TL:DR: Perfectly serviceable, but overpriced at $59.

I found a copy of the Japanese Switch cartridge release on eBay for around $46, and I figured I’d take a chance on it. Overall, I’m pretty happy with it, but I am a long time Sonic Wings/Aero Fighters fan.

Graphics are serviceable, but hardly breathtaking. The 2D character portraits are as cute as ever though.

In terms of gameplay it nails the feel of Sonic Wings pretty well – on hard mode. Normal is a pretty gentle experience: slower bullets, fewer enemies, and bosses that go down quick. I haven’t tried Easy yet.

For newcomers it’s worth pointing out that the levels in the game are very short. You’ll spend more time taking apart the stage boss than you will getting to them (at least on Hard mode). So that’s pretty similar to the old school games.

A highlight for me was the “wingman” feature. You can pick a 2nd character, which allows you to use their bomb-type in addition to your own, and gives you a little dialog exchange between them at the end of each leve. (They aren’t like a 2nd AI player or anything, thank goodness.)

The game has online leaderboards and a highly configurable training mode, which is all to the good.

Fun over all, but feels less like a glorious celebration of the franchise, and more like a basic installment, a “Sonic Wings 4” made for modern platforms.

Should have been budget priced in my opinion, though!