Mario Tennis Fever (NS2) Review

Happy Mar10 Day, everyone! With today being the portly plumber's special day, it only makes sense to grace SuperPhillip Central with one of his games--and a recent one at that: Mario Tennis Fever! Let's take to the court with the SPC review.

Mario and Friends' Swing Fever

I've been a bit hard on Nintendo's sports offerings on the original Switch--but for good reasons. Both Camelot's games on the Switch, Mario Tennis Aces and Mario Golf: Super Rush, launched with a paltry amount of content for the asking price, especially when compared to past entries. While both games also received free post-launch content, it's stuff that should have already been in the base game and not released piecemeal. As if listening to me directly (and many other players, too), Nintendo and Camelot come bursting onto the court with a brand-new Mario Tennis entry that seems to be the genuine article, at least when content is concerned. After all, content is king.

Mario Tennis Fever is the latest iteration of the famed Mario Tennis franchise, and it's Camelot's first foray on the Nintendo Switch 2. Is this a fever you'll enjoy, or one that you'll want a cure for?

Nintendo heavily marketed--or at least portrayed--the Adventure Mode as some big deal content-wise for Mario Tennis Fever. It turns out, it's merely another version of a tutorial. It starts with Mario and company recovering a Golden Fruit for Daisy, who has succumbed to some type of illness. While the recovery attempt succeeds, it isn't without consequence. Mario, Luigi, Peach, Wario, and Waluigi are transformed into babies in the process, and without much fight to them, Baby Mario and Baby Luigi will need to go back to the practice courts to have their tennis know-how and skills eventually return to them.

They might be babies, but this won't be an Adventure Mode in Babysitting--they can take care of themselves!

The first half of the Adventure Mode takes place in the same tennis practice area, having Baby Mario and sometimes Baby Luigi as his doubles partner partake in various training exercises, each delving into some facet of tennis. There are mini-games to play, opponents to take on, and each of these generates experience points for Baby Mario to level up his skills and stats. 

By the time the training wheels come off and the actual ADVENTURE part of the Adventure Mode begins, it's short lived. There are a handful of areas to explore in a super linear fashion, more opponents to take on, story elements to enjoy, mini-games to play that are more organically interspersed in the adventure, and bosses to battle. 

The adventuring part of Adventure Mode sees a lot of variety, but it's also incredibly brief.

Really, and to reiterate, the Adventure Mode is meant to serve more as a tutorial than anything else--the appetizer to the main course which is the rest of the game. Instead, the heavy focus on the Adventure Mode from Nintendo made it out to be more important to the Mario Tennis Fever package than it actually is. That's not to say the mode's not worthwhile, but at the same time, a five-hour tutorial isn't the most compelling concept.

The lackluster Adventure Mode aside, what truly drove me as a Mario Tennis Fever player was the other additional modes included in the game. There's your traditional Tournament mode--a three-cup, three-round apiece series of matches that can be played in both Singles and Doubles play. Though I wish the game denoted which characters have earned trophies in that mode. For as much as I disliked the initial offering, Mario Tennis Aces gave some replay value and longevity by logging and recording which characters completed which cups in Tournament mode. As is in Fever, there's no real incentive to replay the mode once it's beaten in Singles and Doubles because there are no trophies for individual characters to earn. Not to say that this unlocked anything in Mario Tennis Aces, but it was just nice to have, again for longevity and replay value purposes. It was rewarding on its own to see my full roster of unlocked characters shown as having a complete catalog of tournament trophies earned.

Mario, with the backhand return to continue the rally!

Regardless, Mario Tennis Fever does deliver a wide range of unlockables all the same, even without this aforementioned exclusion. There is a slew of achievements, and these aren't just for show. These unlock new characters, alternate character colors, tennis rackets, and courts, too. To unlock everything that Fever offers, I sunk a fair amount of hours into the game's multiple modes. 

Apart from the Adventure and Tournament modes, there are special score challenges. Such challenges include: Ring Shot, Piranha Plant Challenge, and Auto Tennis. Ring Shot has you in a rally with another player as you attempt to aim your shots and volleys into rings of various sizes and point values to meet a point requirement before time runs out. The Piranha Plant Challenge sees a Piranha Plant coming out of one of three green warp pipes on the opposite side of the net, firing tennis balls one at the other. Your character has to return them without the player on the opposing side returning them back to you. Lastly, Auto Tennis takes a mechanical Piranha Plant that shoots out tennis balls, and your goal is to return them atop of various score tiles for points.

Tournament mode gets rather challenging, so make sure you don't lose your focus.

Then, there is the meatiest mode within Mario Tennis Fever--though it doesn't appear to seem so meaty right from the get go--it's the Trial Towers mode. This mode is essentially the Events from Super Smash Bros. Melee put to tennis tasks. You have three towers to take on, each with ten challenges to complete. Every time you fail a challenge, you lose a heart. Lose all your hearts, and it's game over and you have to start from floor one on a new run. 30 challenges or missions spread across three towers doesn't seem too exceptionally content-rich, but after the third tower is completed, it's then where the content pours from every orifice of Mario Tennis Fever's Trial Towers. 

Variety is the spice of life, content is king, and Trial Towers delivers both.

After beating each tower, unlocking the characters associated with each, you unlock 100 trials to take on, and this time in any order. Simply select a trial and then take it on. These are similar to the missions seen in the three preceding towers, such as taking on an opponent with them using a certain racket to make things more difficult or battling a powerful opponent as three weaker, but faster baby characters, for instance. The difference is that these individual trials have three goals each to them, and you earn a star for completing each--whether that's not losing a point, not getting knocked out, or something more challenging like not taking damage at all. Understandably with 100 trials, this mode will last players a while.

Of course, all the modes and content in the world couldn't save Mario Tennis Fever if its tennis gameplay double faulted. Fortunately, Fever's tennis action is better than ever. For one, it forgoes the elimination-based power shots that Aces supported. For me, the timing for Aces' counters were waaaaay too strict, often resulting in me getting eliminated from matches when all of my rackets shattered. While there is a gimmick to Fever's tennis with Fever Rackets, losing all your HP does not mean you're permanently eliminated from the match. Instead, it's either temporarily in Doubles play, or you simply play with less stamina and trudge along the court in Solo play until your health recovers. 

I'm seeing double with this particular Fever Racket!

The Fever Rackets are indeed the main draw and gimmick of Mario Tennis Fever, understandably so. There are 30 or so rackets to unlock, and with over 30 characters to play as, that means you're going to get a lot of different character and racket combinations to experiment with. When your Fever Gauge is full, you can choose to unleash a Fever Shot with your given racket. If it hits the court before your opponent can return it, your racket's ability will be utilized. The Volcano racket, for instance, erupts on the court where the ball hits to reveal a fiery crater that launches fireballs out. Any player that comes in contact with them will get burned and lose HP in the process. Meanwhile, the Golden Dash racket is better served for defensive play, offering a temporary but super helpful, speedy boost to the player that uses it, allowing them to jet around the court with relative ease.

Diddy, we're not in Kansas anymore.

Of course, your opponent can counter a Fever Shot, and if the ball lands on your side of the court, the area-of-effect power will happen there, which means you'll have plenty of dodging to do as you try to contend with hitting the ball back to your opponent. It's absolutely riveting to have an action-packed rally where players keep hitting the ball back and forth, not letting it touch the ground, to keep the Fever Shot chance going. A counter to a counter, to a counter, to another, until ultimately someone finally misses and the Fever Shot hits the court, resulting in chaos on their side.

Rosalina sees how the Mario Tennis Fever action can heat up in a most literal sense.

That said, if you prefer traditional tennis, like Mario Tennis Aces before it, there is an entire mode of play dedicated to that. Have yourself a no-frills, no Fever Racket, pure game of tennis! Though if you want to unlock most of the content within Mario Tennis Fever, you're going to have to engage with the Fever portion. Still, it's nice to have the option to play without the extra craziness and have it come straight down to skilled play, outmaneuvering, and leading your opponent into a disadvantage for you to earn the point.

Disappointingly, at least for me, is the number of courts in Mario Tennis Fever--just seven, with multiple variations of court types (i.e. grass, sand, concrete, etc.). While the number of courts is similar to past installments, I would have loved to see more in the way of locales and venues. That notwithstanding, what is here is enjoyable, whether it's the gimmick courts like playing tennis within a pinball table, or a court themed after Super Mario Bros. Wonder, complete with unique Wonder effects that occur mid-match.

One of the handful of gimmick-themed courts to play on. If you prefer no gimmicks, you can play without 'em!

If you're the type who prefers to play online and show the world your tennis ability (or for me, my lack thereof), there is obviously online play to participate in, either in Singles or Doubles play. You can play with or without Fever Rackets, as well. Ranked play pits opponents against each other in a tiebreaker best of seven series. While some may balk at the idea of such a relatively short match instead of something set-based, it keeps matches quick, the pace of finding new matches even faster, and if you're completely getting decimated in a match, you can get it over with lickety split. Unlike Aces, there are currently no tournaments or unlockables to earn through online play--it's simply there for those with a competitive spirit to engage in.

Online play is like Yoshi's armpits after a 20-hit rally--sweaty.

No matter the type of tennis you prefer to play--online or offline, with or without Fever Rackets, solo or multiplayer--you're getting a gorgeous game with colorful and crisp visuals. I absolutely love how animated each character is and how much personality they show in everything they do on the court. Fever's replays after every point would be better if they could be turned off entirely (a strange omission), but what's there are entirely epic showcases of sharp shooting shots and points earned. So, too, would it be nice to be able to turn off the Talking Flower, also from Super Mario Bros. Wonder, for commentary. I enjoy the action-packed words from our floral friend, but not everyone will. 

The courts are colorful, the characters are crisp--Mario Tennis Fever is a winner in the graphics department.

Camelot Software doesn't exactly serve an ace with its first Nintendo Switch 2 offering, but Mario Tennis Fever serves in general as an excellent starting point all the same. The tennis gameplay is great as ever, the amount of characters and rackets means that you'll have loads to experiment with to find the best character and racket that suits your play style, and the level of content is absolutely satisfying this time around. The Adventure Mode disappoints once again, but the rest of the package is more than worthwhile. I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more tennis with Mario. Now, pardon me as I take some more sick days due to this Fever of mine.

[SPC Says: B] 

Under the Island (Multi) Review

Our first review of March takes us all over the island, atop the island, and yes, under the island in... Under the Island, a Zelda-inspired title from Slime King Games that launched last month on most current platforms. Let's take our hockey stick in tow, raise it over our head, and proceed to take to the island with this SuperPhillip Central review.

A strong Zelda-like that won't grind your mystical gears.

Indies are exceptional for their creating unique gameplay ideas and mechanic concepts, and so many times we see such off-the-wall experiences that would be deemed too risky for larger devs. Sometimes, however, it's also awesome to see indies take previously built, tried and true concepts and expand upon them in their own, unique way. This is what developer Slime King Games has done with its game, Under the Island. Taking the formula and foundation that Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda franchise created, Slime King Games offers a charming and enjoyable adventure that was for me, quite reminiscent of Link's Awakening.

Under the Island follows a teenager named Nia who begrudgingly relocates with her archaeologist parents to Seashell Island for a one-year research expedition. Quite quickly, she meets a girl named Avocado, and the pair unexpectedly stumble into some ancient ruins under the main town of the game. There, they encounter a bipedal bird who informs them that Seashell Island will sink deep into the ocean if four mythical gears are not collected and reassembled. Thus, Nia has her mission, the MacGuffins to go after in the form of the gears, and an entire island to explore, one area at a time.

Time to get our rears in gear, it seems! We've got an adventure to embark on!

The narrative of Under the Island is one that engages in plenty of verbose cutscenes. These weren't annoying to me, offering some further personality to flesh out characters, but I do imagine that a fair number of players will prefer a "less is more" experience. This is especially so because a lot of the conversations between characters are rather long-winded and don't provide too much on offer to say. Furthermore, some typos and dialogue issues are present in the game, and a notable puzzle in the final dungeon of the game confuses "its" and "it's", the contraction, which is somewhat immersion breaking.

Don't mind me. Just passin' through!

Regardless, that niggling nonsense aside, Under the Island is a rather lovely Zelda-like experience. It offers an expansive map to explore, opening up little by little as Nia obtains new items--generally the more robust set of tools offering the most utility are discovered in the game's dungeons. The items range from a flower that spits out flames, which gets plenty of use throughout the adventure--from lighting torches, to burning faraway bushes, for example--to chow that can lure animals on top of buttons to weigh them down, for instance.

This plant, for our purposes, has one welcomed case of heartburn!

Nia herself sports a hockey stick as her main weapon. I say, "main weapon" because while you can unleash that previously mentioned fireball-shooting plant at foes, it's much too slow and weak to actually be useful in the heat of battle. The hockey stick allows for a three-hit combo, though I must admit that this weapon takes a bit of getting used to. It's rather clunky to use at best, and it's also not very powerful at the beginning of the game. Fortunately, there is a tent in the central town of the game, which provides upgrades for a price of money and dropped materials from enemies. 

Thankfully, penalties involving "high-sticking" don't happen off the ice!

Thus, combat is not the best part of Under the Island, though it also doesn't ruin the experience either. Instead, I would say the most entertaining portion of Under the Island comes from its exceptional environmental, world, and dungeon design. The island is both entertaining and enjoyable to explore, offering dozens upon dozens of dense areas--many of which are optional but reward players for careful investigating and going off the beaten path. Areas are interconnected in ways that make logical sense, with it always being a pleasure to figure out the path forward or how to reach a certain, seemingly inaccessible doorway or cavern. 

Fortunately, if you're not feeling like hotfooting it across the island, fast travel is an option, and even this brings some clever ideas and requires some exploration to unlock as well. For each fast travel location, there is a hidden nearby, block-pushing puzzle room, necessitating Nia to solve. Once solved, these open up the means to fast travel to that given destination. 

These block-pushing puzzles can certainly be brain-busters, but the fast travel reward's more than worth the effort.

Of course, Nia won't always be out-of-doors despite being on an island, as there are dungeons to delve into. These aren't always your typical dungeon fare, offering such locales like a greenhouse and even a cereal factory. These dungeons are home to various puzzles to solve, treasure chests to open (many of which containing Zelda-specific dungeon items like maps and compasses), and baddies to beat.

These baddies include bosses, which, too, take a different, unique approach to your traditional Zelda game. Circling back to the greenhouse, the first major dungeon within the game, the boss here is less a major enemy and more a set piece. It features Nia making sure a stage production goes off without a hitch, requiring her to adjust the lighting and culminating with her needing to fend off overzealous fans backstage from ruining said production. 

Weave through this boss's bullet hell-like attack.

Outside of the main dungeons and story progression, an immense number of optional side quests are available to take on, granting wonderful rewards to make the extra effort worthwhile. These can be exclusive items that Nia would otherwise never encounter on her adventure, or of course, a Zelda staple, the means to generate additional health. Though, this is performed by visiting a gym freak who in exchange for four Heart Coins will bestow Nia with an extra heart container, for lack of a better term.

Under the Island took me about 13 hours to fully complete. That was with unlocking all achievements, which included clearing the story, maxing out Nia's health, obtaining all cassette tapes, and other optional objectives. Overall, it was a really good time, and I found myself extending my play sessions just because I was enjoying myself so much.

Caves, treasures, and more await skilled explorers.

This extended to the presentation, which I also liked. The chibi sprite art is remarkably cute, the environments and landscapes are outstanding in detail, vibrant, and colorful. I was impressed by the enemy variety as well. Rather than utilize a simple handful of enemies and sprites across the entire game, Under the Island instead opted to change enemies up depending on the locale with matching monsters and sprites that fit each indubitably. The music, too, offers plenty to enjoy, full of tunes that are decidedly nice enough to bop one's head around to and tap one's toes to, as well. 

While its combat is a bit too loose, and its dialogue a bit too much in general, all in all, Under the Island won me over big time. I was able to tolerate those small-to-medium sized quibbles to fully enjoy and complete the game. There's such a wonderfully enjoyable world to explore with Under the Island's... well... island, that tracking down every last Heart Coin, every last item, and making Nia one lean, mean, baddie-defeating machine through upgrades discovered around said world was something I thoroughly loved doing. If you're yearning for a new, highly competent, top-down, traditional Zelda-like experience, Under the Island will fulfill that yearning indeed. It won't rival the highs of exploring The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening's Koholint Island, but then again, what does?

[SPC Says: B] 

Review Round-Up - February 2026

A theme from this month of reviews is that heroic teams come in all shapes and sizes 
as seen with some of our reviewed games for February 2026.

A shorter month means a shorter list of reviews for our February 2026 Review Round-Up. That said, however, we had some delightful titles reviewed on SuperPhillip Central last month, and we wasted no time getting to them!

Let's begin with the Tribute Games' Marvel Cosmic Invasion, which offered an immense amount of heroes, moves, and abilities to brawl and battle baddies in. It rose to the challenge with a B. Following that was a retro-style, room-based 2D platformer, Lovish, which also got itself a B.

Our lowest grade of the month, a D+, was for a GameCube golf game that played and looked similar to PlayStation's Hot Shots Golf franchise: Swingerz Golf--though the quality was decidedly different and diminished due to its sometimes unfair difficulty. 

We marched towards March with three final reviews: the colorful and charming co-op-only game POPUCOM (B), a late look at a retro Star Wars game remastered with Star Wars: Episode I: Jedi Power Battles (C), and finally, the Star Fox-like, Rogue-lite FUR Squadron Phoenix (B-). 

With the Ides of March ready to rock and roll, so too is SuperPhillip Central for our next month of gaming action. In the meantime, be sure to check out the SPC Review Archive for all past and present reviews on the site. 

Marvel Cosmic Invasion (Multi) - B

From the impressive amount of unique moves and abilities each playable character possesses, to how great the actual "beating 'em up" feels between attacks having a right amount of "punch" to them, to the superb art style and presentation, Marvel Cosmic Invasion delights. Whether you're a Marvel fan or no, this beat-em-up will have you coming back for more time and again.

Lovish (Multi) - B

Overall, though, Lovish is a delight. Its humor and satire of genre and game conventions are most entertaining, its references and guest appearances are delightful, and the game itself plays well and is structurally sound, even if the Devil Lord's castle isn't always--looking at YOU, crumbling floors and breakable walls! Lovish succeeded at getting its hooks into me, and through the now and then frustrations of one-hit deaths, repeated attempts of levels and bosses, and tricky platforming perils, I merrily pushed forth with a smile on my face. Well, in between utterances of curse words on failed attempts, of course. Those looking for a challenge will get one with Lovish, as well as an enjoyable game that doesn't take itself at all seriously either.

Swingerz Golf (GCN) - D+ 

...after bashing my brains against trying to learn to play and try to enjoy myself despite the game doing everything in its power to ruin that for me, it's certainly and decidedly not for me. It's just a shame that the developer never got a mulligan, as there are some neat and nifty ideas here, but they don't form anything worthwhile enough to suffer for.

POPUCOM (PC, NSW) - B 

For those with the means to play POPUCOM--i.e. another player available either locally or online--you're going to get a wonderful cooperative game to enjoy. The levels constantly amaze and delight with new ideas that are iterated on in smart ways, the boss encounters are generally great, and the cooperation required to get through both types of challenges makes for truly fun and rewarding times. That's not to say you and your partner won't get flustered or annoyed with each other or the game every now and then, but overall, the experience will be a strongly positive one.

Star Wars: Episode I: Jedi Power Battles (Multi) - C

...Jedi Power Battles is a guilty pleasure of mine. I know it's not a great game mechanically, but the pieces fit together for an enjoyable enough romp. I love tossing a thermal detonator for an oh-so-satisfying small, contained explosion to send a group of foes flying. I enjoy hearing Yoda giggle upon picking up a power-up. And I liked extending my lightsaber to double its size in ridiculous fashion with a power-up as well. Frustrations from glitches to game crashes (especially in Coruscant, the longest level in the game, unfortunately) hampered my fun at times, but overall, I felt my time with the game was worthwhile and didn't feel my nostalgia was ill-founded.

FUR Squadron Phoenix (PC, NSW) - B- 

With eight missions, three that take place in the real-world where experience is not gained, and five in VR where experience is gained, FUR Squadron Phoenix won't last ace pilots too terribly long. The pool of available upgrades is rather limited as well, which makes for a short-lived experience all-around even when attempting to max everything out. That all notwithstanding, I definitely enjoyed my time in the cockpit with FUR Squadron, and would recommend FUR Squadron Phoenix to potential players, given they realize their time in the skies, in space, and even under the sea, won't last too terribly long.

It was also indeed a month of indies, and I couldn't have been happier for that pleasure!

SuperPhillip Central and my YouTube Channel, SuperPhillip Plays, are Now on Patreon!

Happy weekend, all! I'm excited to announce that I have made a Patreon for my work on my blog SuperPhillip Central and my YouTube channel SuperPhillip Plays. As some of you may know, the former has been around since 2008, features over 4,000 posts, and over 1,000 reviews, while the YouTube channel is still in its infancy. 

Here is the announcement post on my Patreon page (please consider checking it out!):

"Greetings, friends and followers alike! For over 17 years now, I've written for my own gaming blog called SuperPhillip Central, housing over 4,000 posts and over 1,000 reviews since its founding on June 5th, 2008. 

I've also started to dabble in creating videos on my YouTube channel, SuperPhillip Plays--offering Let's Play and original list form content as well!

It's with great excitement that I start this Patreon page.

A question you might ask is: Why Patreon and why now? 

Both excellent questions. To be totally transparent, as stated, I've run my blog for nearly 18 years now, and I haven't really ever monetized it. I've attempted putting ads on the blog, but they were so clunky and frankly, an eyesore. Also, with ad-block software and plugins being so popular (I use them, too), the revenue generated just wasn't worth the aforementioned eyesore of ads plastered on my blog. Thus, ads were short-lived, to say the least!

Instead, I'm opting for direct support through a Patreon. I'm hoping that I can start generating some semblance of income, as currently I am unemployed and disabled due to mental health reasons. By no means do I want anyone to feel obligated to support my Patreon, but if you do enjoy the written content I've put forth onto my blog over the past decade and change, and/or if you do like what you see on my YouTube channel, then please do consider supporting. I would greatly appreciate it.

Either way, I wish to and will provide enough content to Patreon supporters so that I can not only give you all my super thanks for your support but also give you a glimpse behind the curtain, so to speak. Some behind the scenes looks, I think, would be fun for both of us--you to get a look at early concepts and for me to share such content! Win-win!

I'm also very much open to hearing your feedback on what other benefits and bonuses I can provide to make your support to my Patreon extra special and worthwhile. I think of this as a collaboration rather than simply a one-sided effort. Therefore, please feel free to let me know if you ever think of something you'd like to see added as a bonus in a tier!

Additionally, never feel obligated either to keep supporting if you find you aren't getting what you desire or if your financial situation changes. There are no hard feelings for cancellations, but putting down a reason for said cancellation (make it as general or specific as appropriate) will certainly help me for the future, for sure.

Thank you so much for your time and for your consideration in supporting this new Patreon endeavor of mine! I appreciate you all, and I hope to continue to provide worthwhile blog posts and YouTube videos to everyone!" 

FUR Squadron Phoenix (PC, NSW) Review

FUR Squadron Phoenix launches today on Steam/PC with a Nintendo Switch release happening next Wednesday, February 25th. This review covers the former. Get to ready to take flight with the SuperPhillip Central review.

Let the FUR fly.

There's no doubt a Star Fox-shaped hole in gaming that Nintendo doesn't currently seem interested in filling. That's alright, as like F-Zero before, indies are more than willing to step up to the proverbial plate. While not completely creating rote same-as experiences to mimic Nintendo's titles, we've seen a fair number of indie developers try their collective hands at making their own efforts to fill the gaps in fans' hearts.

Enter FUR Squadron Phoenix. This is clearly inspired by Star Fox, from the cast of furry bipedal characters that make up said squadron to various nudge-nudge, hint-hint references to Nintendo's flight-based shooter. That notwithstanding, FUR Squadron Phoenix also does enough to distinguish itself from its source inspiration.

Starting off, you're flung immediately into the action with the first mission. The simple controls get taught with a simple fire button, holding said button to charge a homing shot that can zone in on foes and defeat groups of adjacent baddies, a barrel roll (though not specifically called that), and a special weapon. 

The latter weapons aren't limited to Star Fox's tried and true smart bombs. Instead, you can--and in later levels against bosses are pretty much required to--use the D-Pad to switch between one of four weapons. There's bombs, rockets, an armor-piercing laser beam, and a nuke, which takes all weapon energy to utilize. 

At least it's not "too Raph" instead!

Flying back to the first level before I get too ahead of myself, it features your playable character, a bird named Robin, who enters into a mission where things go awry rather quickly. Her two squadmates end up eliminated in battle, and she of course blames herself. Fast forward ahead to months later, and Robin is a new recruit with the FUR Squadron, under helm by a conveniently enough furry creature named Blaze. To get back her confidence, Robin undergoes training in a VR simulation, crafted by the axolotl named Axel, taking a Slippy Toad role in this game.

It can be difficult to read dialogue and contend with the antics on screen.
Voiced dialogue (and not the Animalese used here) would have worked wonders.

FUR Squadron Phoenix features eight total levels, which might not seem like a lot, but there is some replay value to be found here. No doubt players will struggle even with the first VR level, perhaps even crashing and burning in an attempt to play it. Fortunately, roguelite elements appear in the game, offering purchasable upgrades with in-game points earned from casual play. The higher your score on an attempt, whether a successful one or not, the more points you earn. These points can be spent to increase Robin's shield capacity, attack power, "barrel roll" speed, and also upgrading her special attack prowess.  

You can get up to a 150% multiplier on downed enemies, as long as you don't take damage yourself.

The roguelite influences seep into the levels themselves in FUR Squadron Phoenix. Runs through levels generally feature randomized elements to them. That could be as simple as different enemy configurations or even alternate side missions. That said, the randomization is awfully limited in scope. You'll constantly see and eventually grow accustomed to the same, exact enemy fighter formations, only appearing at different times and intervals in levels. The set pieces offer more interesting design, delivering some pulse-pounding segments and sections, like one where instead of taking the fight above sea in one level, another instead goes deep underwater, having you thread your ship through submerged ruins.

That holographic dragon is big, but trust me when I say this level's boss is even bigger!

On the subject of those previously mentioned side missions, these come in the form of miniature tasks to perform mid-level. For Axel the Axolotl, those Slippy Toad influences come back hard, as you need to defeat a bogey on her tail. For Blaze, it's defeating a specific group of enemies in a section of level. Lastly, for the Falco-inspired member of the squadron, Kiro, you need to follow him through three green, glowing rings. 

An example of some ace flying required to get in Kiro's favor.

Completing these impromptu side missions gives a twofold reward. For one, Robin's relationship with that squadmate grows, resulting in new dialogue scenes in between levels, as well as stronger Overdrives. Overdrives slow down time when used, allowing Robin to take out groups of enemies and especially blast bosses with greater ease. They're best saved for trying times, as they eventually can restore Robin's ship's health and weapon energy immediately.

Ideally, I'm sure the developers wanted players to be forced to return to levels multiple times, as they perhaps bashed their heads against them, making more and more progress with each run. Unfortunately, at least in my case, this simply wasn't how the game happened. Generally--and this is said without meaning to brag--I was able to clear each level in my first run, even reaching the high score target to unlock a ship skin for each given level. There were only one or two levels that saw me needing to return to them to either attempt to survive them or to try to obtain a high score that narrowly escaped me the first time. 

Scripted sequences like these really raise the adrenaline level.

By the end of my three hours with the game, I had pretty much maxed out everything there was to do in FUR Squadron Phoenix. I rolled credits, I had all ship upgrades, I unlocked all ship skins (even the one for finding and firing at a treasure chest containing a Phoenix Badge in each level), I had Robin in great esteem with all squadmates, and obtained most of the achievements to be found in the game, too. That isn't to say there's no reason to return to this game or that everyone will blast through it as fast as I did. That's also just the nature of an on-rails game like FUR Squadron Phoenix is, too.

FUR Squadron Phoenix runs well on Steam Deck, which is where I played the game. Not a lick of slowdown or frame-rate issues seemed to present themselves, and everything played smoothly overall. While the game lacks a full-blown Nintendo Switch 2 release, those who play FUR Squadron Phoenix on the hardware through the Switch 1 release does have performance options available, allowing users to increase the frame-rate, if desired, for an even smoother flying experience. 

With eight missions, three that take place in the real-world where experience is not gained, and five in VR where experience is gained, FUR Squadron Phoenix won't last ace pilots too terribly long. The pool of available upgrades is rather limited as well, which makes for a short-lived experience all-around even when attempting to max everything out. That all notwithstanding, I definitely enjoyed my time in the cockpit with FUR Squadron, and would recommend FUR Squadron Phoenix to potential players, given they realize their time in the skies, in space, and even under the sea, won't last too terribly long.

[SPC Says: B-] 

A review copy was provided by Raptor Claw.