UFO 50 got a Switch port! As someone who likes delving into console libraries, this was a game that always fascinated me so I'm really glad I was able to experience it. And after days and days of sifting through this massive 50-game behemoth, something I've noticed is just how different everyone's rankings are. With the sheer variety of games on offer, UFO 50 forces its players to open up about their personal tastes in games and how it affects their view of the collection as a whole, which I find really cool. So I thought I'd throw my hat into the ring, reviewing each game one by one and giving my own personal ranking at the end. Although, since there's a whopping 50 of these things, I'm also going to challenge myself to review them as succinctly as possible.
Barbuta: This is a game I respect more than I actually enjoy playing. As a joke against the player, I like that this feels authentically from 1982, for better and primarily for worse. The sense of exploration is still pretty well-done, but the sluggish movement doesn't really make me want to explore.
C Tier
Bug Hunter: I'm not much of a strategy guy, but I still found myself playing this one for a bit. It's easy to pick up and really creative, but the sheer amount of deckbuilding options feels pretty overwhelming and the waves go on for a long time.
C Tier
Ninpek: A pretty fun autoscrolling arcade game in the vein of Mr Goemon or Psycho Soldier so it's not especially original, but it plays a lot smoother that its inspirations. It's quite short but it makes up for that by being insanely hard.
C Tier
Paint Chase: This one feels like a cross between New Rally X, Crush Roller, and Vividlope which seemed a bit boring at first but got surprisingly addicting the more I played it. The variety of powerups and stage hazards keep the game feeling fresh across its many stages, and the difficulty curve is quite smooth.
B Tier
Magic Garden: Snake meets Pac Man. I love the pastel aesthetic here and the music is great, and the pacing is brisk enough that I found myself replaying this one a lot. But with instant deaths, Magic Garden is also very unforgiving to a degree that I found pretty frustrating.
B Tier
Mortol: A super creative puzzle platformer about conserving lives that's dripping with polish, probably the first really high-quality game of the bunch that could easily stand out as its own release. That being said, expect to replay stages a lot because finding the optimal routes will require some heavy foresight and a bit of trial-and-error.
A Tier
Velgress: Downwell is one of my favorite roguelikes of all time, and Velgress is basically a vertical Downwell. Fast-paced, tightly designed, and incredibly addictive. Deaths can happen in an instant, but restarting is so quick that it's easy to sink hours into slowly chipping away at your record.
S Tier
Planet Zoldath: A very boring roguelike about communicating with aliens. So much of it is RNG, down to even figuring out which aliens won't harm you, and the gameplay loop just didn't keep my interest at all. The first UFO 50 stinker as far as I'm concerned.
F Tier
Attactics: I was shocked at how much I enjoyed this one. While a bit mindless, this is a very fun and fast-paced RTS with an impressive amount of content and a lot of charm. The campaign does an excellent job at slowly adding in new mechanics to keep things fresh too.
A Tier
Devilition: A fine enough puzzle game about triggering chain reactions that can feel a bit too luck-based and slow-paced to be fully enjoyable. The concept is cool, but the execution could've been a bit more interesting.
D Tier
Kick Club: Of course I was gonna adore the Bubble Bobble clone. Bright, colorful, fluid, and fun to master, Kick Club may be one of the more traditional UFO 50 games but it's no less fun and replayable.
A Tier
Avianos: Okay now this is a strategy game that I just couldn't vibe with. It's not bad for what it is and the concept of making prayers to different idols is neat, but I found it dreadfully boring.
D Tier
Mooncat: A solid contender for my favorite UFO 50 game. I adore Mooncat's surreal atmosphere, and learning the unconventional controls was immensely satisfying, especially when I was able to use that experience to find hidden routes upon replays. This was the first UFO 50 game I was able to beat, it was just that good.
S+ Tier
Bushido Ball: A competent but very basic sports game that I got tired of pretty fast. It plays well and the aesthetic is pretty charming, but the character balancing is rough and there wasn't enough to keep battles feeling fresh, at least in single-player.
C Tier
Block Koala: This is just a weird take on Sokoban. I personally like puzzle games and Sokoban for that matter so I thought Block Koala was pretty fun, but I'm not gonna lie and say this one was breaking any new ground. Though the undo function and level editor are great additions.
C Tier
Camouflage: Now this is a great puzzle game, incredibly creative and intuitive with its concept of playing a stealth game as a chameleon. Each level comes with a ton of ah-ha moments and being able to rewind whenever you mess up is a nice touch. It's a bit on the short side though, this concept could easily sustain an entire fully-priced release.
A Tier
Campanella: This game reminds me a lot of Hot Air from Nitrome, tasking you with carefully navigating through tight corridors without touching the walls. It's tough but the controls feel great, the levels are quite varied, and there's lots of hidden secrets to find, no wonder this was UFOSoft's biggest hit.
S Tier
Golfaria: I really like this one conceptually, being a top-down open-world Zelda-like controlled entirely by hitting a golf ball around. It looks and plays nice too, and there's a lot to discover. However, I think the concept of having limited strokes holds Golfaria back severely by punishing you for exploring. Minit, this one is not.
D Tier
The Big Bell Race: Possibly the easiest and shortest UFO 50 game, being a racing game spinoff of Campanella with very exploitable AI. This is the first game I cherried, but I still had a great time with it because of the chaotic UFO combat and item balancing. I can see this being a total hit in multiplayer.
A Tier
Warptank: The control scheme for Warptank is simple but very effective in how it blends puzzle with action, and with a good amount of levels, a big hub to explore, and lots of varied level gimmicks, this game could easily stand out as its own release. If it wasn't for the jittery scrolling, an authentic addition that I could see hurting some people's eyes, this would rival Mooncat as my favorite UFO 50 game.
S Tier
Waldorf's Journey: Out of all the games in UFO 50, this one feels the most like a flash game, even with its poppy rainbow aesthetics. It's really short and very basic, though there is just enough RNG to make it frustratingly kinda addictive.
D Tier
Porgy: Porgy is a slightly better Golfaria. Having to return to your base every time you get an item or run low on fuel is still kind of annoying, but the smoother gameplay, stellar atmosphere, and more intuitive map design made it a bit more palatable for me.
C Tier
Onion Delivery: Onion Delivery is purposefully chaotic, basically asking what if Crazy Taxi had zombies, aliens, bad weather conditions, and onions that chased after you. The controls are unweildy maybe even to a fault, but I do think it adds to the hectic and unhinged vibe that makes this one so charming.
B Tier
Caramel Caramel: Man, this one's frustrating. I love shmups and Caramel Caramel has so much going for it, between the smooth controls, lush visuals, and fun camera mechanic reminiscent of Touhou 9.5. However, the godawful lives system that starts you off with nothing holds the game back from being a potential favorite, and is all the more baffling considering other shmups from the 80s were never this strict with lives.
C Tier
Party House: A pretty fun strategic deck-builder with a really clever and creative concept. While I personally didn't find Party House as addicting as some others may have felt, I still found it to be pretty charming and enjoyable. It feels like the winner of a game jam, and I mean that in a good way.
A Tier
Hot Foot: This might be a bit of a hot take (no pun intended) but I found this more fun than Bushido Ball. It's a bit slower paced, but tossing beanbags around is suitably chaotic and frantic. I just wish my AI partner wouldn't keep getting in the way.
B Tier
Divers: Booooooorrrrriiiiiiinnnnngggggg... This game has you slowly dive downwards through dark sea tunnels while grinding out turn-based battles. I like that most of the games force you to learn for yourself, but Divers' mechanics are so complex that I found the lack of guidance to be a massive detriment. Atmosphere is pretty neat though.
F Tier
Rail Heist: Rail Heist manages to condense an immersive stealth sim into such a small and focused package and it's wonderful. The concept alone of a game entirely composed of western train heists is so cool, and each stage gives you tons of different options for completing it. An easy standout for me.
S Tier
Vainger: Metroid crossed with Metal Storm? Sign me the hell up! This is a really solid metroidvania with a fairly open map that is still able to guide you in the right direction. My one gripe is that enemies don't give you health, something even the original NES Metroid did, but that's a really small issue. Otherwise, Vainger is another banger.
S Tier
Rock On Island: Pretty fun tower defense game that's very easy to pick up and have a good time with. It's not the most ground-breaking one out there, but the way it plays out like a top-down RPG and the fun synergistic strategies you can come up with make for yet another great one.
A Tier
Pingolf: Pingolf is as fun as it is comically frustrating. The dunk mechanic is such a cool concept for a golfing game, and the course design utilizes it incredibly well. But man, does it feel like the pits are perfectly placed for my golf ball to end up in every single time. It could just be a skill issue, but hey, at least I'm still enjoying myself.
A Tier
Mortol II: Ehhh, Mortol II certainly isn't bad but it isn't quite as cool as the original. The open world and 99 lives system means that it just isn't as tight as the first Mortol, and suffers from a similar trial-and-error element to Golfaria and Porgy. It's a solid platformer that plays well, but I didn't find it too amazing.
C Tier
Fist Hell: Fist Hell suffers from a similar issue to Caramel Caramel in that it's a really fun beat-em-up with lots of charm, cool environmental interaction, and exciting setpieces, but the difficulty is just a bit too overtuned with how many enemies there are.
C Tier
Overbold: Overbold is for the most part a pretty fun arena-based roguelike with some cool concepts like the ability to choose to raise the enemy count for a higher price, but the massive difficulty spike that is the final match feels like it comes a bit too soon.
B Tier
Campanella 2: An incredibly unique blend of Blaster Master, Campanella, and Spelunky that is certainly fun, but definitely shows off why I don't love roguelikes. The RNG level design just feels sloppier than the tight design of the original Campanella and runs are long enough that dying really stings. Props for having a health bar though.
C Tier
Hyper Contender: This might be one of UFO 50's biggest sleeper hits, and easily my favorite out of the fighting/sports games. Basically a 2D Power Stone where every character has an entirely unique moveset and projectile arc making each match feel really engaging, and I love the gothic atmosphere too.
A Tier
Valbrace: I wasn't expecting much from the dungeon crawler but Valbrace is actually really good? It's really fast-paced and snappy, and the real-time battle system is super unique and fun, almost reminds me of Crossed Swords.
A Tier
Rakshasa: I like the concept of how death works in this game, but the actual platforming mechanics aren't the best. For what's supposed to be a clone of Ghosts & Goblins, a very fast and frantic game, you move really slow here and it makes dealing with the fast-moving enemies pretty frustrating.
D Tier
Star Waspir: Geez, what's with the shmups in this game? Like with Caramel Caramel, Star Waspir is really crunchy, plays quite well, and is generally pretty fun. But also like with Caramel Caramel, it gives you like barely any lives off the bat and immediately throws you into the deep end.
C Tier
Grimstone: Grimstone just impresses me, a full Final Fantasy-esque RPG set in a unique western setting with timing-based combat and even the ability to choose your party. While it does suffer from the same grinding issues that many games of the era suffer from, especially considering XP is evenly distributed among your party for some odd reason, I still have to give this one a ton of respect.
B Tier
Lords Of Diskonia: This is kind of a funny strategy game, with combat mostly consisting of literally flinging different enemy types at each other. It can be a bit slow since players still have to take turns, but I can see this being pretty dumb fun with a friend.
B Tier
Night Manor: A horror point-and click, it's a fun tone shift compared to the otherwise lighthearted collection with great atmosphere. I think I still prefer more standard survival horrors to the Clock Tower formula, but this is still an undeniably well-crafted game.
B Tier
Elfazar's Hat: Could it be? A shmup that starts you off with three lives?! Elfazar's Hat is still brutal, but it feels way more in line with other games of the era on top of being an adorable throwback to Pocky & Rocky with a snappy dodge move, fun level design, and gorgeous pastel visuals.
A Tier
Pilot Quest: I'm pretty split on this one because I don't exactly like idle games, though this one seems more involved than most since it does actually play out like a standard adventure game. The presentation is quite nice, I just find grinding for crystals and doing fetch quests really damn boring.
C Tier
Mini & Max: Yeah, this one's pretty great. A very fun and creative exploration game that turns a small closet into a big open world. I don't think it hit quite like Mooncat did for me, but it's still a ton of fun and an easy Top 3 contender.
S Tier
Combatants: I can forgive Combatants being in this collection because it's obviously meant to be the point where UFOSoft lost their way, but that doesn't make it good. This game is slow, boring, and lacks any of the fun factor or strategy of something like Attactics or Lords Of Diskonia.
F Tier
Quibble Race: Okay so I already wasn't gonna like the race betting one but on my first playthrough, I bet on a Quibble with a 100% win rate only for it to get sick and die. What an amazing first impression. I like all the references to other UFO 50 games, it is quite charming, but this shit isn't fun.
D Tier
Seaside Drive: Yeah, this one's a banger. OutRun crossed with a shmup is such a bonkers premise executed near perfectly. There's a bit of a learning curve to managing your ammo but once it clicks, this game feels so juicy and satisfying, and the backgrounds are lovely.
S Tier
Campanella 3: I've mostly been able to adjust to UFO 50's more unconventional control schemes, but Campanella 3 is the one case where it feels like it's actively detracting from what's otherwise a pretty good game. This is a mostly fun and creative 3D shmup, but shooting enemies on your axis feels really clunky with how you have to be moving in a direction away from your target.
B Tier
Cyber Owls: Cyber Owls feels like it was intended to be UFOSoft's last ditch effort, throwing everything they could at the wall to see what stuck. The result is very uneven but there's some great stuff here. The Shatterhand stage was awesome and could easily have been my favorite UFO 50 game if it was its own thing. The gallery shooter was also pretty good, if unoriginal. The stealth and especially the racing shmup levels, on the other hand, were a bit weaker, not enough to bring down the game massively for me but weaker nonetheless. A solid final game, I'd say.
B Tier
So, what did I think about UFO 50? Well, overall, I like it a lot. This is a very impressive collection with plenty of great games that I found myself adoring like Mooncat, Velgress, Rail Heist, Warptank, Vainger, and Seaside Drive. It's more than worth its price for those games alone, and the whole metatextual element of how UFO 50 details the history of a fictional console developer from the 80s is fascinating. However, there's a sense of inconsistency here that I found increasingly frustrating as the collection went on. Not an inconsistency with the quality of the games, that I'm fine with, but an inconsistency with how these games stick to UFO 50's rules.
So games like Barbuta or Cyber Owls are purposefully designed with the meta context in mind, Barbuta feeling like an authentic 1982 game and Cyber Owls feeling like a rushed product by a struggling game developer. But then, there's games like Ninpek or Camouflage that feel deliberately modernized, either through more fluid controls or more generous design. That would be cool if the whole collection was like that, but there's also instances like Caramel Caramel and Star Waspir starting you off with barely any lives, Vainger not giving you health by killing enemies, Rakshasa's slow movement, the lack of any guidance even though manuals existed, all these design choices that feel regressive even compared to the 80s games they're based on. Why does Warptank have jittery scrolling but not Mortol which came out years before it? Why is Star Waspir 16:9 when it's a vertical shmup? I hate to say it but I just can't fully buy the fictional console narrative when most of these games either feel like worse versions of classic retro games or creative game jam games that don't exactly feel retro.
Still, even with those flaws, this is still, at its core, a collection of 50 games with at least half of them being pretty great, which is way more than I can say about UFO 50's main inspiration, the legendarily bad Action 52. And at the very least, I don't think I'll ever forget Mooncat any time soon.
4.5/5 Stars
So to wrap this up, here's my ranking:
- Mooncat
- Warptank
- Mini & Max
- Rail Heist
- Vainger
- Seaside Drive
- Velgress
- Campanella
- Mortol
- Camouflage
- Party House
- Valbrace
- Pingolf
- Kick Club
- Hyper Contender
- Elfazar's Hat
- Attactics
- Rock On! Island
- Grimstone
- Night Manor
- The Big Bell Race
- Paint Chase
- Overbold
- Cyber Owls
- Magic Garden
- Campanella 3
- Hot Foot
- Lords Of Diskonia
- Campanella 2
- Caramel Caramel
- Onion Delivery
- Block Koala
- Ninpek
- Fist Hell
- Star Waspir
- Porgy
- Bug Hunter
- Mortol II
- Pilot Quest
- Bushido Ball
- Golfaria
- Rakshasa
- Devilition
- Barbuta
- Avianos
- Waldorf's Journey
- Quibble Race
- Planet Zoldath
- Divers
- Combatants
