experience to your liking. Chief among this tuning is the ability to redistribute the percentage of experience, mana, money, weapon mastery, special skill experience, and class proficiency received as you play through the game. The way this works is by giving you a pool of Cheat Points (CP), with each point being a percentage point you’re able to put into each of these rates. At the start of the game you’ll have 600 CP, representing the default 100% rate in each field. You’re also limited to how low each of these can go from the start, with this limit decreasing and eventually disappearing as you progress. What this means is that if you’re just focused on experience for example, you can reduce the rate in which you receive everything else to be able to get more. As you play more, you’ll be able to push this further and further, optimising your grind in a really natural way.

Once you hit the endgame is when things really start to ramp up though. With the story finished you’re free to start planning just how you’re going to get your favourite characters from the pits of mediocrity to taking down the biggest titans the game has to offer. To me it feels as though there’s less to do than usual here, but I will confess I’m not yet finished with the game, so there may be some depth that’s gone a little over my head.

Much of making a unit great can be split between two areas: buffing the unit, and buffing the equipment. Buffing units has been grossly oversimplified in Disgaea 7. Where before you might have had to grind maps to collect essences, play an entire board game to unlock the best of what your unit is capable of (nobody liked Chara World… I just want it back!), here things really aren’t so complex, and I’m not sure how I feel about it. The game feels far more streamlined than my experience with Disgaea 5 Complete, but I do think something was lost in this. Much of the game’s grinding come from two areas: the hospital’s Evil Gacha, and the revamped Item World.

Evil Gacha is a quick one to explain, with you healing at the hospital now giving you Hospital Points in place of static rewards for healing so much. This HP can then be spent on a series of increasingly-expensive gacha machines, each with better and better rewards. At the top end, you’ll be earning stacks of stats that go directly into the Juice Bar. What this ultimately means though is that to cap out those ten million per stat, you’ll need to be spending a lot of time standing in front of an NPC mashing the A button.

The Item World is at least a bit more involved, and the revamps here are actually mostly positive. Instead of an endless stream of random levels as in previous games, the Item World is now broken down into chunks based on your item’s rarity, giving you either 10, 20, or 30 floors before facing down a powerful boss character. When you reach the end, the item can then be reincarnated to become stronger while maintaining some of the strength it’s already gained. These more bitesized excursions feel much more manageable to me than just jumping into an indefinite number of floors until I felt like stopping. On top of buffing your weapons there are also a few quirks in the Item World that’ll contribute to your larger stat development, but with these being at the very end of the endgame I’ll leave them somewhat vague.

What amuses me about all this grinding is that, more than ever, it really isn’t necessary if all you want to do is beat the game. Even if you want to get all achievements, it’s actually not really required you spend hours upon hours buffing weapons and pumping stats. You’ll need to get to a certain baseline sure, but already fans have found ways to take down even the toughest enemies with some really cool and unique strategies. The community is one really big part of Disgaea as a series, and while I do think it’s something to be celebrated, I feel like it’s important to bring up that such a community almost seems like a requirement for a common player to get the most out of the game. As a series it could certainly do better in signposting players towards means of growth instead of just giving them a wall upon completing the story and expecting them to climb over it one way or another. The occasional item or skill having an awkward translation from time to time certainly doesn’t help either, though it does seem the localisation team at NISA have been updating the game since launch to fix these.

A £100 Game?

It’s about now that it’s probably worth mentioning the DLC available to buy at launch. This has become something of a series staple, and it’s not a positive one; if you’re a PC player you might not even be aware of it with the PC release usually being a “Complete” package. On offer is seven sets of three-map DLC that each offer you three characters to add to your forces from previous titles, priced at £6.69 apiece. There’s also an art book, cosmetic set, and special weapons at varying prices, but they’re not quite as important. I actually sold my special weapons by accident, doh!

Now the idea of paying an additional £45 on top of a full-price £55 game is already bad enough, but it only gets worse when you learn these DLC characters contain skills that’ll significantly speed up your grind. It’s a degree of pay to win that’s really unfortunate especially in a game that has an online arena mode to fight other peoples’ AI-controlled teams. I will clarify that you don’t need the DLC to beat the game, or get all achievements, by any stretch. Regardless, having this amount of additional content at launch and locking some fantastic skills behind it just doesn’t sit right with me. It gets worse mind. If £45 of launch day DLC wasn’t bad enough, you also have a delightful assortment of microtransactions to choose from, this giving your experience, mana, and HL gains a x2, x5, or x10 multiplier on top of whatever skills you have active in-game. These were added first in the Complete+ release of Disgaea 4, and were later seen in Disgaea 6, and I will make my stance on them clear again: use Cheat Engine if you really want to speed things up. Don’t support this. This is a £100 game if you’re buying what would have parity with the “Complete” releases; this shouldn’t continue, and NIS should be called out for it.

Closing Thoughts

When all is said and done, is Disgaea 7 worth your time? Undoubtedly. This is a fantastic entry to the series and one I can really recommend to any fan of Tactical RPG games, or just folks who enjoy a fun and lighthearted story to follow. Having said that, can I recommend you buying it now? If you’re new to the series, absolutely not; and that’s not to say it’s particularly unfriendly to newcomers. It’s a great game to start with, but where it finds fault is in its complete lack of value when compared to older titles like Disgaea 5 Complete. If you happen to be a series veteran and wanted to check in to see if things were looking up after Disgaea 6, you’ll have a blast. Otherwise, check out the cheaper entries to the series and wait for a sale. It’s a good game, but I feel gross for having supported a company who feel £45 of launch day DLC and microtransactions are reasonable for a £55 game. Do better NIS.

You can find this review in full at GBAtemp.net:
https://gbatemp.net/review/nuphy-air75-v2-mechanical-keyboard.2393/

If you’ve seen a NuPhy keyboard before the out of box experience will be a fairly standard one. On top of the keyboard itself, you get a USB A dongle for 2.4GHz connectivity, seven additional keycaps to match the OS you’re most likely to use the keyboard with, four extra switches to give you a taste of what’s available, a keycap and switch puller, a set of stickers, and the recognisable fold-out manual. I’ve said this in other NuPhy reviews, but I will always enjoy a manual that doubles as a poster, and this one is definitely no different. It feels high quality and the anime artwork is really pleasant if you enjoy that kind of thing. It won’t be to everybody’s taste, but it remains far more creative and interesting than your run of the mill manual, while not really compromising on any critical information.

The keyboard itself feels as well-built as the other NuPhy keyboards I’ve looked at. Its aluminium and plastic body feels incredibly sturdy, and for the few weeks I’ve been using it I’ve had no reservations about just throwing it in my bag for my commute to the office. It is worth noting here that if you do travel a lot and want a bit of extra protection, there is a folio case available to buy alongside the keyboard. While I don’t have it on hand, I can at least appreciate its clean and simple design.

If you’ve seen the original Air75, the V2 follows pretty much all the same design cues from what I can tell. You have the same compressed 75% layout with fully-backlit keys, alongside two small light bars on each side of the keyboard. While they’re not quite as impressive as the Halo models’ ring, I do enjoy them being on while the rest of the keyboard is dark. I’ve grown to dislike lighting below the keys, so these small touches are far more to my taste.

One thing I quite liked on paper was the metal plate on the bottom of the keyboard. This is fairly typical on these keyboards and really ties together the design well. It does fall short in practice though, especially when you consider one of the larger use cases for this specific model: sitting on top of laptop keys. Now I’ve used this with a MacBook, which is what the board is specifically designed for, and it fits like a glove. The rubber feet slot between the keys and secure it into place, giving you one of the best on the go typing experiences around. If you’re using it with other laptops though, your experience will vary. With the Dell Precision 7670 I use for work the keyboard has no issues sitting on top of the keys without pressing anything down. It does apparently catch something though, with the metal plate getting significantly scratched up. It would’ve been nice for them to pivot slightly from their staples here and maybe have some kind of plastic plate that wouldn’t scratch as easily, but I can’t say I know if that would’ve looked great. It’s not something you see either way when using the keyboard, but it does annoy me a little to know what lurks underneath.

In terms of configurations, you have three board colours and seven switch types to pick between. The model I have is the white board with tactile Wisteria switches. It’s worth noting that the model I received actually had the linear Cowberry switches in it, but NuPhy were nice enough to send across a jar of Wisterias to install myself. Using the provided tool it was just as simple as any other hot-swappable keyboard to pull a switch out and pop another straight back in. I really enjoy the 55gf required to actuate these switches, letting me fairly confidently rest my hands on the keyboard between spurs of writing. This is something fairly important to me when typing on a laptop; a switch too sensitive just leads me to frustration. As always though, it’s a thing of preference. The Moss switches actually require a heartier 60gf to actuate, so I may yet be checking those out in the future. Hot-swap is always a win for me, but it is worth noting that due to the low-profile nature of the Air75 V2, you are going to be more limited than a traditional keyboard in the switches you’re able to put in. The same goes for the keycaps you’ll have available to you.

As far as typing experience goes, I’d be shocked if you could find something better in such a portable form factor. The V2 is stellar, and has proven a joy to type on for the past few weeks of use. The keyboard sounds great too, featuring an evolution of, and I quote “plate poron hollow-sound absorption and IXPE PCB sound purification solution on Air96”. On top of that, NuPhy have continued to deliver on a great-sounding space bar, using what they’ve learned from their full-sized GhostBar to make something that really goes beyond its form factor. I really don’t have much to complain about, outside of maybe feeling some of the larger unstabilised keys like Caps Lock and Tab are easy to slant if you press them on one side instead of centrally. It can be adjusted easily to be flat again, but it is something I noticed. All the stabilised keys sound great with no kind of noticeable rattling sound. It all comes together brilliantly.

The battery life has also managed to impress me, with me not having charged it at all in the few weeks of use it’s had. Now it is worth noting that I’ve gone without the back-lighting as mentioned above, but it does give me faith in NuPhy’s numbers of up to 220 hours when not using the backlight, and 35-57 with. Assuming a busy eight hour working day, the V2 has a good chance of lasting you more than a month if you’re not fussy about lighting, and it’ll obviously go much further by just periodically being plugged in. I doubt I’ll be going out of my way to charge it anytime soon.

It doesn’t stop there though, with one of my biggest criticisms of their previous boards getting the solution it deserves: the Air75 V2 supports QMK/VIA for key remapping. I can’t stress how much of an improvement this is over previous software that was a mean combination of virus warnings and being closed source. VIA is a whole new world. With just a json file, you can remap your keyboard in-browser. It’s clean, it’s simple, and it’s familiar for anybody who’s had a VIA-compatible keyboard before. It just works, and I couldn’t be happier. Using VIA you’re able to customise everything you’d expect with support for keyboard-specific actions like lighting control and Bluetooth connectivity. You can also add a number of layers using VIA, something I admit I don’t use enough. I had no issues adding my usual backslash onto Fn+Z, with this being one of the few keys you lose if using an ANSI-layout keyboard as a UK one on Windows.

There is one quirk though; there’s always a quirk. You see the Air75 has a switch to move between Windows and Mac mode, with different shortcuts loaded up for each system. I like this, and for those moving between operating systems it’s definitely useful. The only real issue is that it’s only the Mac mode that can be customised when the keyboard is loaded up in VIA. As somebody who doesn’t really use the Mac shortcuts even on a Mac, I didn’t mind so much and just remapped it to match the Windows layout. It definitely could be an issue for those wanting to move between systems more frequently though and want a bespoke experience on both platforms.

A few more things just to mention in passing for the Air75 V2 are that it supports a 1000Hz polling rate on both its wired and 2.4GHz wireless connection. This isn’t uncommon in a lot of modern keyboards, but it is notable for a wireless low profile board. The three Bluetooth 5.0 connections the keyboard can store internally are unfortunately limited to 125Hz polling, but that is a bit of a trade-off for the convenience of being able to just flip between devices. I found a few inputs getting skipped over when connected via Bluetooth on my MacBook, but it was never bad enough as to make me want to use the built-in keyboard instead. The dongle being USB A is a bit of an unfortunate choice in my mind, especially with MacBooks users as one of the biggest target audiences here. Not being able to use it to its fullest without being plugged in or having a USB C adapter to hand is a let down. You also don’t have anywhere convenient to be storing that adapter, meaning it’ll likely manage to disappear given enough time (at least in my experience!).

That aside though, the Air75 V2 is a magnificent low profile keyboard, and is something I would absolutely recommend for both laptop users wanting the best typing experience and those who just want a low profile keyboard for easy transportation. With support for VIA NuPhy have nailed the customisation aspect, and I can only hope they keep it going forwards. It’s a great showing for the $120 asking price, and I remain hopeful for what comes next from the company.

You can find this review in full at GBAtemp.net:
https://gbatemp.net/review/nuphy-field75-mechanical-gaming-keyboard.2353/

Out of the box the Field75 is certainly unique. Giving off a steampunk kind of vibe, you have a metal handle on the left, a volume wheel in the top left, a further twistable cog, a dial to switch between connectivity modes, and eight macro buttons. This is, naturally, on top of the standard 75% keyboard layout you might have guessed from the name. For those that don’t know, 75% keyboards are ones that retain function keys and arrow keys, as well as Home, End, PgUp, and PgDn. It’s one of the more compact layouts and maintains pretty much all of the functionality of a full keyboard if you don’t find yourself using the numpad.

Despite its plastic exterior, the keyboard feels incredibly sturdy, and the extra bells and whistles reflect that well. The handle on the left of the board is something I really didn’t have much faith in, but after swinging the keyboard around by it for a solid few minutes, it stands up about as well as the GameCube’s handle. And that’s no small feat. The volume wheel features defined clicks as you move it backwards and forwards that I could best compare to the sensation of popping bubble wrap. It feels a bit like a functional fidget toy at times, with the cog giving an entirely different type of feedback as it cycles through lighting effects on the board.

While the plastic used for the keyboard is really quite visually impactful, especially with the ‘Ethereal’ orange option I have on hand, it’s definitely not without flaws. The biggest of these for me is how it manages to catch dust. Obviously anything sat on your desk for an extended period of time will get some level of dust, but I find myself noticing it far more often here. On top of this, I’ve noticed grooves in the plastic that I assume have been caused by the keyboard being in my bag. Both of these nothing major in the grand scheme of things, but both likely stem from the type of plastic that was chosen for the board.

My last concern with the larger design of the board is that there’s just nowhere to keep the USB dongle for the 2.4G wireless mode. I may be spoiled but pretty much every modern wireless keyboard I’ve used has had somewhere to stow it away to avoid it getting lost to the ether. While the Field75 does have a passthrough USB port you can keep it in, it sticks out, leading the the potential for damage. Not to mention that a passthrough USB port almost certainly has better uses than this.

The keyboard comes in four different colours, each with four options for switches. The board itself is hot-swappable though, so you can always change later on if you decide the switches you picked aren’t for you. The board I have comes with the linear Polaris switches, and I’ve really enjoyed typing on them so far. They come factory-lubed, and are some of the better factory lubed switches I’ve used. Combined with multiple layers of foam you have a muted and smooth typing experience. Having followed their Discord server, I have noticed there be some instances where switches were overlubed, causing a mushy typing experience for some users. It seems like these cases were more common when the keyboard first launched though, and the NuPhy staff appeared eager to assist. Having not run into this issue I can’t really comment any further.

The GhostBar returns and is still just as nice to use as it was with the Halo96. The entire spacebar feels even and has the same sound no matter where it’s hit. The same can be said for the backspace and return key, with there being no noticeable stabiliser rattling. It all comes together really quite well for a great experience even for those not wanting to swap things out or tinker further. It’s ultimately what you’re paying for with a pre-built keyboard, so it’s good to see the basics nailed down like this.

With eight macro keys though, this is a keyboard you’re expected to customise, if only a little. This is where the new Field Console comes into play, and to say it’s had a rocky launch would be an understatement. The software behind these keyboards isn’t designed or developed by NuPhy themselves, with it all being handled by an external company. When the keyboard originally released, this software was was ringing alarm bells on all manner of antivirus software, forcing NuPhy to pull it and leaving users with a stock configuration for around three weeks after people started receiving their keyboards. On top of this, the version that released after that was still flagged for viruses.

To be fair to NuPhy, these were likely false positives, with things like keylogging and audio recording being the specific issues. Keylogging should be self-explanatory for remapping inputs, and audio recording was for the lighting to respond to audio should you want that setting. Regardless, it’s really not what you want to see, especially when configuring a device that you’ll be plugging into any number of your personal or work PCs.

This all does seem to be fixed now, with there being no warnings on installing Field Console. All the same, it’s something you should be aware of, especially if you’re an early adopter of a future product. It seems like things are generally worked out, but how long it takes for that to happen is entirely up in the air.

With that out of the way, the software itself is functional; it’s nothing special, but it covers the basics well. Here you’re able to remap all your basic key functionality, including your macro keys, to be one of their default function, another standard key, a multimedia key, a system function, a mouse function, an ‘office key’, or a macro. It should be noted that despite this keyboard having a function layer, you are completely unable to remap it. On top of that, you’re stuck with the default behaviour for the volume wheel and the lighting cog. It’s a shame really. With this keyboard I much prefer using it with no lighting, so the cog is just sat doing nothing. Even having it be next and previous song for right and left turns respectively would’ve been great.

The macros work fine, with you being able to record your inputs with set delays between them, or keeping your original typing cadence. I’ve never been the biggest user of macro keys, but with these keyboards being exclusively ANSI layout, I’ve appreciated the ability to map the four keys on the left to being backslash tremendously. For those unaware, this is pretty much the only key you lose if you happen to use an ANSI layout keyboard with a UK layout via software, which is annoying with how frequently I need it for programming. The other four buttons I’ve also put to work, albeit fairly light, with mappings like Shift+F6 (for refactoring code in CLion if you’re curious) being accessible with my thumb instead of having to stretch my hand across the keyboard. If there’s one major positive point of this software, it’s the you don’t need to keep it around. Once you’ve saved your settings they’ll persist without issue, even in Bluetooth mode.

Alongside the keyboard, NuPhy sent along a set of their recent Carmine Cloud keycaps. With there not really being enough to talk about to warrant an individual review, I wanted to mention them here as an option to further customise the keyboard. The Carmine Cloud set in particular have a really pleasant sunset colour scheme with white keycaps, purple text, and a purple to orange gradient of accent keys. I really love the overall aesthetic and they keycaps themselves feel great to type on. Despite that, I really wouldn’t recommend them for this keyboard in particular. I don’t think this sunset theme really suits the sandy body of the Ethereal model at the best of times, but beyond that I’m not all too fond of how the high the cherry profile keycaps sit here. While the typing experience is fine despite the north-facing lighting, I’m just not a fan of it. You’re also stuck with a lumpy right side of the keyboard as the Home/End/PgUp/PgDn keys are clearly made for tenkeyless models in oppose to this 75%. I’d definitely recommend them if you have a white or pastel keyboard in the works and are hunting for some aesthetic cherry profile keycaps, but they’re not the caps for the Field75 in my mind.

Is the Field75 a keyboard worth your time? If you’re in the market for a decently compact pre-built keyboard but don’t want to give up your macro keys, this might just be the one for you. At $160 (~£130) it’s sat at a relatively competitive price point, and if you’re unphased by the lack of configurable function layer and potentially-slow software updates, I can definitely recommend it. NuPhy still only have a few keyboards out of the gate at this point, but I’m excited to see whatever’s coming next.

You can find this review in full at GBAtemp.net:
https://gbatemp.net/review/viewfinder.2343/

Viewfinder starts out with a simple concept and develops it as you play. Reminding me of Echochrome in a lot of ways, you’re tasked with picking up pictures and placing them in the world, with the picture becoming a part of your reality. At the start of the game it’s a simple case of looking through the environment, finding your stock of pictures, and figuring out where they need to go. There’s a gap you can’t cross and a picture of a bridge on hand? Line it up and walk across your new bridge. If there’s one thing the game handles well, it’s its escalation of difficulty, and the first few levels may well deceive you. This is a puzzle game to be reckoned with, and by the time you realise it, you’ll already be hooked.

Environments in the game are simple at a glance and do a good job in allowing you to take in your options quickly. It’s rare to run into a situation where you don’t know the problem you’re wanting to tackle, and from there it’s a fun challenge of working backwards to figure out which of your available tools you need to fall back onto. This kind of thinking is more obvious early on where you have a set selection of images to place, or find yourself with a stationary camera to take a picture with. You have this thing, now how are you going to use it? What needs to change to get to where you want to be? As the game progresses your options increase, and with that, so too does the puzzle complexity. As mentioned you start with pictures that are found around levels, as well as frames that are lined up with parts of a scene to build a full image. From there you’ll get stationary cameras that look at a fixed point with a limited number of pictures to print. It’s around this point you’ll start finding more interactable objects that you might need to manipulate and photograph. All of this culminates around halfway through the game with you getting your own camera to carry with you. And this freedom is something that had me concerned at first.

Giving the player too many options in a game like this can turn what is a fun puzzle into a laborious cycle of trial and error. Viewfinder circumvents this by keeping each level both compact and concise, while still allowing you to use your freedom to come up with interesting solutions. It does a great job of guiding without holding a sign towards the solution, and in doing so ends up with a gameplay loop that’ll leave you wanting more.

A particularly good decision was to make the most challenging and obscure puzzles optional. While the vast majority of levels do need to be finished, and come with a really pleasant narration (mostly from a talking cat that you can, in fact, pet), the real trials for me were the optional levels that open up after clearing the rest of an area. These puzzles aren’t entirely out of the blue either, often using mechanics you’ve recently seen in new and interesting ways. The first optional level as an example only has pictures in the level with no ability to take more, but tasks you with solving a maze where a wrong turn will give you another copy of the picture you just came through. You keep looping until you figure out which path to take, how the pictures should be oriented; it’s all just brilliantly creative. And the same can be said for the larger game.

Viewfinder is one of those games that really doesn’t crop up frequently, and it is truly a magical experience from start to end. It has an idea that’s incredibly simple on paper, but the seamless nature of its execution is a marvel to behold. This seamlessness goes beyond the game mechanics and into how the game feels through its controls. It’s intuitive with both a keyboard and controller, and I was surprised at how quickly I picked it up using even something as odd as the Ultimate Hacking Keyboard’s trackpoint module (not that I expect many people to play this way). The one thing I was disappointed to see missing was motion controls, and though it might be surprising to some, I really did miss them. On a PC game I can somewhat understand a lack of motion controls, with these not being an option in the dominant Xbox controller, but it does feel a missed opportunity for the PS5 release where the controller is a little more interesting. It does at least support the adaptive triggers, though to what extent I’m not certain having the PC version on hand to review.

I’d also be really interested to see this as a VR title. The surreal but somewhat simple environments Viewfinder offers are exactly the kind that would do well in a VR setting. I can imagine it being a fairly intensive VR experience, but the idea of walking through the ever-shifting landscapes and taking it in first-hand is something I haven’t been able to shake since first picking the game up.

Outside of the lack of motion controls, the only point I can find fault in is the game’s length. You’re looking at somewhere between three and five hours of gameplay from start to end, and for some people that just won’t be enough to justify the £20 price tag. This is a game ripe for additional levels in content updates and DLC, but there’s nothing to suggest either of these are in the works. Is it worth it as it is now? Yes. Absolutely so. I can’t deny I want more, but the experience from start to end was put together in a way where I can certainly say I’m satisfied with what I played. It’s a game that very much could have outstayed its welcome but, in part due to its short nature, managed to stay original and interesting. Put simply, it’s one worth checking out.

You can find this review in full at GBAtemp.net:
https://gbatemp.net/review/nobunagas-ambition-awakening.2327/

Nobunaga’s Ambition as a series has always been an interesting one for me. Set in the turbulent Warring States Period of Japanese history, it sees you pick a clan and see it through to the end, with the larger goal of achieving what Oda Nobunaga could not: unifying the country. Starting out on various Japanese PCs, it’s seen releases on everything from the SNES to mobile phones, and has even hosted the Pokemon series for a cross-over title in Pokemon Conquest. Now on the PS4, Switch, and PC, we check back in with the series to see if unification is as fun as it was when I last checked in with the series ten years ago.

While the larger goal of the game is clear, exactly how you’re going to achieve it is not. When first starting out, you’re pointed to The Battle of Okehazama if you’re unfamiliar with the game. I really like this type of tutorial that’s built into a larger scenario. One area where the last major release, Sphere of Influence, let me down was in how it introduced things with a completely separate scenario. While it was a nice idea, it felt like a few hours that were just thrown down the drain before you could pick a scenario to actually start playing. That isn’t the case here, though it’s not perfect either. Assuming you have tutorials enabled, you’ll find yourself with an incredibly text-heavy first 30 minutes as popup after popup will, well, pop up as new mechanics are introduced to you. The Battle of Okehazama in particular is a nice setting, giving you the Oda clan as they’re just finding their roots in a country that has little in the way of immediate major threats.

The game plays out in real time with you able to pause the action at any point to do one of a number of activities. When starting out, your focus will likely be on developing the provinces you currently have under your control. This can be done at a basic level by developing one of the farm or fair; the former of these increases your crop production, which in turn influences how many soldiers can be stationed there. The latter increases your income, which can then be used for buying treasures or funding policies and proposals. Counties within your provinces can also have their land developed in one of a limited number of slots to better specialise them to your needs. While slightly different to Sphere of Influence, much of this will be familiar to long-time fans of the series. Where it changes a little is in how this scales, and how much of your clan you actually have direct control over. The short answer here is very little, and that comes with its strengths and weaknesses.

Where in older titles you would be responsible for pretty much everything, which I do feel is fun for the control and precision you can have in your planning, here you basically just control a single province where the Daimyo resides. Beyond this, you’re required to appoint a trusted retainer to manage a province, and then assign further retainers to manage the smaller counties within the province. The end result is a game that feels more streamlined in where your attention is placed. Instead of you having to micromanage every small decision, much of these are set aside and you’re left pondering the grander strategy of your ascension. I like this on paper, and being somebody who has traditionally struggled with the late-game of previous titles, this shifted focus is something I can appreciate. You further delegate responsibility as you progress and conquer territory, which you then can break into provinces and again put under control of retainers. Provinces are slightly different to the normal delegation in that you can give them complete autonomy to build and, should the opportunity arise, attack their neighbours without first seeking consent. You can customise this if it’s not something you want, but I find it thrilling to see a notification one of my generals is marching, and just watching them succeed.

A lot of this feels like a real step forwards for the series, but I can’t help but feel that, like with the free will of the provincial leaders, much of this should have been optional. I feel much more able to progress than I did in older games, especially as time goes on and the game board gets more and more complex. Where I would appreciate that granularity in control is the start though. Where I don’t have many provinces under my control, I wish I were able to develop them exactly as wanted towards a specific goal. It’s something you soon adapt to, but I can understand how some might see this as a step backwards.

When you’re ready to go to war, you’ll quickly notice combat also isn’t quite what you’re used to, and again it’s here where it feels the game is streamlining itself for both better and worse. Sphere of Influence offered some surprisingly engaging battles, allowing you to directly control battalions on a 3D map and watch a battle unfold and develop in real time. Awakening by comparison feels quite dull, even if I can appreciate a lot of what’s gone on here to facilitate larger-scale fights. You now have a number of units spread across interconnected nodes on a map. These units can move from node to node and both fight enemy units, or tackle enemy equipment; you still do have a degree of control here in being able to dictate where they move or what they target, but much like the rest of the game they’ll also act alone in the absence of orders. You have two types of battle each with differing win conditions: standard battles and sieges.

Your standard battles are simple. It’s your army against theirs, and you win by either taking out all their units, or by completely reducing their morale. Morale is impacted by defeating enemy units or having your units be defeated, or by capturing or destroying key infrastructure. Generally speaking you’ll win a standard battle if you have more forces than your opponent, though things like unit composition can play a key part. If you have one unit with 10,000 troops against an army of 20 500 troop units, the single unit could win out by continually reducing the enemy morale from defeating the smaller units. Equally, the smaller units could be used to surround the single larger unit and deal bonus damage from things like a pincer manoeuvre. The board you’re fighting on is simpler, but I do feel there’s ample strategy at play here to keep it interesting.

Sieges are a different ballgame entirely, though much of what I’ve said above still does apply. You have the same basic formula at play. The key difference is that one army is defending a central point, a castle, and the attackers are tasked with either defeating the castle’s lord or capturing the castle itself, on top of the usual win condition of wiping out the enemy entirely. What’s added to the mix here is that the attackers’ morale is constantly draining, with them being forced to retreat when fully reduced. You’re on a timer, which pressures you into wiping out enemy units, or attacking key infrastructure to maintain morale to, in turn, eventually make your way to the castle. To be quite honest, I still don’t fully understand the best way to play these out. I’ve lost sieges with 30,000 troops against a defence of only 8,000. Unit composition plays a more significant role here though, with any unit being forced to retreat having a significant impact on your ability to continue the siege. While you’re finding your footing, you are at least able to reload your save and try out other strategies should things not go your way. It’s not an ideal solution, but it did allow me to grasp the basics without suffering consecutive losses. The game has the ability to auto-save monthly, and it’s something I’d really encourage you leaving on. After you have 20 saves, they just write over themselves, meaning you’re never completely overrun.

Through a carefully-crafted mixture of war and diplomacy, your larger win condition varies from scenario to scenario. Some will allow you to claim victory through uniting the part of the map your clan starts on. This might be having 20 or so specific regions under your control, culminating in the regional unity ending. If at this point though you’re happy with your progress and want to carry on, you’re free to do so in pursuit of unifying the entire nation. There’s also the Three Offered positions ending, which tasks you with conquering more than half of the nation’s castles, including those surrounding the capital. I do like the variety on offer, with it allowing you to dictate your own game length to a degree while giving you both a meaningful goal and stopping point.

With the Nobunaga’s Ambition games falling under Koei Tecmo’s historical simulation series, Awakening does well in blending true events into each of your sessions. These come in two forms, with some events forced to play out along with voiced cutscenes, and others being optional. These optional events are presented as hearsay, and clearly lay out what will happen if you choose to bring them into your game. If you decide you want it to happen, you’ll get a short stint of dialogue from the affected parties giving context to what’s happening, and you’ll carry on your merry way. There’s generally no downside to just ignoring these if they don’t suit your taste with a lot of them being minor name changes to match what was happening at the time along with a bit of history. Some of them do have a larger impact though, with clans splitting up and conflicts rising. These can sometimes suit your needs, so are worth paying some attention to in my mind. The optional nature of them means you can replay the same scenarios as the same clan and still have a decent amount of variety. I like them a lot.

Having played the game on Steam, I’ve found very few issues with the PC controls. Sphere of Influence was well-optimised for mouse and keyboard inputs, and it’s no surprise Awakening follows suit. The menus feel streamlined, matching the larger feel of the game. Where I am a little disappointed is in the lack of controller support available to PC players though; in 2013 this might not have been such a major deal, but with the advent of the Steam Deck and other PC handhelds, there’s a larger market than ever wanting a clean way to play this on the go. Sure you can say those people should just buy the Switch version, but when the thought has already been put into making the game controller-friendly for the Switch and PS4, I don’t understand why Koei Tecmo couldn’t go the extra mile to have it as an option in the PC release. It’s not a deal-breaker, and I’ve found myself able to get by using the ROG Ally’s touch screen in a pinch, but it’s an area where it could certainly be better. A more minor note, the game will just refuse to open if for whatever reason your Documents folder doesn’t exist. I ran into this issue with me having my Documents folder redirected to a Micro SD card that was at the time missing, and there was annoyingly no error message to say what’s wrong. It’s not something many people are likely to run into, but it’s worth mentioning all the same. It’s another area that likely wouldn’t take much to improve on, with other games having an alternate save location in the event Documents isn’t present.

Nobunaga’s Ambition Awakening isn’t an upgrade in every way from its predecessor, but it does do a good job of breathing new life into the series for fans who’ve been devoutly playing Sphere of Influence for the past ten years. With a focus on streamlining smaller activities, the end result is a game that tasks you with focusing on the bigger picture and larger conquest of the nation. I like it a lot, and with it being the first western release to find itself on the Switch, I hope more people will give the series a shot. It’s a fun game that really can hook you for tens of hours to complete just one scenario; there’s a world of content here for those willing to engage.

You can find this review in full at GBAtemp.net:
https://gbatemp.net/review/waterfield-pouch-for-rog-ally.2316/

Windows handhelds aren’t new, but ASUS have been kicking up a storm by offering a great device at an incredibly compelling price. Where I think they fell short, however, is in their official case. It’s been designed fairly thoughtfully for the system and can act as a stand while gaming, and keep it protected on the go. On paper I like it. But to me, and maybe others, it just looks ugly; it has a 2010s Adidas bag feel I can’t get past. I wanted something better. Something I wouldn’t grimace at when I pulled it out of my bag, and something that could still do a good job at keeping the Ally safe. Enter WaterField and the latest iteration of their Pouch.

The Pouch itself isn’t all too difficult to explain. You have a ballistic nylon exterior that houses a zipped pocket on the front, and a main zipped compartment to store the Ally itself. The inside of the main compartment is incredibly soft and has an additional padded pouch behind where the console sits. You can use this to store your essentials, but outside of that I appreciate how it enables the Ally to sit largely flush with the case thanks to the pouch sitting between the two hand grips. It’s a small detail but it does go to show the effort and detail that goes into adjusting these cases to best fit the specific device. Following on from this, it should be no surprise the Ally fits perfectly and feels incredibly secure when being transported or just thrown onto a sofa while I’m tidying around. The zip comes around the corner of the case, making it easy and natural to put in and take out the system by just holding it by its grip. 

Looking to the front compartment, you have a somewhat small place to store wires and other pieces you might want to carry with you. The inner material here is aesthetically pleasing with a gold-patterned lining. It feels sturdy more than it does soft, but that’s probably the better choice for a part of the bag that doesn’t have direct contact with the device. The compartment itself has an additional pocket within it, allowing for further organisation. 

I like the front pocket, but I must confess I don’t use it for much. Nor the extra pocket that sits behind the Ally. While you can get wires in here and other essentials you might want to carry, I can’t get behind how uneven it makes the case feel. With just the Ally being carried, the case is incredibly sleek and feels great to hold, but with wires in the front or back I just can’t say the same. This is the kind of issue you’ll find with any smaller case that wants to give you more options, and I do commend the options even if I don’t use them. It’s not much, but I do at least carry a small cleaning cloth and USB C to USB A adapter with these not having much of a footprint. 

While this case is quite lovingly crafted for the Ally, I did find myself using it for other systems when out and about. I tend to only take one device with me, so having a single case shared in this way is really quite a clean solution. The AYANEO 2 fit really nicely with its shape being largely similar, and I was really happy carrying my Switch too. Back when I just used Joy Cons, I’d use my Sefu Bag for the Switch, but since moving to RetroFlag’s GameCube-themed grip, it’s just too big for the fitted design. Again with thanks to the similar form factor, it’s found a home here. 

It is worth mentioning that if you do want a case specifically for the Switch or Steam Deck, WaterField have versions of the Pouch designed for them in the same way this one is for the Ally. You might suffer from similar issues as me if transporting the Switch with third party accessories or controllers though, so make sure to look at the dimensions and make sure what you’re wanting will fit. With HORI’s Split Pad Pro, you might be better off with a case designed for the Steam Deck, for example. 

There’s really not that much more to say when it comes to the Pouch. WaterField are known for premium cases at usually quite premium prices to match, and this case is exactly what I’d expect from them. At $79 on the official WaterField website, you’re ultimately paying double the price of ASUS’ official offering. Do I think it’s worth it? Absolutely. This is a well-padded case from a company that does cases and does them well. You have a tried and tested design tweaked to meet the needs of the new kid on the block, and if you’re wanting the best to throw into your bag, this might just be it.

You can find this review in full at GBAtemp.net:
https://gbatemp.net/review/backbone-one-mobile-game-controller.2315/

I make no secret about my love for mobile gaming. With how much power we now carry around in our pockets, we’re capable of playing everything from Excitebike to Mario Galaxy 2 by emulation, and a whole world more with native apps and game streaming. With so much to play and more on the horizons, you want the best way to be playing this ever-growing library, and Backbone think they might just have the One you’re looking for.

Now handheld controller grips aren’t anything new, and we’ve covered them before with the likes of PowerA’s MOGA XP7-X Plus, Razer’s Kishi, and Turtle Beach’s Atom. Backbone aren’t exactly new to this space, with the Backbone One originally releasing for iOS devices back in 2020, and becoming an incredibly popular choice in the space. It later came to Android in 2022, with a PS5-themed design debuting in November for iOS and earlier this year for Android. Backbone sent over this latest Android model for us to check out, but to round out the review a little better, I decided to pick up the original model for the iPhone as well, so you’ll see pictures of both throughout.

The Backbone One is a fairly standard affair on the hardware side of things. It’s a grip-style controller that wraps around the phone, with it being connected by one of USB C or Lightning port depending on the model you opted for. With it costing £100 you have some expectations out of the box in terms of quality, and I am glad to see them met. The buttons feel slightly small by modern standards, and to my eye are a few millimetres larger than what you’d find on a New 3DS. They each offer a satisfying but muffled click when pressed, and have enough travel distance to accept even a heavy presser. The analogue sticks will feel familiar to Switch owners, though do feel a little smoother than the Joy Cons I have on hand (this could just be a question of age). You get a start and select button, a screenshot button, and a dedicated button to open the Backbone app. We’ll talk more about the app later. The two bumpers offer a satisfying bump, and the triggers are a little odd in how they end up flush with the body when fully pressed. For some the travel distance will be a bit short, but the way they feel is really quite unique. They’re responsive and lack the mushy feel you might associate with mobile controllers; despite the travel distance, they’re probably the best I’ve used.

Ever the point of contention, the D-Pad is notably fine by my standards. As a fan of a tactile D-Pad it definitely isn’t my preference, but with a SNES controller next to me to compare against, it feels like a smaller and smoother version of that. It’s not done badly and rolls well from one input to the next, but it wouldn’t be my first choice. You also get both a port for pass-through charging and a 3.5mm headphone jack, which is always appreciated. Even modern phones did still provide headphone jacks, the grip would have likely covered it anyway.

With the telescopic nature of the controller you’re limited in which devices you can use. For iOS users this is unlikely to be an issue; the Backbone had no issues holding everything from the iPhone 6 to the 13 Pro Max I had on hand. The only devices you’d struggle with are those older than the iPhone 6, with the Backbone just too wide when fully closed to securely hold them. Android phones are a different beast though, with there being a huge number of devices to try to account for. Assuming your phone isn’t some rugged beast or some FiiO player (my M11 Plus didn’t fit!), you’re likely to be fine though. The longest phone I have on hand is the LG Wing at 169.5mm, and that seemed to be pushing the controller to its limit. I don’t think there are too many phones larger than this though.

For the novelty of it I gave it a shot with my Surface Duo, with the results being surprisingly good. It takes a bit of getting used to since you have your controls level with the top screen instead of the bottom, but with Drastic able to swap the screens around anyway, you can just make sure your primary screen is at eye level. It holds the phone in securely despite its thin nature, and it definitely the best experience I’ve had with the Duo.

Comparing the original Backbone One to the newer PlayStation release offers only a few changes. Aesthetically you’re looking at a change from black to white for the controller body. While the black plastic isn’t the worst I’ve seen, it definitely does smudge and collect its share of marks. The PlayStation model naturally feels better in this respect. The other difference is in the buttons and the D-Pad. While both feel the same mechanically, they differ greatly in the materials used. Where the original Backbone One opted for a matte finish on its buttons, the PlayStation release has the glossy feel you might find on a DualSense controller. Of the two the PlayStation model wins the day for me, but neither feel bad in hand.

On both iOS and Android, the Backbone One comes with its own software that acts as a custom launcher for your controller-compatible games. Beyond native games, you’re able to link your Microsoft or Steam accounts to access game streaming via Game Pass and GeForce Now respectively (note you’ll need an active subscription to access either). What’s particularly nice about this implementation is that you can add specific games from these services to your launcher, cutting out the need to go through their apps entirely. While this is a neat shortcut on Android, it’s far more convenient for iOS users who lack a dedicated app either way. The app in general is something I view as a big draw factor for iOS users, with limited options available for controller-enabled app launchers. It isn’t perfect mind. To add an app to this launcher, Backbone needs to register it as a game that supports controller inputs. This causes problems when Backbone’s database isn’t complete. Notably for me, Disgaea 4 Complete+ apparently isn’t supported, and as a large game from a large publisher like NISA, it just isn’t good enough. This isn’t an issue on Android where you can just pick which apps you want to appear from what you have installed, just as long as it’s listed as a game.

Update: I decided to report Disgaea 4 being missing on the iOS launcher, and the support team were really swift with a reply, and have informed me that it was passed to the Games Team. While it still isn’t ideal to be at the mercy of their own list, it is at least a really good sign that apps can be added by just contacting them.

This app is also full of adverts marked as “suggested” apps that you can’t hide on iOS. What’s worse, these suggestions will remain on the menu even if you do have the apps installed. There’s also “Popular on Backbone” and “Play For Free” app drawers full of games I neither own nor care about. I do understand to a degree that adverts keep this kind of thing alive, but having some kind of freedom to customise the app would go a long way. Especially so when Backbone are trying to sell this as a part of a yearly Backbone Plus subscription service. It’s a good start, especially for iOS users, but there are certainly better options available for Android.

Is the Backbone One worth your time? From my experience with both flavours of it, I’d definitely say so if you’re wanting to have a better mobile gaming experience. I’m not going to pretend mobile gaming is for everybody, but if you’re eager to put the power in your pocket to work, this is probably the best option you have.

You can find this review in full at GBAtemp.net:
https://gbatemp.net/review/huion-kamvas-22-plus-pen-display.2314/

A few months back we looked at Huion’s Kamvas Pro 13 (2.5k) pen display. Released last year, this was a slim and portable pen display packed with features at a great price, and something I still recommend for people looking for a portable monitor that can do more. The Kamvas 22 Plus we’re looking at today is a different beast however. Released all the way back in 2020, we have something far less portable that sits closer to a more traditional monitor. Is bigger better, and what does this 2020 display do to justify its £519 price point?

You really have everything you’d need to get going out of the box. Outside of the 22 inch pen display itself, you get a battery-free pen, a doughnut-shaped pen holder complete with spare nibs, a half-glove, stand, and assortment of cables. If you’ve read our Kamvas Pro 13 review, much of this is going to sound familiar. Huion are fairly consistent in the accessories that come with their tablets and displays, but there are some notable differences, with the biggest being the included stand.

While the Pro 13’s stand was adequate for drawing, I criticised it for its limited angles for a more general use case. The adjustable stand here has no such problems; in short, this stand is marvellous. Mounting to the back of the display instead of having the display rest on it, it’s incredibly secure and provides a huge and surprisingly granular range of positions. With the display being larger, this is a really significant thing for me. You’ll want to keep it on your desk, and you’ll have no issues going from drawing to just watching a video or two on YouTube.

What really completes this package is that the stand attaches using a standard VESA mount, so if it doesn’t meet all of your needs you’re entirely free to swap it out for something else. I actually put the display onto a monitor arm, resulting in a great and out of the way auxiliary display that I can just pull towards me when I want to draw.

The display itself doesn’t feel extraordinarily premium, but it’s not to say it isn’t well-built. You have a plastic body that’s around 20mm thick, weighing around 4kg in combination with the stand. Coming from more tablet-like devices I was at first a little taken aback, but really this is more like thin-ish monitor. The screen of the Kamvas 22 Plus features anti-glare etched glass on top of a 140% sRGB QLED panel with a 1200:1 contrast ratio. In short it looks really good, though it isn’t quite as bright as I’d like with a listed maximum brightness of 220 nits (note I’m unable to measure this myself). I wouldn’t say it’s prohibitively dim, and looking at other brands this level of brightness is somewhat typical, but it is noticeable when next to what my Zephyrus Duo is outputting.

Thanks to the size of the display you have a fairly standard array of menu buttons to tweak things as you’d like. This time we’re working with a fairly typical 16:9 1080p display, but you are again able to tweak the aspect ratio to your liking, stretching the image appropriately. Strangely, outside of the usual 16:9 and 4:3 options, you can also opt for a 5:4 ratio. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a 5:4 aspect ratio monitor, but Google seems to suggest they were once popular.

Despite this being an older panel and an older pen than the Pro 13, the drawing experience is largely the same. You lose some pixel density with it being both lower resolution and larger, resulting in a less crisp image. As somebody who frequently switches between 4K, 1440p, and 1080p monitors, I do believe 1080p is fine for this size, and it hasn’t had any real impact while drawing. It’s nice to have a higher resolution, but I don’t think it’s a necessity.

In terms of features, we once again have 8192 levels of pressure sensitivity alongside a very similar pen that supports up to 60 degrees of tilting. It feels really responsive, and at a 14ms response time, it actually is more responsive than the Pro 13. It’s still not going to be the best of the best for the highest echelons of gaming, but for most people it’ll do just fine. The pen on screen feel is still great, and having it floating above me on a monitor arm has been fantastic for doing quick sketches or visually explaining something during a meeting. Pen displays like this excel for artistic professionals, but I do think they have merit for more general users at the right price.

Much in the same fashion as the Pro 13, we again see Switch docking capabilities from the 22 Plus. I don’t know why this is a feature they’ve been including but it’s definitely one that makes more sense here than it did on the Pro 13. The 16:9 display fits the Switch’s image perfectly, and the display does look great. It is held back slightly by the lack of speakers in this department, but it doesn’t really feel right to hold that against the device when it clearly isn’t its primary use. One thing I did notice is that while the Switch is docked, it isn’t actually getting enough power from the display to charge itself, and will discharge slowly during use. This is a bit of a shame, especially when, unlike the Pro 13, this display requires external power to use regardless of the device it’s plugged into. It seems a bit of a missed opportunity not to just have some decent charging pass-through here to limit cable clutter. It’s by no means the end of the world, but it’s something that would be nice to see improved down the line as Huion revisit and renew their pen displays.

The question remains. Is the Kamvas 22 Plus worth buying? At £519 (currently £467 at the time of writing), Huion have put together a fairly competitive package that can not only cater to the creative professionals among us, but those that are just in the market for a monitor that does a bit more. Huion do also offer the Kamvas 22 at the lower price of £419 (again £335 at the time of writing) with an anti-glare matte film in place of the etched glass, a lower 1000:1 contrast ratio, and 120% sRGB colour gamut. I could see this being a better option for those wanting to try out a larger pen display without wanting to put down quite as much money, but having not tried the anti-glare matte film before, I can’t comment on how it feels to use. All in all though, I think the 22 Plus is a great display, and one to consider if you’ve got the budget and want more out of your screen.

You can find this review in full at GBAtemp.net:
https://gbatemp.net/review/shargeek-storm-2-power-bank.2305/

Out of the box the Storm 2 is impressive. You have a 25600mAh (93.5Wh) battery that’s capable of up to 100W charging on the go. You get an impressive array of ports, including two USB Cs and a USB A each rated for different power outputs, and an interesting DC barrel port that can be configured to your needs. Add to this an IPS display and striking design and you have a stellar all rounder to keep with you as you go about your day.

The screen is probably the most interesting feature on offer here, and I really appreciate the information it shows. You get a constant view of the current input and output rates, the remaining charge of the battery, and the internal temperatures. As well as this, you have a timer that shows how long the device has been active for. Everything on the battery is controlled by a single button, with pressing it generally moving through menus, and holding it confirming a selection. There’s not all that much to do on the settings screen, but one area of note is the DC output configuration that allows fairly granular control of the output voltage between 3.3V and 25.2V in 1V or 0.1V increments. This is unfortunately one thing I wasn’t able to test but I can see how this would be useful for older devices. It should be noted that if you are using the DC output, you won’t be able to use any of the other ports though.

Now in terms of usability, you would expect the Storm 2 to be compatible with all your major devices. It’s advertised to work fine with MacBooks, phones, tablets, and the like. From what I’ve tried, it does work with the vast majority of devices I have. It has no issues charging my ROG Flow Z13 tablet at 65W alongside my phone. There is however one notable device the power bank doesn’t appear to work with: the ROG Ally. Having looked into this online, there’s speculation that the 65W protocol supported by the Storm 2 isn’t supported by the Ally. You can get it working by having some kind of dock or dongle with pass-through charging, with a cheap one I have on hand happy to charge at 50W. This kind of incompatibility is a real shame to me, with these handheld gaming PCs being a prime candidate for a decent power bank. It’s worth noting that it functions fine with both the AYANEO 2 and the Steam Deck though.

Outside of the screen and unique design, one of the major aspects you’re paying for is the ability to be charging up to three devices at once. While I have found one issue noted above, I’ve found no further incompatibilities using the two USB C ports and single USB A port in tandem. I do feel one area they could have improved on is in labelling these ports with their input and output limits though. There’s plenty of space on the side, and they already label the ports as C1, C2, and A. That little bit of extra information would go a long way in making this device easier to pick up and use, instead of needing you to keep documentation handy or be plugging and unplugging devices and watching how fast they charge using the screen.

Alongside the Storm 2, Shargeek sent over a cute 67W GaN charger that I do just want to mention briefly since I don’t really think there’s enough there to warrant its own separate review. Styled after an old Mac, you get three USB C ports that can output up to 67W between them. The screen will show you the current output, which is really neat. They really did a great job with the aesthetics, and for a multi-port GaN charger, $70 isn’t all that bad of a deal. You could get similar performance from places like UGREEN for around $50, so I could see justification for the extra $20 for the desk style points and display. I used this to charge the Storm 2 with no issue, and coming from an admittedly old Micro USB power bank, it was refreshing to see just how quickly it charged. At 67W, it’s not even the limit of what the Storm 2 is capable of. Sadly I couldn’t find the 100W plug I bought for my older Xiaomi review though, so this was as good as it got.

At $230 I don’t think the Storm 2 is priced into obscurity, but it’s high enough that you really need to question whether you’ll be using everything it offers. If you can see yourself needing to charge multiple devices at once, monitor various stats, power older devices with the DC barrel port, or even just want a power bank that stands out a bit. The Storm 2 might just be worth it. It’s not the best value if all you care about is good capacity and fast charging, but it does a good job of carving a niche for itself in this ever-growing market.