Platforms: Playstation 4, Switch, Windows, and Xbox One (reviewed)
I’m not often one for puzzle platformers. In fact, I’ve gotten to the point that I rarely even give them a glance anymore. When I saw that the Mighty Switch Force games were getting another shot at life on current generation consoles, I knew I would give them a go. Why these? Well, most of these games were previously available on the 3DS, but where I knew them from was the Wii U. Yes, the little Nintendo console that just quite couldn’t. At times, I felt starved for content on the console and offerings from WayForward were always more than welcome.
This collection throws in Mighty Switch Force!, Mighty Switch Force! 2, Mighty Switch Force! Hyper Drive Edition, and Mighty Switch Force! Academy. I played Mighty Switch Force! 2 and Hyper Drive on the Wii U to death, so it didn’t take too long to feel like I was visiting a couple of old friends.
They all play fairly similarly to one another, with Academy being the biggest divergence from the formula, and that only being from the zoomed out perspective. You collect escaped prisoners as a cop in MSF!, Hyper Drive, and Academy, while in MSF!2, you’re a firefighter and save people from fire. They serve the same functional purpose as you just run up to them and touch them to capture/save them, so the basic idea is consistent in all four of the games here. In the cop entries, you’re given a gun to shoot enemies and destroy some platforms, while in MSF!2, you use a fire hose to put out fires and knock back enemies. It’s a rather minor difference in the two styles that changes the gameplay just enough to be interesting. The slight change helps alleviate the feeling of playing too much of the same thing in the collection as a whole.
In all of the games, your helmet emits a siren at the press of a button and that switches blocks from the foreground to the background. This idea is where the main hook of the games lie. It starts off simply enough by making you switch platforms mid-jump, but gradually introduces new twists on the idea and also makes the block-switching platforming tougher. You’ll end up having to switch blocks to manipulate enemy movements and your own attacks. Further in, the platforming will require a good degree in confidence in your abilities at times. It never crosses the line of feeling unfair or too tough, but it certainly does get close to it. As someone who’s not normally a fan of platformers, never mind puzzle platformers, this is a rather impressive feat. Granted, my familiarity with three of the four titles in the collection might be swaying a bit, but I played them to the death on the Wii U because they’re very well balanced and never really lose a sense of fun.
The stages are brisk, with a par time averaging around a couple of minutes each. They’ll likely take more time your first time around, but once you get the gist of them, you’ll find the par times more than reasonable for each one. If you’ve ever watched speedrunners and thought it was neat to watch someone skillfully tear through a game at an incredible pace, all of the games in this collection offer well-designed levels that are conducive to getting you well below the par time for each one. It takes some practice as you get further along, but they never feel impossible. These were probably the only games that had this sort of hook to keep playing that actually kept me going until I had nearly mastered each stage.
Academy was the only I wasn’t familiar with prior to that, but the hook is perfect. You see the whole level in one screen, giving a bit of an arcade game vibe. This view not only gives you a chance to plan out your first run, but that arcade feeling is a perfect fit for trying to shave just a few more seconds off each level. I’m rather looking forward to finishing up that and getting below par on all the stages. Yes, that means I didn’t completely finish every game in this collection, but I have more than a handle on Academy and I spent more than a fair amount of time with them in this collection, never mind putting in well over ten hours into each of them on the 3DS and Wii U originally. They feel great and I can’t see these ports being botched in any way based on the couple of hours I spent with each entry included in the collection.
While this is a great collection of games, the inclusion of the original version of MSF! feels a bit odd. Hyper Drive was an HD port of the original game with some added levels thrown in. While MSF! is a fine game on its own, playing what ostensibly looks like a GBA game blown up on a TV is a little jarring, but I guess your mileage can vary on that one. I consider myself more tolerant of that sort of thing than most, but when you have a version that feels exactly the same and looks far better on modern TV’s and also has additional levels thrown in, the original certainly feels like the odd duck in the collection.
My only real complaint with this is, as a collection, it feels a little slight. The distinct lack of bonus content is a bit of a bummer. Some concept art, basic design insight, interviews, and the ability to listen to the soundtrack on its own would have done wonders for rounding out the collection. It feels a little bare bones, but throwing these games together that were on multiple platforms into one place makes it forgivable. I suppose we’ve been spoiled as of late with game collections having bonus content, so I was hoping for something with a bit more to chew on aside from the games themselves.
In a world where last gen ports are a dime a dozen and you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a puzzle platfomer, Mighty Switch Force! Collection is more than worth your time. Again, I’m not a huge of the genre, but these all have a lot of charm, are all smartly designed, Jake Kaufman’s soundtracks are catchy as hell, and they all have a great hook to keep you playing the levels over and over until you get your time down to near perfection. If you passed over these previously and even have the slightest interest in the genre, Mighty Switch Force! Collection comes highly recommended.
