Nintendo Switch Online Adds Certified Classics Xevious, Kirby’s Dream Land 2, And More

gameranx.com:

Nintendo has added four very real first person classics to Nintendo Switch Online. These are Game Boy, Super NES, and NES games so you get them even if you don’t have the Expansion Pass.

The most historically significant game in this lineup is Xevious on the NES. Originally released in 1982 in arcades, Xevious is described by historian and YouTuber Jeremy Parish as an industry and cultural touchstone in Japan. It introduced a level of complexity that hadn’t been seen in shmups at that point, with a changing colorful landscape replacing Space Invaders’ and Galaxian’s black backgrounds, intelligent enemies that react to you and whose patterns can’t just be memorized, and the addition of air and ground enemies for a layer of tactical complexity.

Xevious was ported to the Famicom in 1984, but didn’t arrive in the US until 1989, meaning the West had missed out when it was most important. But if you didn’t know this shmup was that important, you can certainly catch up now. The original arcade version is also on the Switch as a separate release by Hamster.

Burgertime Deluxe on the Game Boy is the Burgertime game to play if you don’t like Burgertime. Or rather, if you don’t like the original version of Burgertime. Its rules are the same; you walk over burger buns and patties to make them drop down and build a burger. At the same time you run away from inanimate food items with legs chasing you around, but you can squish them with the patties and buns.

What makes Burgertime Deluxe is its delightfully compact but well thought out game design. The enemy AI is not as relentless, so you have a fighting chance. Instead of the five maps of the original, there are 24 inventive and short levels. It’s not a long game but it also won’t