It's no exaggeration to say that River City Girls 2 was my most-anticipated beat 'em up of 2022. The first game is an all-time favorite, and the second offers an increase in scale and numerous improvements. However, when RCG2 launched in December, hardcore fans quickly noticed that the game's frame rate was off. Whereas RCG1 r...
Dotemu is pretty much the king of the beat 'em up hill nowadays. The French publisher has released two of the most beloved beat 'em ups of all time in recent years: TMNT: Shredder's Revenge and Streets of Rage 4. Both games have received numerous updates since their launches, with a new update for Streets of Rage 4 arriving within the last week. This patch consists of mostly balance adjustments for numerous characters and enemies, but it also adds co-op moves and custom options for Survival Mode.
The Wii was a popular console in its day, but many gamers skipped it due to its low-definition nature and prominent waggle controls. Thus, it's good to see that Nintendo has remade 2011's formerly Wii- and WIi U-exclusive, Kirby's Return to Dream Land, on the much shinier and more powerful Nintendo Switch. Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe brings back the 2.5D platformer with improved visuals, a new epilogue, new transformations, and the always welcome 4-player local co-op.
It's always good to see a game graduate from early access and join the ranks of fully-released games. Barotrauma, the 2D submarine simulator from Daedelic Entertainment, first appeared as a Steam Early Access game way back in 2019. After several years of updates, Barotrauma has emerged from Early Access and become a full Steam game. This one allows up to 16 online players to pilot a submarine together while dealing with monstrous sea creatures and other threats.
Nearly 100 years ago (or something like that), Atari released a single-player shoot 'em up of sorts called Caverns of Mars on home computers. Caverns is relatively unknown due to not having been ported to the consoles of its era, but it was recently included in the robust Atari 50: The Anniversary Collection for modern platforms....
Sometimes games need a bit of retooling, but it's not all that common for a publisher to pull their game from storefronts while they work on fixing it up. That's just what happened with the VR sword fighting game SWORDS of GARGANTUA, though. Last month, publisher Thirdverse announced that it would be reworking SWORDS for a return in March. Fast-forward to now, and the game is indeed back and available for purchase once again.
We've been excited for Puzzle Bobble Everybubble, the upcoming Switch-exclusive entry in Taito's Puzzle Bobble series, since the game was announced last year. All signs point to Everybubble being the biggest and best game in the series. This one will feature numerous modes, including the exciting "Puzzle Bobble VS. Space Invaders." Despite the "VS" in the title, said mode actually allows up to 4 local players to play against the famous Space Invaders.
Infernax quickly became my single-player game of the year when it launched in early 2022. The game's dark gothic atmosphere, morality system, and excellent retro graphics all made for an extremely memorable Metroidvania platformer - as detailed in our Beyond Co-op review. While the solo experience was undoubtedly special, Infernax wil...
Earlier this year, PQube and developer Inti creates released a Castlevania-style action platformer called Grim Guardians: Demon Purge. Fast-forwarding to today, the title of the game has now changed to Gal Guardians: Demon Purge. There’s something you don’t see every day! Gal Guardians is available on PlayStation, Switch, a...
It's pretty simple, just enter below and on Tuesday, March 7th we will draw 5 lucky winners for codes of We Are Screwed!
We Are Screwed! is a colorful and chaotic looking co-op game hitting Early Access via Steam today for up to four players. You'll be teaming up to face swarms of foes as you and your friends pilot your way through randomly generated galaxies. According to the game's description you'll "blast your enemies, extinguish fires, clean up, repair, recycle and explore where no one has screwed up before!"
We are all for choice here at Co-Optimus. Let the customer decide what they want we say! But to be perfectly honest? We do think ININ Games took it a bit too far this month with the various Ninja JaJaMaru compilations. Was it really necessary to offer so many versions with only slightly different content? Oh well, it is what it is. At least retro fans can finally enjoy the adventures of "Ninja Kid" on Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4. PC users, on the other hand, finally got the promised wave of Toaplan-Shoot'em-Up-Goodness courtesy of publisher Bitwave Games: Out Zone, Twin Cobra, Zero Wing and Truxton (no co-op) all hit the Steam store this month.
