The Best Nintendo Switch eShop Games Released So Far

Despite only being out for a handful of months now, the Nintendo Switch library has amassed quite the collection of games. While many focus on what's on store shelves, which currently isn't that large of a roster of games to select from, it's important to note just how impressive the indie and digital library of the Nintendo Switch has become. The awareness is mostly not there. Well, that fault lies somewhat with Nintendo, its failure to market indies properly, and the crappy layout of its Switch's eShop.

Nonetheless, for this Friday, SuperPhillip Central celebrates and looks at some of the best Nintendo Switch eShop games, those that can only be purchased digitally. That means no Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, ARMS, or Splatoon 2, as they all can be bought at a store despite also being on the eShop.

So, let's get to it! Once you've seen SPC's picks, which Nintendo Switch eShop games do you think deserve shoutouts?

Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition

How could I not start off this list with some Minecraft--this time on Nintendo Switch? Finally, we have third-party support on a Nintendo console from Microsoft! (Har-har, lame joke.) Regardless, Minecraft sells well no matter where it is, and it's no surprise to see the phenomenon do well on the Nintendo Switch. Being able to use your imagination and creativity to sculpt the landscape to your desire either alone or with friends is certainly an appealing proposition. Throw in some Mario-related goodies, exclusive on the Switch and Wii U, and you have some goodness going on. I'm using a technicality here with including the Nintendo Switch version of Minecraft, as the game is due to see a retail release in the future, but currently, as of this article's date, if you want Minecraft on your Switch, you can only buy it digitally on the eShop.

Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove

A compilation of four crowdfunded campaigns featuring various characters with different play styles from 8-bit indie sensation Shovel Knight, Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove first saw a release on the Nintendo Switch at the console's launch. The following month saw the compilation get brought over to other platforms. Each campaign included (the fourth will feature King Knight) has a unique campaign for each starring character, and each also offers varying gameplay mechanics to keep things fresh and enjoyable. Whether it's Specter Knight's Mega Man X-styled wall climbing or the potion-hopping that Plague Knight employs, each campaign is gold in this highly worthwhile collection.

Snipperclips: Cut it up, together!

The Nintendo Switch is in no shortage of multiplayer games. The launch of the Switch brought a limited number of games to choose from. Perhaps the most interesting and innovative of the slim pickings we received is Snipperclips. Available for play by one's lonesome, the fun only multiplies with the addition of other players. By cooperating through levels, cutting and snipping your friends to help them form the correct shape to solve the multitude of puzzles, Snipperclips offers a roaring good time--literally--as you and your friends with be roaring with laughter or aggravation because one of you screwed things up. ...But mostly laughter.

FAST RMX

Another launch title seen only on the Nintendo Switch eShop is an upgraded port of the Wii U's FAST Racing NEO. Developer Shin'en Multimedia shows off their small team's amazing ability to draw power from Nintendo hardware once again with blistering fast speeds, intense velocities, and superb and thrilling racing excitement. If Nintendo won't give us what we want, a new F-Zero on their system, the fine blokes at Shin'en proved they were more than up to the task to create a suitable supplement in the meantime.

Overcooked: Special Edition

Order up! One of the most recent releases on this list for the Nintendo Switch eShop is Overcooked: Special Edition. Currently, the frame-rate of the Switch port is far from stable, but that isn't stopping plenty of players from enjoying their wacky adventures in cooking nonetheless. The amount of coordination between players needed to make sure you satisfy the condition of each level brings plenty of panic and tension. It's like working in an actual restaurant's kitchen except without the threat of burning your hands on the stove or scalding yourself. Unless that's what you're in to...

Graceful Explosion Machine

What's better than colorful explosions? Why, colorful explosions that you, yourself, are causing, of course! As the titular ship, you pilot it through over 30 individual levels, bursting at the seams with vibrant colors as you shoot down and blast away your foes with no mercy and incredibly O.P. weaponry. Side-scrolling shmups on the Switch are few and far between, but don't just express an interest in Graceful Explosion Machine because of that. Do so because it's simply an amazing game and exhilarating experience, Nintendo Switch or not.

Blaster Master Zero

It's a blast from the past! Blaster Master's presence in the gaming scene has been rather light lately to say the least, but Inti Creates--developer behind the Mega Man Zero games--brought the series back to life with a retro revival for the Nintendo Switch and 3DS. Utilizing both 2D side-scrolling gameplay in tank form and overhead "dungeon" crawling as Jason, this Metroid-like adventure is packed to the brim with action and excitement. The boss battles are the highlight of the game with the impressive spritework and situations put on display, but all around regardless, Blaster Master Zero is a retro wonder from Inti Creates, a developer that knows their stuff.

Mighty Gunvolt Burst

Well, most of the time--at least when they're given a proper budget, two versions of a single game to work on instead of how ever many Mighty No. 9 had, and didn't work under Keiji Inafune. Mighty No. 9 might have been a low point in Inti Creates' history, but the team more than made up for it with a successor to the Nintendo 3DS-only Mighty Gunvolt. This game is none other than Mighty Gunvolt Burst, which like Blaster Master Zero, also released on Switch and Nintendo 3DS. This game is such a brilliant ode to Mega Man-like titles (even eclipsing many of them, in my opinion) that if THIS game was the one that was released instead of Mighty No. 9, then I think public opinion would have been much kinder. Mighty Gunvolt Burst, a game that stars both Beck from No. 9 and Gunvolt from Azure Striker Gunvolt, is simply a great game and heartily recommended by yours truly.

Implosion: Never Lose Hope

Let's continue the trend here of high octane action for just one more game before we move on temporarily. Rayark Games may not be a household name or anything to many gamers, but this South Korean studio has a lot of talent inside it, as evidenced by this and the next game on this list. Implosion: Never Lose Hope was a mobile game at first that is now on Nintendo Switch. This hack-and-slash feels like a damn good deal with its production values in presentation--in both visuals and voice acting--and that's because it is. Implosion's backed by super-satisfying gameplay and an immense amount of content. Running through the bite-sized missions attacking and evading enemies and bosses with the hopes of staying alive and/or completing level-specific objectives is a glorious and stimulating experience. Implosion: Never Lose Hope was quite a surprise for me in regards to how much I enjoyed playing it.

VOEZ

Here's another import from Asia and developed by Rayark Games--this time it's the very first handheld-only Switch game, VOEZ. VOEZ is a rhythm-based music game that may appear as a steep purchase for a digital release compared to the competition on the eShop, seeing as it has a $25 cost of entry, but with that you get a full-fledged story mode and over 150 individual pieces of music with three levels of difficulty each. Thus, you will spend plenty of time playing and perfecting these songs as you tap, touch, and hold your way to high point totals.

Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas

If you're lusting for a more traditional Zelda after playing the open world, dungeon-less Breath of the Wild, perhaps you're willing to accept a substitute for now. Like VOEZ, Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas was originally a mobile title before reaching home consoles and even the PlayStation Vita. It's an isometric game that certainly was influenced and inspired by several Zelda titles. Oceanhorn is hardly a carbon copy or strict imitator, though. There are various original ideas implemented, such as discovering new islands on the world map by speaking to the right person or examining a specific sign or object, the puzzles later in the game show creativity, and the isometric view brings some thoughts of how to move through the various lands' topography successfully. And for less than a tenner, Oceanhorn is at least worth a shot.

Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap

We have another adventure on our hands here with Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap, a game that remakes the Sega Master System's Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap, originally released in 1989. Despite the game showing its age a little bit, this Metroid-style title prides itself with an astonishing art style, but if that's too new school for you, you can switch to a retro 8-bit style at any time. There are definitely old school design philosophies at play in Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap regardless, such as invisible doors that most would need a guide to find unless they press up at every opportunity, as well as a hefty challenge, but with patience and perseverance comes a delightfully retro romp.

Shantae: Half-Genie Hero

Like many of the games on this list, Shantae: Half-Genie Hero saw a release on plenty of platforms before its arrival on the Nintendo Switch. In this case, however, no physical version is currently available unlike other consoles. The newest Shantae brings with it some of the most gorgeous art the series has ever seen, including amazing backgrounds and terrific character animations. Though, I'm not personally too fond of some characters' needless over-sexualization, but there's obviously a crowd for anything, and I'm a prude anyway. What I'm very fond of, however, is the jolly good gameplay and platforming fun to be found with Half-Genie Hero.

NBA Playgrounds

It's not unusual to see some indie developers struggle a little with a Nintendo-related release. We've seen it with Overcooked earlier, and that game is bound to be patched according to the developer. NBA Playgrounds once suffered issues, this time in the form of a lengthy delay of a patch that other systems received earlier than the Switch version. It just goes to show how stellar NBA Playgrounds is when the game is so good that the wait wasn't an overly huge deal. It just made the payoff all the more sweeter with all of the new patch's content and bug fixes. If you're looking for a game that riffs off of arcade style basketball games like EA's own NBA Jam and NBA Street, Saber Interactive's NBA Playgrounds is your home court.

Infinite Minigolf

We're moving on from one sport to another! I've never really cared about playing real golf like those rich wieners play in the PGA, but I have always found playing mini golf fun and engaging. I also love when the weather's too cold or uncomfortably hot (the latter being more prevalent considering the season here as of the timing of this article), so I can sit on my butt and play mini golf in video game form. That's where the wonderful Infinite Minigolf comes in, offering enjoyable pre-made courses, a customizable avatar system, and yes, the big one, a hole creator that is highly versatile. Though recently removed from the North American Nintendo Switch eShop due to some ESRB rating snafu, once Infinite Minigolf reappears on the storefront, give this lovely mini golf game a try!

Best Boss Battles in Gaming History - Part Eighteen

WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR THE FOLLOWING GAMES:

• Uncharted 4: A Thief's End (PS4)
• Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (PS4, XB1)
• Ratchet & Clank (PS4)
• Kirby: Planet Robobot (3DS)
• Shovel Knight (Multi)

One of the longest-running SuperPhillip Central article segments returns for its eighteenth edition! Best Boss Battles in Gaming History celebrates both traditional and atypical encounters throughout gaming's eras, just as long as they're fun, interesting, exciting, captivating, and/or whatever other positive qualities you can think of. This edition, we have final boss battles out the wazoo included, so you can be sure I'll be putting all the spoiler stuff after the break.

In the meantime, check out all past editions of Best Boss Battles in Gaming History with these links!

Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
Part Six 
Part Seven
Part Eight
Part Nine
Part Ten
Part Eleven
Part Twelve
Part Thirteen
Part Fourteen
Part Fifteen
Part Sixteen
Part Seventeen

And with that, all the good stuff is after the break!

Sonic Mania (NS, PS4, XB1, PC) Opening Animation

The Sonic the Hedgehog YouTube channel has officially unveiled the opening for Sonic Mania. I say "officially" because unfortunately the game has been leaked early, so be wary of spoilers if you don't want to ruin your initial play-through of the game! Sonic Mania's opening is quite reminiscent of Sonic CD, but it automatically is inferior due to no cool vocal theme a la Sonic Boom, am I right? ...Right? I'm right.

Death Squared (NS, PS4, XB1, PC) Review

SuperPhillip Central's second review of the month takes us to a recent Nintendo Switch release, the version of the game this review of mine is based off of. It's SMG Studios' Death Squared. Let's read if this game plays by the rules: fair and squared!

It's hip to be squared.

Huey Lewis may have sang it in the '80s, but SMG Studios is now saying it with its newest game. Well, technically I am saying that with my tagline, but let's not split hairs here. Death Squared contains plenty of puzzle-based, trap-filled levels for any player or group of players (hey, easy local player on Nintendo Switch!) to sit down and enjoy. You may not love it to death, but you will get your money's worth.

Death Squared's story mode has you, as a technician for a high tech conglomerate named David, controlling two AI cubes through 80 puzzle and trap-filled levels, each becoming progressively more difficult. The left stick controls one box while the right stick controls its pal. (Or, better yet, you can have two players work together, one controlling one box and the other controlling the other. Thank you, Nintendo Joycon controllers!) These red and blue boxes must not only get to their respective goals, but they also need to work together to assist each other through the oftentimes challenging levels.

Tricks and traps await in each level, whether it's red and blue color-coded lasers that will destroy a box that isn't its color, while allowing a similarly colored box to serve as a shield and/or pass through it. Then, there are transparent cubes that serve of platforms, but only the box of the opposite color, whether red or blue, can cross them. I can't forget the various buttons that can do a host of things such as moving platforms, changing the range of a laser, or even trolling players by summoning a bed of instant death spikes from the field of play.

These buttons will do a number of actions depending on the level. You won't know until you step on one~!

Speedy play isn't recommended for the most part, as more strategic planning, careful and thoughtful movement provide greater success rather than rushing into things, constantly having your test subjects become destroyed due to impatience. Calculated movement and deep thinking are your best friends with Death Squared. This makes it all the more rewarding when you finally complete a level after failing for the umpteenth time. Even though you will have to die plenty of times to get a feel of how certain levels' various mechanics, buttons, and doodads do, Death Squared immediately brings you back to the action and reloads the level without any hint of a loading screen.

Death in Death Squared is as inevitable as the sun setting in the evening.

However, sometimes failing a level isn't entirely on you. You see, the camera is static in Death Squared, which has a positive and a negative to it. On the positive side, you need not worry about adjusting the camera to get an alternate glimpse at a level. There's no need for such a thing. However, on the negative end of the spectrum, sometimes the camera is leveled or placed at an awkward angle. It makes movement occasionally unwieldy, especially since Death Squared doesn't featured grid-based movement. It's all too easy to accidentally fall off the edge of levels, and when that happens near the end of a longer level, it can be a bit aggravating to say the least.

What is far from aggravating, however, is the banter between David and his AI companion on his journey to beat boredom, Iris. Apparently, David's dialogue wasn't just a part of some script. Instead, the voice actor behind many of Death Squared's lines improvised and ad libbed a good deal of the humor. The conversations between David and Iris are comedic gold, offering plenty misunderstandings between human colloquialisms from David and from Iris' own AI interpretation of his words' actual intent and meaning.

Outside of Death Squared's story mode, there are two other modes consisting of Party, bringing the count of robotic blocks up from two to four, allowing one players to hit buttons to switch between each box or to be played with 2-4 players. Then, there is the last mode, Vault, which basically a collection of the hardest levels in the game, and as the developer says, "the ones that were too hard for the story mode". So, if that doesn't get your brain and thumbs bursting, nothing will. Thus, it's a sizable display of content as a whole for Death Squared.

More cubes obviously mean more fun! Thankfully, this is very much true.

Death Squared is the type of game that can be occasionally vexing, failing levels multiple times, sometimes through no true fault of your own thanks to the once in a while bad camera angles of some levels. However, for every annoyance comes a reprieve, whether it's the enjoyable dialogue showcasing great humor and wit between David and Iris, the quick recovery from deaths, the wonder of what challenges await for you by the designers of upcoming levels, and more. It's indeed hip to be squared, and in SMG Studios' game, death most certainly does not take a holiday.

[SPC Says: B]

Review code provided by SMG Studios.

Infinite Minigolf (NS, PS4, XB1, PC) Review

It's Tuesday, and for today's article on SuperPhillip Central I present to you the first review of August. It's the recently released Infinite Minigolf by Zen Studios. Let's have a swing at it with my review!

Not a hole-in-one as this game has some holes in IT.

I have fond memories of spending weekend afternoons with my dad. We'd occasionally take to one of the many mini golf courses around the area, now completely barren or gone in general. We didn't play seriously, nor did we even keep score. I just liked looking at the layouts of the courses and just hitting my colorful golf ball as hard as humanly possible, which for a 7-year-old wasn't too hard or impressive at all.

So when I get to relive my childhood and enjoy a round of mini golf I either take the chance to do so nowadays with friends or spend my time jumping at the chance to play mini golf digitally in virtual form. From the folks behind Zen Pinball comes a new mini golf game promising an infinite amount of potential playtime. It's fitting, then, that Zen Studios called their golf title Infinite Minigolf, available now on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Though you can have infinite replay value theoretically with Infinite Minigolf's robust course creator, is that worth devoting a huge amount of time to the game for?

Who knew a banana could potentially give you a hole-in-one? This girl knew!

Infinite Minigolf comes with a whole host of tournaments featuring pre-made courses designed by the developers. The initial tournaments are incredibly easy, requiring basic putts to accumulate hole-in-one quite simply. This might lead players astray into thinking that the rest of the tournaments offer a low level of difficulty. This just isn't so. It's a shame that Zen Studios decided then to force players to complete each course theme's tournaments in a strict order. You have to play through one after the other in order, with the first four courses being beginner difficulty courses. Then, you take on the first course of the normal difficulty, which borrows the layout of the beginner courses but just adds more obstacles and increased putting challenges to consider and worry about. Again, you have to play each normal tournament in order until you get to the really challenging hard mode. Many players might not have the patience to stick with the tournament mode offerings because of this linear system of progression.

Mind not trying to chomp on my heels? I'm trying to putt over here!

Tournament mode in Infinite Minigolf has twelve courses for each of the three themes of the game: playing in miniature form in a teen or tween's room, a haunted Halloween-themed course, and a winter wonderland starring Santa Claus. The score system involves getting in the hole in as few strokes as possible, but the focus isn't on stroke play here. Instead, it's a combination of strokes, points, and collecting items. You get points from doing everything from getting it in the hole (whether that be a birdie, eagle, bogey, or whatever), collecting a purple crystal that bestows a 2,000 point bonus, nabbing blue gems, ricocheting off walls, and more. Your total points are added up for the hole, as you compete against three other players, in this case AI players, though this is merely told through point totals at the end of each hole. Getting a hole-in-one is a fantastic proposition, of course, but it also doubles the amount of points you earn in the following hole, allowing you to rack up a sizable amount of points in a jiffy.

It's only fitting that we use a hockey stick as our golf club of choice in this winter wonderland.

Outside of the tournament modes, there is quick play, giving players a choice to play by themselves or with other players. Thankfully, all that is needed for multiple players is one duo of Joycon controllers or a Switch Pro Controller to pass around to each player when it's their turn. Multiplayer is swift and fun, and it delivers a whole host of options to you, such as the elimination of items, the ability to change from the tournament mode rules to stroke play, and much more.

The controls present in Infinite Minigolf have a decent amount of precision to them. You line up your shot, which can be a bit troublesome at times because when you move the left analog stick to the right, for instance, your golfer might aim more to the right than you would have liked, so you're trying to force him into the proper position and not overcompensate. Swinging is as simple as holding back the right analog stick. The farther you hold it back, the more powerful your shot will be. On the Nintendo Switch with its small length of its analog sticks, turning down the sensitivity on the sticks is a must. It's very easy to be setting up your shot, pull back, and release at an inopportune time, either striking the ball slightly too hard or just too soft. That said, some better displays on how far your ball is going to be hit with your current set power would be helpful, as during the beginning hours of Infinite Minigolf, at least for me, it took a good deal of practice to sink into my mind how far I should hold the right analog stick back when I was preparing to swing.

Push the stick back and let go to swing, and hope your aim is true.

Infinite Minigolf is centered around customization, whether it's your playable avatar or the ability to build and create your own holes. Avatars start out with a small selection of clothing to choose from--everything from shirts, pants, shoes, golf clubs, golf balls, hairstyles, eye colors, glasses of both the prescription and the sun varieties, and types of belt wear, with a particular director of Kingdom Hearts would absolutely adore. As you gain levels of experience from completing specific goals, the amount of items you can buy increases. You also earn cards that can be used to purchase avatar items. Unfortunately, it's required to have a particular card type to buy something from specific avatar item categories. For example, you need 15 shirt cards in order to buy a shirt. It can be a bit confusing and the game does little to explain how this system works. That said, cards come by fairly easily, whether by winning tournaments or playing created holes online.

The amount of items your avatar has to begin with is limited, but with more levels gained, the options open.

That's perhaps the most interesting feature of the entire Infinite Minigolf package. Well, I sure as hell know it was the most interesting feature for me. While there are only three course themes to choose from at the date of this review (hopefully more will come, but nothing has been hinted at regarding this), each theme has its own obstacles, hazards, and objects to choose from. Better yet, placing pieces of course together is extremely intuitive. This is a good thing and a bad thing, as yes, being able to design a fabulous hole in a relatively quick duration is awesome, but as you can guess, this means it's much easier to post crappy holes to clog up the Infinite Minigolf course browser. Yep, I'm shifting through these "plz like", "fast way to level up", and "OMG this hole has no coherent flow or design whatsoever" type holes.

An example of a created hole you can make. Just don't make this one.
 It is mine. Original course: do not steal.

Infinite Minigolf has a modest presentation to it. The visuals don't appear to push any of the hardware, but at the same time, lots of usage with physics is present. It's a shame that it doesn't always work well. One particular Santa's Workshop level would periodically have a pyramid of ice blocks fall before I could even hit the ball underneath them. Instead, they blocked any opportunity I could make at passing them. Then there are some oddball collision issues, affecting how a shot would hit a corner or object in a way that would be baffling to say the least. However, physics issues are few and far in-between, but when they do rarely pop up, it can be quite frustrating. There are some performance issues as well, at least with the Nintendo Switch version, where the game would just crash with an error screen. This was a rare occurrence.

Overall, Infinite Minigolf is an affordable mini golf built with a lot of heart, and it plays rather well, too. I would prefer to have more course themes to it, less crashes, slightly better controls, and more consistent physics, but what Zen Studios has done is bring me back to a simpler time where I'd hang out with my dad and play "putt-putt." Well, if our putt-putt had werewolves, spirits, elves, Santa Claus, and more interacting with our putts... But you know what I mean.

[SPC Says: B]

SuperPhillip Central's Favorite VGMs - "Anime-zing" Edition

We're front-loaded with anime this week on SuperPhillip Central's Favorite VGMs. How else can you put it when we have three decidedly Japanese games with prominent anime aesthetics to them, some more than others?

We begin with Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea, seeing the Atelier series return to the Favorite VGMs for the first time in over 1,000 VGM volumes! Then, we move to Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, a game that I adore the music from, but no so much the game type. From there, Super Nintendo classic Secret of Mana gets its turn to shine, followed by the stupendous sound from the Planet Coaster soundtrack. Finally, Rare's Viva Pinata soothes us with one of its delightful daytime songs.

If you can't handle being without video game music goodness until next week, the VGM Database has every VGM volume represented on this weekly segment ever. Period. Exclamation point. And remember that you just need to click on the VGM volume name to hear the song presented. Now, let's get on to the music!

v1441. Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea (PS3, Vita) - Sand Dragon Battle

For a franchise that has been around since 1997, Atelier is one that I have to play a single entry from. Now that there are so many entries to choose from, it's gotten quite difficult to know which game to start out with first. The recent games sport a gorgeous cel shaded art style, and I'm a sucker for that visual style. It also helps that the soundtracks are masterful works that I really dig, even without even having played the games. Soon, Atelier, I will try your series of games out. Soon.

v1442. Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc (Vita) - Beautiful Days

There are some games that just aren't for you, and that's perfectly okay. For instance, games like Danganronpa with their play style and overtly anime appearance do nothing for me, and as someone who covers games, I'm surely not going to cover Danganronpa because my biases towards the genre and aesthetic would make me harsher on the game than I otherwise would. One aspect of Danganronpa I do enjoy is Masafumi Takada's soundtrack for the game. His name was first introduced to me by playing Killer7 when it originally came out. He co-composed that game's soundtrack with Jun Fukuda. I've been a fan of his works ever since.

v1443. Secret of Mana (SNES) - Flight into the Unknown

We turn to our lone old school song for this edition of SuperPhillip Central's Favorite VGMs. It's a flight theme from Secret of Mana, one of the many games featured, packed, and installed on the upcoming SNES Classic that releases near the end of September. By the way, be on the look out for the opportunity to pre-order later this month, as Nintendo has confirmed. Whether supply will meet demand is anyone's guess. As for Secret of Mana, it's one of games I'm interested in returning to, regardless of whether I can get a SNES Classic or not. Who can deny the awesomeness that is an early work from the gaming music goddess that is Yoko Shimomura?

v1444. Planet Coaster (PC) - The Light in Us All

Growing up, I went to my dad's house each weekend and spent a lot of time on his PC playing a game here and then. My favorites to play on PC were always simulator-type games, like Sim City, The Sims, and Roller Coaster Tycoon. The latter got me heavily interested in Planet Coaster. While I have yet to dip my toes into the fun and fortune of designing and maintaining my own amusement park with Planet Coaster, I have been hugely impressed by the folk-sounding, upbeat tunes of the game. The Light in Us All is a song that I think one day I'll have nostalgia for. It's so happy and makes feel good.

v1445. Viva Pinata (360) - Day 2

Our last song the week comes from a game that is no stranger to this weekly series of articles. It's Viva Pinata. Grant Kirkhope did wonders on the Nintendo 64 with his music on games like Banjo-Kazooie and Donkey Kong 64. He then composed this exquisite score with the Xbox 360's Viva Pinata. Each day and night that would pass in the game would have one of several themes playing during it. You never knew which one you were going to get, but they always fit the idyllic mood of raising and pampering your pinata friends.