Review: Minishoot’ Adventures (Nintendo Switch)
Minishoot’ Adventures is a twin-stick shooter for the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2. It’s also a top-down adventure with puzzle elements à la classic The Legend of Zelda titles. Yep, it’s another combo deal that attempts to mash two genres together to see what happens. Well, spoiler alert; it does a spectacular job of it.
Gameplay is simple. You control a cute, sentient spaceship with your left stick. Aiming your right stick directs your gunfire. The controls will feel natural for anyone who’s ever played a twin-stick shooter. Your goal is to fly through the land, searching for lost aircraft and rescuing them. Along the way, you’ll find caves to explore, dungeons to beat, and plenty of shooter action.
The exploration and dungeons are where the Zelda comparisons come into play. There are several nods to this classic outing. Firstly, you need to find the entrance to each dungeon, often hidden or inaccessible until you discover a way in. Secondly, once inside, there are many recognizable tropes; keys are required to enter locked sections, levers need to be pressed to reveal new pathways, and you even need a boss key to open the final room and reach the master of the dungeon. Overall, each dungeon is well designed and fun to explore.
There are a ton of collectibles to keep you invested beyond the main campaign. Some of these are optional, like stone tablets that unravel an ancient prophecy about the Chosen One. Golden beetles hide in obscure places, which can be traded for special items. Large cogs come from defeating tougher enemies, and go towards earning more powerful weapons.
Mostly, though, you’ll want to collect red crystals. Defeating enemies spawns these shiny objects, and gathering them grants you level-up points. These points allow you to enhance one of eleven elements of your ship, including damage, fire rate, speed, and critical chance. You can also downgrade your ship, meaning you can swap your points around if you change your mind. It’s an intuitive system that’s easy to use.
There are also abilities to unlock. Initially, your ship is relatively weak. This is a key way to keep your exploration from becoming overwhelming, restricting you to safer areas in the beginning. Beyond that are regions that you either can’t access or difficult foes that you won’t want to access just yet. As you progress, you’ll discover a speed boost, a second gun, a jump ability to overcome gaps (yes, even though you’re a spaceship), and others. It’s a joy to unlock each one and revisit areas to see what’s hiding beyond your previous boundaries.
The soundtrack is another standout. Shooters often feature quite dynamic audio backdrops to accompany you as you blast your way through enemies. Minishoot’ Adventures has elements of this, particularly during dungeon and boss fights. Fast-paced tunes help pump that much-needed adrenaline through your veins as you go about your business. At other times (namely while exploring the overworld), the tunes are more laid-back. Each section of the overworld features a unique auditory theme, typically a more relaxed tune that settles neatly into the background as you explore. It works perfectly.
The accessibility options on offer here are plentiful. I’m very impressed. Twin-stick shooters can often verge into bullet-hell territory, putting more casual players off. Minishoot’ Adventures allows you to choose between three difficulty levels: Explorer, Original, and Advanced. The difference is in the speed of enemies and their bullets. But that’s not all—you can also tweak the game speed to slow everything down, turn on autofire, and toggle invincibility and infinite energy. I love these options, which allow absolutely anyone to play and enjoy this game. If you’re into bullet hells, you can ramp things up. If you want a more chilled experience, these settings can make that happen. The settings are all adjustable at any time within the game, too; perfect!
In terms of downsides…there really isn’t anything negative to report. There’s a short loading screen while the game boots up, but it’s under 10 seconds long. And it means things run super smoothly during play. Everything ran crisply for me playing the Switch and Switch 2 versions (I did play both versions on the Switch 2, though). I didn’t notice any slowness, stuttering, or loading once the game began. In fact, the visuals are quite lovely, with colorful characters and environments that are somehow both soft and vibrant at the same time. It’s a beautiful world.
One addition I would like to suggest for any potential sequel or follow-up is a map for each dungeon. While the overworld map is terrific, I’d also like to know where I am during dungeon quests. I didn’t find myself getting lost, but I would occasionally like to know where I am in relation to the boss room, for example. A minor thing, but it would be a solid addition to a future outing.
Overall, Minishoot’ Adventures is a truly wonderful experience. It captures the exploration of Link’s adventures and successfully couples it with shooter elements. The art style, audio, upgrades, exploration, and collectibles all go a long way to ensuring this is a fun way to spend 10 hours or so. I hope the devs are working on a sequel because I will be keeping an eye out for what’s next.
