Welcome to the second installment of Vertex Pop’ studio on the Nintendo Switch – Super Crush KO. A beat-em-up/run ’n gun hybrid, in which you fight off aliens to make friends and save your … cat? Let’s dive in!
Vertex Pop
For those unfamiliar with Vertex Pop, let’s give a summary first – since it’s an elegant studio from the far north of Canada. I discovered them when they released Graceful Explosion Machine for the Nintendo Switch, a few years back. A friend of mine was super enthusiastic about it, and I thought – why not. Well, the rest is history, since I’m happily reviewing their second Switch release as we speak/type/read. Vertex Pop is a Toronto-based indie game development studio run by Mobeen Fikree. They state that they “create feel-good action games: fun, colorful, and intuitive.” The studio was founded in 2014 by Mobeen Fikree when he decided to turn his longstanding game development hobby into a full-time job. The name “Vertex Pop” speaks toward his passion for geometric art, graphic design, game controls that feel good, and pop music.
We Are Doomed was Vertex Pop’s debut game, a twin-stick shooter featuring polygon baddies, neon colors, and an absurdly overpowered laserbeam. It was released on all the major platforms (except the Nintendo ones, boooh!). While it was only a modest success, it established Vertex Pop’s unique aesthetic and design talent for action games. It was followed up by Graceful Explosion Machine, a colorful side-scrolling shoot-em-up which arms the player with four unique and devastatingly powerful weapons at once. Graceful Explosion Machine debuted on the Nintendo Switch in April 2017 to great commercial and critical success. It also has the distinction of being one of the first indie titles on the console.
Super Crush KO
Which brings us to 2020 – the release of the latest title of Vertex Pop – Super Crush KO. As said before, a beat-em-up/run ‘n gun hybrid, which feels like a high school drama mixed with the basics of Graceful Explosion Machine. The geometric shapes and colorful designs are still there but are replaced by joyful teenagers and a cat – over which they fight and … destroy robots in the mix. So zip up your favorite neon jacket and combo your way through swarms of deadly robots to save your kidnapped kitten and, while you’re at it, save humanity from an AI apocalypse.
The story unfolds in a comic-book style manner, which tells the story of a teenage girl with an obese cat. An alien adolescent girl kidnaps the cat with a giant robotic force at her side. The only way to get your cat back is to destroy robots, make awesome combo’s and pick up snacks along the way to learn new skills. Each ‘world’ contains four levels, followed by a boss level – in which our heroine and alien-badass face off in a robotic fight to the death. I liked that the characters don’t take each other and themselves seriously. Each Robotbaddyboss has the same name, except for the number (Boss 1, Boss 2, etc.). The heroine points this out in a very fourth wall way, which gives the story a really laid-back and relaxing vibe.
Controls
I tested the game both in handheld mode and in docked mode with my Pro Controller. I felt more in control while playing Super Crush KO in handheld mode since the combo’s you have to make can be precisely timed. In docked way, I messed up a few of my combos due to the ‘larger screen’ and different feeling of control. It’s probably a personal feeling, and it did not change my love for this game at all, just an invitation to try different styles of play. Super Crush KO is one of those games that can help propel the intuitively of the Nintendo Switch Lite. I think games like this, among the 8-bit remakes like Shovel Knight, are perfect fits for the smaller system.
Conclusion
Super Crush KO offers lightning-fast gameplay that seamlessly blends run n’ gun action and intense beat-em-up combat. Blast through a vibrant world inspired by colorful urban cityscapes and pastel skylines. Combine this with the online leaderboards and ranking systems (which I could not test due to embargo regulations) will keep you coming back to S-Rank over 20 challenging levels. So, if you were into Graceful Explosion Machine, like beating up robots and saving cats – Super Crush KO is the game for you. Oh, and if you have a Nintendo Switch Lite and in need for some perfect fits, this might be one of them. The only negative connotation I have it the length of the game since I think it could have been more (storywise).
