Nitro+ Blasterz: Heroines Infinite Duel
PS4, PS3, Nitroplus, cert: T
★★★★
Although hard not to regard as a blatant cash-in (with attendant clunky title), Nitro+ Blasterz: Heroines Infinite Duel has a lot to recommend it. The Nitro+ catalogue has been plundered, with characters from manga, visual novels and anime pairing off in this colourful, absurd 2D fighter. Characters from notable series such as Psycho-Pass, Fate/Stay Night and Saya No Uta pad out the all-female roster, but a lot of them are pretty obscure. This really is one for the fans.
Drilling down through the dense strata of fan service, Heroines Infinite Duel is a fast, satisfying fighter that strikes a good balance between “easy to pick up” and “hard to master”. Each character has distinct strategies and there are enough sub-systems to keep matches varied and tense. But equally, the control scheme is simple enough that button-mashing is still a viable tactic. The rest of the package is a little light for the price – not many different modes, a weak story – but the core is solid and charmingly offbeat. PH
Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros 3
Wii U Virtual Console, Nintendo, cert: 3
★★★★★
1988’s Super Mario Bros 3 needs no introduction – it’s one of the most celebrated platformers of all time, and even when weighed against the high standards of fellow Mario titles, it stands out as a highlight. This, then, is the game that brought us raccoon tails, Koopa kids, sprawling world maps and the often-forgotten (until Super Mario Maker) Kuribo’s shoe.
This Virtual Console iteration is the Game Boy Advance remake, complete with voiced Mario and Luigi. Of greater interest to completists is the exclusive European debut of the 38 extremely rare e-Card reader (an obscure import-only GBA card) courses. These range from remakes of classic Mario courses to some demanding concept stages, shuffling power-ups from various Mario titles together. Modern Marios are often credited as ideas factories, turning the ingenious into the disposable at a frequency only Nintendo can afford, but it all started here with this unmissable piece of gaming history. RH
Telepaint
iOS, Acid Nerve, cert: 9
★★★★
Given Donald Trump’s insistence that he has normal-size hands, Apple’s new iPhone SE clearly isn’t aimed at him. A return to the old 4in screen is much easier to handle for those with smaller digits and is the perfect platform for treats such as Telepaint.
In this intriguing cross between Lemmings and Portal, an anthropomorphised paint pot makes its way across the landscape in search of its little brush friend. Like the aforementioned rodents, it plods along until bumping into a wall, changing its direction. The task is to zap it around the landscape, using teleporters, so it can be reunited with the brush. Tap two portals and whatever touches one will appear at the next, along with a gratifying splat of paint.
The fiendish puzzles ramp up the pressure with progress – multiple paint pots, magnetic blocks, deadly spikes – but the quick replays and smartly implemented fast-forward and pause buttons make it moreish. And a smaller screen might be the trump card in the arsenal when scrambling to click on the required portal just in time. TM
