QCF: Metroid Dread

ver time the Nintendo property lineup has operated as a stable of derby horses and their respective console launch being a race circuit for them to compete in. As the crowds pour in to back these figurative stallions with their money, there’s always been one Dark Horse in the stable that has straddled the line between stardom and obscurity—Metroid; a property that’s inspired droves of games, and yet has lied dormant for more than a decade between releases.

After the mild success of Samus Returns for the 3DS, Nintendo enlisted the studio MercurySteam once more for another 2D side-scrolling entry for the series, Metroid Dread, resurrecting the project for the Nintendo Switch years after its sordid past of setbacks and letdowns. Despite the baggage that the name comes with, however, this may be one of the best collaborations that Nintendo has ever achieved with another studio as Metroid Dread is not only one of the best games to have released this year—it stands to be the best entry of the 35-year-old franchise.

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QCF: A Robot Named Fight

hat was once a niche sub-genre that was only romanticized by its rabid cult-following, has now gradually begun to spill into the mainstream of the independent video game scene—Metroidvania games are available on just about every system at this point, to the point where the style is bordering on stagnation.

In an intriguing twist, however, similar to the Nuzlocke challenges that have swept numerous play-throughs of the Pokémon series, the iconic games that pioneered the formula, like Super Metroid, and Castlevania Aria of Sorrow, are now getting modded with the “randomizer” treatment. This modification works to alter the order and location of key upgrades and items in their core game, forcing an entirely new Meta into the gameplay for players to tackle.

One developer by the name of Matt Bittner took notice of the trend, and took it upon himself to push the concept to an entirely different level; developing a Metroidvania adventure that would not only randomize items, upgrades, but the map layout itself, in a manner that’s similar to roguelike dungeon crawler titles. His efforts led to producing an ambitious pixelated tribute to the genre called A Robot Named Fight, releasing for Steam and Nintendo Switch, and while the release does make good on its premise, its execution leaves a lot to be desired.

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PPR Presents Play Play: Warioland 4

ore Wario, All the Wario, well..not all of them, but—you, you guys get it. Anway, next up down the pipeline of our Garlic chomping anti-hero is Warioland 4, a game mostly designed towards being technical showcase for what the Gameboy Advance can really do similarly, to how Super Mario World was for the SNES.

It’s just as charmingly weird, and there’s some other shit going on too, but, we mostly get distracted over our argument of Metroid Fusion and Super Metroid but, who’s keeping score on that anyway. 

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