A hat in time

Comments:

For this test, I was actually able to obtain 100% completion of the game, which includes obtaining all 40 Time Pieces, all available Hats, and I beat the final boss. The main campaign is fully playable from start to finish! 

During this test, I did notice some issues, but thankfully nothing game breaking. 

I would like to address the fact that I previously mentioned the game having a major bug that caused me to not be able to continue progress. When this occurred, I did not have a Nintendo Switch OLED, I had a regular Nintendo Switch. This could be a factor to consider, but I don’t believe this would make a difference. Technically, both the OLED and the normal Switch have the same specs. Additionally, it’s also possible that I triggered the bug in some way, and I was just not able to replicate it here. I do remember the bug occurring during Chapter 3, Act 4, and I did try to replay the area a couple times to try and trigger a bug, but nothing major occurred. I am really unsure at this point, but the game is fully playable from cart with this current test, so that’s the good news. Now, let’s talk about the issues I found during this test. 

One of the first things I noticed, is that there are stutters during intro sequences when entering a level. Sometimes these intro sequences will freeze for a moment before continuing. Unfortunately, this causes the game to feel unpolished. 

There is also a lot pop in and shadow flickering that occurs while playing the game. This just adds to the factor that game feels unpolished. 

As far as frame rates, there are frame dips that occur, and there is some slow down during gameplay. For the most part, frame rates are mostly consistent, but dips will occur from time to time. Thankfully, these slow downs and frame rate dips didn’t cause me to lose a life often, only a couple of times, so it truly isn’t too bad. Frame rates are also much lower on enemies in the distance, similar to Kirby and the Forgotten Land. 

Load times can be somewhat lengthy as well. This could be a bit bothersome for some which is why it’s worth mentioning. 

Another issue I noticed are lines that appear on the right side of the screen and the bottom. They are truly only noticeable during dark sequences and loading screens. These lines don’t affect gameplay, but they are a bit distracting once noticed. It’s as if the game isn’t perfectly centered on the screen. I did try to look through the settings for a potential fix, but no settings could alter the screen in any way. 

Last issue I noticed is related to the home attack, similar to Sonic the Hedgehog’s home attacks. In order to perform this move, the player must be in the air and press Y toward an enemy. This was very finicky. Sometimes it would work with no issues, and other times it felt that the attack would not respond. I died several times because of this very issue, and I think this is the biggest weakness for this game with the cart build. 

The DLC “Seal the Deal” is not on the cartridge, though it is mentioned. On the title screen there is a mention of the DLC being available for purchase on the eshop. There is also an area within the game with a portal that is inaccessible because this is the DLC area. The same eshop message populates here. 

Also there is a mention of co-op being available on cart but this was not tested. 

Languages: English, German, French, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish and Italian.

Difficulty options: None

Accessibility options: None 

No DRM found. Played in handheld mode.

-- Tested on a Nintendo Switch OLED --