Game Review #262: Super Weekend Mode (Nintendo Switch)
Reviewer: Frankie W
Developer: Pixelteriyaki
Publisher: Ratalaika Games
Category: Action, Arcade, Puzzle
Release Date: 4.12.2019
Price (At Time of Review): $4.99
Buy Super Weekend Mode from the Nintendo Switch eShop here.
Skulls, Hearts, and Dust Bunnies - Oh MY!
This game is freaking crazy! It starts you slow, but as you descend into the game’s madness, and everything clicks, you enter the flow zone of masterful video game skills and BAM you are having an absolute blast! This game wears the look of an older arcade game, but trust me, there is MUCH more going on under the hood in this one. At this point, you know nothing, so let's change that and get into SUPER WEEKEND MODE a little more. You know you want to.
Have To Be Quick!
Ok! So here's the thing; Super Weekend Mode is a reaction-based arcade puzzle game that has you managing 4 vertical columns. You interact with them by moving your two paddles with the L and the R trigger to have them switch between one of two positions as you have them blast upwards to hit the boss enough to progress to the next stage. This is normally mapped to the A button, but you can turn on a very handy auto-fire option that will seriously make your life a little easier. Story-wise, we aren't looking at too much more than an excuse for the madness, but here we go! You play as a princess (there are lots of skins all with different effects) who has had ALL of her possessions stolen so it’s up to you to venture through 9 levels of multitasking madness in order to get all of your things back. I am still not quite sure of where the name Super Weekend Mode comes in, but it certainly plays into the absurd nature that this game proudly wears on its sleeve for all to see, so I’m here for it! The graphics are simple and pleasing; everything is very clear and unique, so there is no confusion on what something is or the purpose it fulfills.
How To Make It Happen.
As you try to blast down the boss, you will also deal with a constant downfall of hearts, skulls, and dust bunnies. The hearts are for collecting; they get you closer to the next level. The dust bunnies you have to “bump” with your bumper by not letting it hit you straight on, and you have to slide your bumper into the side of them to eliminate them. And finally you have skulls, which you can’t let touch your bumper or else it’s instant death! If you miss too many hearts, the level will close in on you, crushing you! It only gets rougher as the game grants you less and less time to actively react to the stream of icons coming at you. You also have to try to maximize the time the bumpers are in the middle two rows, as those are the rows from which you can fire and hit the boss! This lends itself to frenzied, hurried gameplay that demands a level of understanding and multitasking that may take you a little time to get used to. In between levels you do earn some power-ups to lighten the load, for a little bit of RPG loving in the formula.
A Tough Run
Honestly, this game being as wild and demanding as it is may be my biggest complaint. This game is HARD, and it feels a little unfairly so at times. It may just be emulating the old arcade level of hard, but even playing on easy the game would pull unfair moves like switching rows with NO time to react. I think it wants you to memorize the levels in order to really pull it off, but I never felt inclined to GET that good at it. A good feeling for a game like this, is after a death you immediately start again, you can tell it was your fault and your death felt fair. I would stop playing Super Weekend Mode for a little bit after a rough death because it didn’t feel like I earned that death.
I believe it laid out what it wanted to do, but I don’t really think that it was the best direction for it to go. There is fun to be had here, and when it works well it DOES feel very nice, but those moments feel a little few and mostly far in between. It offers different costumes that can do things like make things harder (Oh god!) and ones that make things a little easier, as well as few things in between to sweeten the deal, but after giving it a real long go, I didn’t feel like I wanted to pick it back up in order to explore these things more. The soundtrack is fun, with some decent tunes but no real home runs on it, but its non-offensive nature is to be appreciated as you dodge all the things coming at you trying to collect hearts.
Wrapping Up
Super Weekend Mode is a fun game, albeit a little frustrating. But for $4.99, you could do worse! Be prepared for some anger to boil over as you SWEAR you bumped that last dust bunny right! And then as you have a moment of shaken focus, you’ll have your rhythm completely thrown into disarray and you quickly die, but there are some good points to be found here! I’d love to see someone who has mastered this game completely decimate it, because I’m sure it’s a sight to see!
Score: 6/10
Buy Super Weekend Mode from the Nintendo Switch eShop here.
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*Review Code Provided by Ratalaika Games