Locomalito Arcade Legends

Genre: Compilation / Action-Platformer / Bullet Hell Shmup

Players: 1-2 Co-Op (Local)

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Review:

Locomalito Arcade Legends, released on Nintendo Switch in 2023, is a Compilation of Super Hydorah and Cursed Castilla, previously released on Nintendo Switch in 2018 and 2019, respectively.

I have separately reviewed both of these games. Here is what I thought of both of the games in this collection:

Game	Genre	# of Players	Score
Cursed Castilla	Action-Platformer	1	B
tl;dr Cursed Castilla is an Action-Platformer that perfectly copies the look, sound, and feel of the classic Ghosts ‘N’ Goblins series while bringing a few of its own unique gameplay elements. Like those games, this game has solid gameplay, but presents a formidable challenge. It’s just a shame that this game chose to copy the earlier games in the Ghosts ‘N’ Goblins series instead of the series’ pinnacle, Super Ghouls ‘N’ Ghosts. Still, for what it aims to be, Cursed Castilla absolutely hits its mark.
Super Hydorah	Bullet Hell Shmup	1-2 Co-Op (Local)	B+
tl;dr Super Hydorah is a Bullet Hell Shmup that is very clearly imitating the classic Gradius games, and for the most part, it succeeds at this brilliantly. The music is forgettable, and the power-up system is a bit more limited than the Gradius games, but the gameplay here is still superb, and the game does some really inventive stuff with Co-Op, especially with the surprisingly good Robot Chase minigame. Definitely worth a look for fans of the genre.

In short, both of these games are copycat games clearly directly inspired by more well-known classic games from other developers, but that isn’t really a bad thing since both games are surprisingly excellent. Super Hydorah gets a bit of an edge here in part due to a completely unrelated but fun co-op minigame, Robot Chase, but both of these games are well worth playing, especially for fans of classic 8-bit and 16-bit games.

So that just brings me to the question of value, and there Locomalito Arcade Legends is merely “okay”. Separately, these two games are priced at $14 and $20, occasionally going on sale at as much as 50% of the standard price. Meanwhile, this bundle sells for just under $29, a $5 savings off of the standard price, but not as good of a deal as the sale price… at least not until this bundle goes on sale (which it has not yet done as of this writing).

In the end, I still recommend Locomalito Arcade Legends – the two games here are both excellent. However, before buying, I suggest you research pricing and decide whether or not you think this is a good deal. That’s going to be the biggest factor in whether you get this bundle or buy the games separately.

tl;dr – Locomalito Arcade Legends is a Compilation of the Action-Platformer Cursed Castilla and the Bullet Hell Shmup Super Hydorah. Both games mimic a classic 8-bit or 16-bit game, and actually do a surprisingly good job of it, making for a pair of very good games. As for the bundle, the savings here isn’t spectacular, so you might want to weigh this package against the individual games’ sale prices before deciding to buy.

Grade: B

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