Quad Fighter K (Nintendo Switch) Review

Quad Fighter K belongs in that ridiculously big family of videogames that use a NES-inspired, 8-bit aesthetic, and although it nails that look, it doesn't really seem to understand what made those golden oldies look so good. The sound section is another example of that lack of understanding, as each note feels as if it came straight from a Mega Man title, but the way these notes are put together doesn't really leave that big of an impact.

In other words, it's retro for the sake of it, and, as a result, is not very pretty - or, at least, practical. This following might seem as minor nitpicking, but the way the pixel-y visuals blend together leads to a battlefield that is way too frenetic and "busy" to be enjoyable, as it makes it somewhat hard to "read" the screen, understand what is and isn't in the background, or know what is enemy fire and what is yours.

Sure, some won't really mind when playing on their TV, but this issue becomes especially annoying when doing so in handheld, and, even worse, when in tabletop mode with a bunch of friends - in other words, as this was intended to be enjoyed. This can be played solo, with the three other spaceships being controlled by the CPU, but, although the AI is decent enough so that your aerial comrades won't act as sitting ducks, they are not exactly as good as they should be.

Of course, whether alone or with friends, the ability that enables connecting with the rest of the spaceships is still possible; an ability that lets the team to, first, act as one, and, secondly, fire with everything they have got. Just note that, since this connection is a simple matter of bumping into each other, it's easy to make an accidental connection, especially when in the heat of the battle. The other thing that one should bear in mind? This is just your basic, run-of-the-mill vertical shooter.

This doesn't try to stand out from the competition - like, at all - thus it will bore most people in a matter of minutes. Oh, yeah, there's also another, more "traditional" retro shooter included here as an added bonus, called Cyber Ship Nakku, but it's actually even worse; first, because it's as simple as "good" 'ol Xevious, but mainly because many enemies tend to move in such velocities that it all feels like an unfair memory game, rather than a shoot 'em up.