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Graceful Explosion Machine Is the Perfect Game for The Switch


The Nintendo has proven repeatedly that they can succeed with a less powerful console. But even with their amazing games, Nintendo can’t support the Switch themselves – they’ve learned that with the Wii U (RIP). At this point in time Nintendo doesn’t have the same 3rd party support as the Wii U, but they have an abundance of Indie developer support that will trickle throughout the year to fill the gaps in between big 1st party releases. The first game that caught my eye was Graceful Explosion Machine.

Graceful Explosion Machine is a 2D colorful, frantic, twin-stick arcade shooter by the makers of We Are Doomed, Vertex Pop. We Are Doomed is like Graceful Explosion Machine in many ways, it’s a vibrant, hectic, twin-stick shooter, the only difference is with We Are Doomed it’s from the top-down perspective as oppose to the side-scrolling perspective on Graceful Explosion Machine. Once you see how similar the games are, you see why Graceful Explosion Machine is well fleshed-out.


In Graceful Explosion Machine, you play as a small ship trying to take back 4 planets, but don’t be deceived by the size, it also packs a punch with many arrays for abilities. The first two levels in the first world is a tutorial which introduces the players to the new abilities. The first ability that is obtained is the Blaster. This is the primary weapon that shoots single projectiles and will be used most. The second ability is Energy Sword, this surrounds yourself with a blue-energy wave that will hit anything in its range. Another skill you’ll learn is Sniper Beam, this ability is a massive beam that shoots across the map. Also, using missiles is useful, unleashing multiple projectile (depending on the charge) that will bounce off walls.  The Energy Sword, Sniper Beam, and Missiles all share energy gauges, while the blaster has its own meter to keep track of. These offensive skills are essential in completing each world, but there is one ability that is just as important – the Dash. This will give you the ability to evade ships it can go through enemies, but not projectiles. Using all these abilities together is a beautiful mess of bullets, and fast reaction time makes this game hard to put down.

At face-value Graceful Explosion Machine looks simple and it is easy to pick up and learn, but with these skills combined it can get difficult. Even when it gets difficult failing and trying again is fast, completing a level is also quick. A level can last 2-4 minutes depending on how fast you can complete it. Therefore, Graceful Explosion Machine is the perfect game for the Switch, small bits of a game that you can take to go is the ideal Switch game. I’ve spent car rides playing and every time I lost the sense of time.

The use of the HD rumble on the Switch is utilized in a different manner than I thought it would be used for. With every shot, I felt a rumble that feels like a recoiling mechanism, that’s just the blaster. Each weapon has a different feel when fired. The use of audio driving the HD rumble is a cool unique idea that hope to see in more games.


For the competitive audience, there is a leaderboard system to compare to another player around the world. Every level can be recorded differently, for every kill a multiplier is increased, but if you get hit or don’t kill an enemy in a small window of time the multiplier resets. Getting a kill or not affects your overall leaderboard score.


Graceful Explosion Machine is the most fun I had on a handheld device, most of that is because of the bit-size levels that I can go in and out with easy. The leaderboard brings the competitor out of me, reaching a new high-score doesn’t require an internet connection unless you want it on the leaderboard. With all the abilities harmonizing together it can become a beautiful, frantic mess of bullets and with the Switch you can not only see but feel every shot and mistake you make with HD rumble.

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