Siesta Fiesta

Genre: Arcade Brick Breaker

Players: 1

.

Review:

Siesta Fiesta is an Arcade Brick Breaker released on Nintendo 3DS in 2014. This game has players controlling a moving bed whose occupant is bouncing upon, apparently still blissfully asleep, while all around him the colorful residents of a strange island hold a huge celebration in which he has become the centerpiece.

It’s a delightfully silly concept, but it’s one the game commits wholeheartedly to in its presentation. Siesta Fiesta is absolutely joyous in tone, with its 2D levels and wonderfully well-animated characters absolutely bursting with personality, backgrounds absolutely full of various details and activities going on, and fun little interactions your character can have with the world, such as splashing in water that hits the screen. This is backed up by a delightful soundtrack with its silly take on surf rock, complete with high-pitched voices singing incoherently (reminding me a bit of the excellent soundtrack to Loco Roco). This is a game that may not impress in a technical way, but in terms of setting a wonderful tone for a game it’s hard to imagine doing better than this.

However, it’s not just the presentation where this game shines. Siesta Fiesta brings an abundance of fun ideas to the Brick Breaker genre that add all sorts of variety and originality to the game. The first of these is that each of the game’s stages that you’re playing on is not static, but moves and progresses as you play, constantly creating new challenges and replacing the blocks you’ve busted with new ones, and also daring score chasers to try to hit all the blocks before they disappear off the left side of the stage.

The stages have plenty of other fun ideas too – blocks you pass through rather than bounce off of, blocks you need to avoid, gates you need to pass through in sequential order, devices you need to hit to activate… this game does a fantastic job of getting the player to feel like there’s something new around every corner.

And then there’s the core gameplay, which starts out strong with well-crafted controls that work fantastic regardless of whether you’re using the Circle Pad, D-Pad, or the touchscreen to control your movement, and then builds on that by enabling players to time a button press to “bounce” their “ball” to reach newer heights.

Do I have any complaints? Honestly, there’s just not much I can think of that isn’t nitpicking. The game can feel particularly challenging, but it also gives you plenty of lives in each level so it’s not disastrous if you make a mistake. There’s no multiplayer, but I’m not really sure this is a game that needs it. And while this game is absolutely inspired within its genre, it doesn’t do anything truly ascendant to appeal to players who don’t care for Arcade Brick Breakers at all.

That’s… really not much in the way of complaints.

Honestly, the only reason I would hesitate to outright say that Siesta Fiesta is a must-buy on Nintendo 3DS is because I know that not everyone is going to care for an Arcade Brick Breaker. But if that’s a genre you’re even remotely amused by, absolutely pick up Siesta Fiesta. When the Nintendo 3DS eShop gets closed in March 2023, the party will be over, and this game will no longer be available. Do not miss out on it while you can still get it.

tl;dr – Siesta Fiesta is an Arcade Brick Breaker that has players controlling a sliding bed while its sleeping occupant bounces on it through a massive island-wide celebration, completely unawares. This is an absolutely joyous game that is not only bursting with personality, but reimagines its genre in numerous creative ways. This is without a doubt one of the most brilliant hidden gems on the Nintendo 3DS eShop, and Nintendo 3DS owners should absolutely make it a point to grab this game before that eShop closes in March 2023.

Grade: A

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