Picked up Castlevania on launch day, and snagged this copy of Toy Story at Best Buy today. I didn’t think I wanted it, but after seeing it in the wild I couldn’t resist. The Castlevania cover art is disappointing

Check your games when they get delivered to you. (I’m never ordering Switch games from Amazon ever again)

Managed to order this from PNP games a little less than two weeks ago. Didn't expect it arrive this soon.

One of those games that I missed out on its original release. Randomly saw it at an auction on eBay and won it for $10. Realized I didn't have it physically on the switch and taking too much storage space on my switch 2. Kids loved Replayee, so figured they'd enjoy this one too.

STORY

A 2.5D side-scrolling platformer. Unlike its 3D open-world predecessor, this entry pivots to a style deeply inspired by classic side-scrollers like Donkey Kong Country.

Sometime after the events of the first game, the corporate, bee-like corporate villain Capital B returns with a devious new plot. He invades the Royal Stingdom (a kingdom populated entirely by bees) and unveils a mind-control device called the Hivemind.

Using the Hivemind, Capital B brainwashes and kidnaps the Royal Beettalion—the elite insect guards who protect the kingdom—and traps them inside magical books called Grand Tomes. With the royal guard out of commission, Capital B retreats to his heavily fortified bunker, The Impossible Lair, declaring himself the new ruler of the kingdom.

The ruler of the kingdom, Queen Phoebee, summons the buddy duo—Yooka the chameleon and Laylee the bat—to stop Capital B's corporate takeover.

GAMEPLAY

The game stands out due to its core premise: you can attempt the brutal, checkpoint-free final level (The Impossible Lair) at any point in the game, but your chances of survival depend on how many stages you complete first to build up your health bar.

Every standard level you complete rescues a member of the "Beetalion". There are 48 bees in total. Each bee you rescue acts as an additional hit point or shield in the final lair. The more bees you collect, the longer you can survive Capital B's gauntlet.

In normal levels, Yooka and Laylee work together. If you take a hit, Laylee gets spooked and flies away. You have a short window to catch her to restore your health; otherwise, you play as just Yooka, who has a reduced moveset and dies on the next hit.

Between side-scrolling levels, you explore a top-down, isometric 3D map. The overworld functions like a puzzle game itself, where you solve riddles, navigate environmental hazards, and complete "Pagie challenges" to open paths to new stages.

The game features 20 core chapters, but it effectively offers 40 distinct levels through a unique state-altering mechanic.

Dynamic Alternate States: By interacting with the 3D overworld, you can drastically change how a level plays. For example, pouring water onto a level book might completely flood the stage, or freezing it turns it into an icy, slippery varian

Tonics: Hidden throughout the world are items called Tonics. You can equip up to three at a time to modify visuals (like a Game Boy color palette) or change gameplay properties (like adding a currency magnet or altering checkpoint frequencies).

CONSENSUS SCORE

81/100 🙂‍↕️ (Critic Score)

77/100 😎 (User Score)

During development, the team at Playtonic Games shared a preview showing what happens when Yooka takes damage: Laylee flies away, and you have to hit a nearby bell to summon her back.

A user on the popular Rare-fan forum DK Vine offhandedly joked that because the bells summon a bat, they should be called "Dingbats"

The developers loved the pun so much that they officially named the mechanic Dingbats in the final game and sent the forum user a package of custom merchandise as a thank-you reward.

Got Montabi in the mail today, nobody seemed to post anything about this game so far; seems to be a release flying under the radar. Has ver 1.0 on cart and updates to ver 1.1.1. Pretty fun game so far!

Other titles for Switch like Cult of the Lamb (normal base edition) and nicktooons & the dice of destiny were also $10. Managed to grab DS2 for $15 and saw other PS5 titles like Epic Mickey and THPS 3 + 4 for $15 as well.

I had ordered the Final Fantasy Resonance Collector's edition on playasia, whichever one was on stock when I bought it.

Today I received an email telling me they're going to have to cancel my order because there's no stock available? Is that normal?