This is a remake of the SNES hidden gem, ActRaiser. As in the original, you play as a god that looks over six lands. There are two distinct types of gameplay: hack-and-slash action stages and a town-building simulation mode. Most elements of the original return, although levels have been redesigned, your player has several new attack moves, and there is now more emphasis on story and dialogue. But the biggest change is the addition of settlement sieges, in which hordes of enemies come to attack your town. You can place forts at strategic locations, deploy palisades, command your heroes to guard certain spots, and attack using lightning and other "miracles." The sieges provide a strategic challenge to the game, but they occur a bit too frequently for my tastes. Even though I didn't care for them at first, they did grow on me as I progressed through the game. Actraiser Renaissance is very enjoyable from start to finish, and the soundtrack is divine.

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New Horizons takes this life simulation series in a new direction. Instead of moving into an existing town, you now start out on a deserted island and build up your town from scratch (with some help from Tom Nook). By gathering materials such as stones and branches, you can craft your own tools and furniture. However, tools break easily, so replacing them becomes a daily annoyance. Fortunately, the game adds dozens of other conveniences that improve many aspects of regular play. Many items now stack in your pockets, and you have more pocket space, storage, design slots, etc. New features include farming and cooking, but the most significant addition is the ability to reshape your island. Not only can you erect fences and put furniture outdoors, but you can add cliffs, reroute rivers, and put waterfalls anywhere you like! Villagers now do cute things like sing songs and munch donuts. Online play is a mixed bag: There have been some improvements in upping the number of players from four to eight, but the multiplayer mini-games from New Leaf are nowhere to be found. New Horizons may not feel like a "traditional" Animal Crossing game, but it's still extremely fun to play and it's my favorite game in the series to date.

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This racing game feels like a modern update of Top Gear (SNES). Choose from dozens of cars, and race in a variety of game modes, including Top Gear-style tournaments. The main mode is a World Tour campaign that takes you into 12 regions and has over 100 courses. The graphics have a retro, low-poly look, but they flow fast and smooth, and look great. Musically, the game features great tunes from Top Gear composer, Barry Leitch. Some memorable Top Gear melodies have even made it into this game as well. The controls are simple and solid, with minimal braking required...providing some fast and fun arcade-style gameplay. The biggest flaw is the lack of online play, but it does feature up to four-player split-screen racing locally. As a huge fan of Top Gear, this is the modern Top Gear game I've always wanted.

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This is a remake of the quirky PlayStation 2 game Katamari Damacy. As a tiny prince, you roll around a sticky ball called a katamari. As you roll the katamari over small objects, you pick them up and your katamari grows in size...allowing you to pick up bigger and bigger items. You'll start some levels picking up thimbles and paper clips, but eventually you can pick up fruit, animals, people, cars, houses, buildings, and even islands and continents. While the graphics got an HD facelift, objects are still extremely blocky. The soundtrack is great, with many freakishly odd, and yet insanely catchy, tunes. The somewhat awkward dual-stick controls from the PS2 version have returned. You must push both sticks in the same direction to move, and in opposite directions to turn. It's tricky to move the katamari precisely where you want to go, but I suppose that's a bit more realistic: Something the size of a house wouldn't be able to turn on a dime, after all. Still, I would have loved to see one stick control movement and the other control the camera. The game is short, and can be beaten in five hours...although it is fun to replay levels to improve your score or to seek out the hidden presents. Despite its flaws, Katamari Damacy Reroll is astonishingly fun to play. It's a pure joy, and everyone in the cosmos should pick it up.

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Link has more freedom than ever in this open-world adventure game. A huge world waits to be explored, with four main dungeons called Divine Beasts, 120 shrines (mini-dungeons, basically), and hundreds (if not thousands) of other secrets to find. You can use your rune abilities in creative ways, and some tasks or puzzles can be completed in multiple ways. You can tame and ride wild animals...not just horses, but also deer, moose, and bears! The world is beautiful, with gorgeous sunsets and incredible mountaintop views. The lack of overworld music is disappointing for a Zelda game, even if the sounds of nature are pleasant. My biggest complaint about the game is the weapon system. Even though it's cool that you can use a variety of objects as weapons (including things like sticks and defeated skeletons' arm bones), everything is fragile. Even swords and sledgehammers break after a few minutes of use, and it can be annoying. But it doesn't keep Breath of the Wild from being an amazing, immersive game that's easy to play for hours on end. It may not be a traditional Zelda experience, but it is one of the best Zelda games ever. Every Switch owner should have this game in their collection.

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This follow-up to Breath of the Wild takes place in (essentially) the same world. But several years have passed, and floating sky islands also populate the skies of Hyrule. A new underworld called the Depths has also appeared underground. Link has some new abilities that allow him to pass through solid objects above his head, fuse monster parts to weapons and shields, and reverse time for an object (sending it back where it came from). But the most significant new ability is Ultrahand, which Link uses to move objects and attach them to other things. For example, he can combine logs together to make a raft. But he can also create other vehicles, from simple cars all the way up to flying machines. They can help speed up your exploration as you search for the five temples and 152 shrines around Hyrule. As much as I loved Breath of the Wild, I can confidently say Tears of the Kingdom is even better.

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This "picture crossword" puzzle game (digital download only) is a follow-up to the Picross e series on Nintendo 3DS. By using logic and the process of elimination, you use numbered clues around a grid to fill in (or eliminate) squares in the grid. Once you've completed a puzzle, the colored squares reveal a picture. I've only played the first two 3DS games, but Picross S is bigger and better in just about every way...even though the gameplay is essentially the same. This Switch game has a total of 300 puzzles (150 regular Picross puzzles and 150 Mega Picross puzzles), which is roughly twice as many as the 3DS games. Fortunately, the annoying Micross mode is gone. And Picross S (finally) has selectable background music; you can choose from three tunes. While none of them are particularly catchy, they are peaceful and relaxing. The ability to change to a different song during a long play session is a big plus. Picross fans will love this game. For players new to the series, Picross S is a great place to start.