UFO 50 Comes To Nintendo Switch And It’s Still A Masterpiece
A blast from the imagine past.
A year after its release, Nintendo Switch is finally getting one of the best indie games of 2023 — or 50 of them. Nintendo started off August with two livestreamed showcases, the most recent of which focused on indie games coming to the platform. Along with release dates for titles like Demonschool and Herdling, Nintendo announced the immediate launch of an indie hit from PC last year that explores an alternate history of gaming.
Created by a team of seasoned indie developers, UFO 50 packs 50 different games into one unassuming package. More than just a compilation, the game comes with its own backstory for the fictional studio responsible for it. In the world of UFO 50, a storage unit belonging to developer UFOSoft is uncovered, revealing a trove of lost video games for the (also fictional) LX console. But rather than tell that story by having you play through a straightforward narrative, it tells it through the recovered games themselves.
One of last year’s most remarkable games is now on Nintendo Switch.
Booting up UFO 50, you’ll first see a screen showing 50 cartridges. They’re presented in their in-fiction release order, though you’re free to tackle them any way you choose. As you might expect from such a huge collection of games, their range is vast. Sports games, platformers, RPGs, even primordial strategy games and visual novels are included in the treasure trove. And while you can just pick and choose which ones appeal most to you and ignore the rest, the real magic of UFO 50 comes through playing them in release order.
UFO 50 is a survey of roughly a decade of development history. While LX and UFO Soft never existed, you could easily be convinced that they did by playing through the collection. The games stick roughly to the aesthetics and technical limits of the time they’re meant to be developed in, leading to a clear progression from the first game to the last. Their graphics get more advanced, their gameplay grows more sophisticated, and best of all, you can watch patterns emerge and ideas get refined as developers continue to experiment.
UFO 50 is packed with excellent games, like Magic Garden.
The clearest way to see this is through sequels. An early game in the collection, Mortal, is a tough platformer where you can sacrifice your character at any time to create a bridge or blow up enemies and obstacles, and your goal is to beat each level without running out of lives. Later on, Mortal II builds on this idea, adding character classes and more direct combat. The Campanella series is even more experimental, changing genres entirely between releases. Even seemingly unrelated games turn out to be connected through repeated game mechanics or visual motifs when you play through the list chronologically.
That all makes UFO 50 unique and fascinating, but fortunately, it’s also fun. The concept alone is enough to keep it an interesting art project, but the most shocking part of it all is how good the games are. It’s easy to imagine a collection like this being full of minigames or undeveloped ideas, but every game in UFO 50 feels like something you could have actually played in full on an old console.
UFO 50’s variety alone is astounding.
The huge range of games means everyone will find their own favorites among the list, but there are a few standouts. Party House is a deckbuilder about throwing the best party you can before the cops break it up, while Bug Hunter has you constantly drawing and discarding from a tiny deck in tactical combat. Magic Garden is basically Snake, but with a cuter main character and a propensity for keeping you playing “one more round” until you don’t realize an hour has passed. Mooncat is a deeply bizarre platformer with satisfying but inscrutable controls. Grimstone is a full Wild West-themed RPG with shades of Final Fantasy.
UFO 50 is already great on PC (especially if you have a Steam Deck), and Nintendo Switch feels like the perfect home for it. The vast library of games makes it a great candidate to pick up and play in short bursts, and if you happen to have one of the Switch’s retro controllers, it’ll feel even more authentic. However you play it, though, UFO 50 is an absolute gem, whether you’re already a fan of old-school games or want to explore a parallel universe version of an era you missed.
