Super Weekend Mode review for PS Vita, PS4, Switch, Xbox One

Platform: PS Vita
Also On: PS4, PC, Xbox One, Switch
Publisher: Ratalaika Games
Developer: Ratalaika Games/Pixelteriyaki
Medium: Digital
Players: 1
Online: Leaderboards
ESRB: E

A simple test to see whether you?ll be able to play — and, consequently, enjoy — Super Weekend Mode: can you do the ?rub your tummy/pat your head at the same time? thing? If you can, then you might find this fun. If you can?t, look away now, because you?ll stand no chance of succeeding here.

This may seem like a crazy thing to say, but it?s the best way I can think of describing this game. Super Weekend Mode is an interesting take on shmups, where you have two pads at the bottom, and you use them to shoot a bad guy, catch hearts, bump bunnies, and avoid skulls. The key thing to know is that the pads move independently of each other, and while there?s some rhythm to the way the hearts/bunnies/skulls cascade down the screen, as the game gets more difficult, the two sides of the screen mirror each other less and less. As you can imagine, the faster the items fall, the harder it becomes to quickly click the two shoulder buttons independently of each other — hence the head/tummy trick mentioned above.

If you?re fine with that, though, then…well, you?ll probably still find this game odd, because that?s what it is. In theory, Super Weekend Mode is about a girl chasing a thief through dungeons, but the only way you?ll know that is from reading its store description. Going just by what?s in the game itself, all you?ll see is lots of bright, flashing, occasionally cutesy things flying across the screen, set to hyperactive chiptunes. There?s a tutorial that doesn?t explain much, and even if you read it, you?ll probably be better off just playing the game and seeing if you can figure things out that way.

Should you play Super Weekend Mode, though? That largely goes up to the test I mentioned up top — along with the equally important question of how much you can tolerate games that are bright and hyperactive. (And, if you?re playing it on PS4 or Vita and you?re a Trophy hunter, it?s also worth taking into account you should be able to get this Platinum in under 20 minutes.) If you?re fine with all those things, then it may just be worth checking it out.

Ratalaika Games provided us with a Super Weekend Mode PS4/Vita code for review purposes.

Grade: B