Review – Neopets Mini Mega Games Collection
Neopets Mini Mega Games Collection is exactly what it sounds like: a collection of mini games from the old browser based semi MMO, now completely remastered for consoles. It features twenty-six Flash-era games from the original Neopets site, all bundled together with a small story mode that has you playing through each of them while chatting with some of the classic characters fans might remember. It is a simple setup, but one that does a nice job of tying the whole collection together, instead of just throwing the games into a menu.
Welcome (back) to Neopia.
It was a lot of fun replaying a lot of these mini games from my childhood. There was something about Neopets back then that just felt special, and coming back to these games really reminded me of that. Now it is time to look at what Neopets Mini Mega Games Collection says it offers, and how well it actually holds up. According to the description on the Nintendo website, the collection includes the aforementioned two dozen remastered games, which is true. Before I even noticed it said that, I counted them myself out of curiosity. I could have sworn there were more back then, but considering it has been over twenty years, I might just be remembering wrong.
They are definitely remastered, although some of them are missing the iconic music they used to have, like “Hasee Bounce”, which felt a little strange without it. The description also says the games are optimized for controllers. In some cases I can agree with that, like Nova Defender, which works well since it is basically a twin-stick shooter. In other cases, like Starlight Symphony, which is a rhythm game, I have to disagree. The controller layout there feels awkward and uncomfortable, and it makes the game harder to enjoy than it should be.
Easily the most fun game on controller, a proper twin-stick shooter.
The next part of the description says you can choose to play arcade, challenge, or endless modes. In reality, you can only play arcade or story, and story has to be finished before arcade mode even unlocks. Thankfully this is not a huge time commitment. It only took me about ninety minutes to get through the story mode, and that was with a few short breaks in between.
I will group the next couple of claims together. The description says you can unlock goodies, earn trophies, stickers, and other pet themed rewards as you play. So far, I have not unlocked a single thing besides arcade mode itself. I have played several games in arcade mode, and when they end the only options are to replay or quit. There are no rewards, no unlock screens, nothing at all. Maybe I missed something, but as far as I can tell, these unlockables the description talks about simply are not there.
Pick a game, play a game, leave the game, pick a game.
Basically, what Neopets Mini Mega Games Collection has to offer is a chance for people who grew up with the web game to experience it all again, just with more detail than it had twenty plus years ago. There is a pretty wide variety of games included, so in a way there is something here for everyone. A few of them even support two players, which makes it easy to play with your kids or your partner, and that is a nice touch for a collection like this.
A lot of the music does seem to have been remastered along with the games, although unless I am remembering wrong, some of the original tracks also seem to be missing. The bigger issue is that a lot of what is advertised as being in the game does not actually seem to be there. It was genuinely fun going back and replaying these mini games, but once I finished the story mode, it really felt like I had already seen everything the collection had to offer.
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Graphics: 7.5 These are, without a doubt, updated versions of the original Flash games. They do look noticeably better, and they fit the screen properly without feeling like the image was just stretched to fill the space. The visuals stay close to how the games originally looked, just cleaner and easier to see on a modern display. |
Gameplay: 5.5 It is pretty much what you would expect. Some of the games you will like, some you probably will not, some feel great on a controller, and others really do not. It ends up feeling like a bit of a roll of the dice depending on which game you load up. |
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Sound: 6.5 The music is still here, and it does not sound as choppy as it used to, which is definitely a good thing. That said, it would have been nice to have the option to switch between the original tracks and the remastered versions, since that older sound was part of the charm for a lot of these games. |
Fun Factor: 5.0 It honestly felt like it was over before it even got started. The story mode is pretty hollow, the content it says it offers does not really line up with what is actually there, and overall it feels like the kind of game that will give you a nice nostalgia hit for a couple of hours at most, and not much more after that. |
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Final Verdict: 6.0
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Neopets Mini Mega Games Collection is available now on Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S
Reviewed on Nintendo Switch.
A copy of Neopets Mini Mega Games Collection was provided by the publisher.
