I just finishedAstro Botand, as everyone else has already concluded, it rules. The power-ups are imaginative, the levels are filled with fun-to-find secrets, it feels great to play, and everything looks and sounds sunny, bright, and beautiful. I’m on board with all the reviews, and don’t disagree with the assertion that it may be the best 3D platformer sinceSuper Mario Odyssey. But Astro Bot can’t beat Odyssey for one simple reason: platformers are better portable.
To get this out of the way, yes, I am aware that I can technically play Astro Bot portably using Remote Play. But my Internet has never been good enough to handle cloud-based solutions like this, and in the past, I’ve had issues with PlayStation Now, Luna, and Xbox Cloud Gaming. These services just don’t play nice with my Wi-Fi. I don’t want to play with the on-screen controls either, and I have no interest in shelling out for a separate controller.Sonydoes have a solution here (and may havea more robust portable platform on the way), but it’s nowhere near as elegant and all-in-one as theSwitchor theSteam Deck.
Running And Jumping Is Better In Handheld
With that addressed, why does a game being portable make it better? Well, I’ve always associated platformers with handhelds. Running and jumping is just something I like to do curled up on the couch, holding a metal and plastic contraption too close to my face. Not exclusively — I loved Ristar and Super Mario 64 and Sonic Adventure 2 as a kid. But my earliest gaming memories revolve around attempting to play Adventure Island 2 and Super Mario Land on an original Game Boy roughly the size and weight of a cinder block, in the backseat of my parents' minivan as the sun sunk perilously low in the sky.
TheGame Boy Advance SPfixed that particular problem with its addition of a backlight, but theDSwas the real game-changer, bringingN64-quality games to a handheld console.Super Mario 64 DSwas one of my big ‘I can’t believe this is possible’ gaming moments, and since then, I’ve never wavered from the belief that platformers will always be better on a portable platform.
Not Everything Is Better Portable, But Platformers Are
Some games are just better in a certain form factor. I played far more ofBaldur’s Gate 3onPS5thanPC, but come on, PC is the better fit for text-heavy, systems-driven RPGs. The same goes for twitchy first-person shooters and think-y strategy games like Crusader Kings 2. I tend to regret starting an RPG on my Switch because I exclusively use it in handheld mode, mostly reaching for it when my wife is watching something on our living room TV. In those cases, I want something that isn’t going to have me reading a lot of text or listening to dialogue-heavy cutscenes, so platformers tend to be my go-to.
Some recent winners: Metroid: Zero Mission, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, Mark of the Ninja, and Animal Well.
My introduction to the console was in portable mode, too, as I played through Super Mario Odyssey in one crisp autumn weekend on my roommates' Switch. They had stayed up late playing it the night before, so in the early hours before I needed to head out for my newspaper job, I played through the platformer’s opening levels. I worked six days a week at that job, and the time with Mario Odyssey was a relaxing reprieve. Playing on Switch meant that I could be in the same room with my friends, hunting moons as they watched It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
I used my Nintendo handhelds in the same way while I was growing up. They offered a way to be in the same room with my family while they watched CSI or prepared Thanksgiving dinner or played a card game I wasn’t interested in learning. Platformers are the ideal genre for that kind of mostly-paying-attention play because they occupy your fingers and demand your reflexes, but don’t take over your brain. I guess what I’m really saying is: throw Astro Bot on Switch and you might just have a GOAT contender on your hands.
