Happy Birthdays is a quirky and colorful game from NIS America which has now found its way to the Nintendo Switch. Learn more about this must-have game in our Happy Birthdays review!
I absolutely loved the game on the PS4, which I reviewed a couple of years ago. The PS4 version was known as Birthdays The Beginning, and now on Nintendo Switch, it has been rebranded as Happy Birthdays. Happy Birthdays is such a relaxing game in which you get to experience the evolution of life. You start with the green plains, on a lush planet with trees and vegetation and some wildlife – butterflies, crocodiles, dinosaurs, and more. The planet is already pre-built to get you started, so your job is to assist with the evolution of its current inhabitants by altering the terrain, which you can do at will.
If you want to create new life, then you need to increase or lower the height of the terrain, and you need to hit certain temperatures. The water needs to be a specific level for certain evolutions to begin, and as you do some tweaking “over the years,” you will get to watch new lifeforms that will exist thanks to your actions, but you will also see how said actions might impact the wildlife and cause some species to become extinct. It’s a fun and relaxing sandbox game where there is no right or wrong way of doing things, so there’s a lot for you to experiment with. The creatures are adorable, even the more ferocious creatures such as hyenas and jackals are very colorful and charming.
The game can be viewed from two modes: Micro and Macro. In Macro mode you can view the entire cube from space and watch the evolutions happen at a steady, you can use your HP to fast-forward time, or you can recover your HP as needed. Micro mode allows you to observe your cube from a closer distance, and it is in this mode that you can alter the terrain, hover over new creatures and plant life to check them out.
As you continue to play the game you will unlock new entries in your library on a massive branching list, so to unlock and see everything you need to spend a considerable amount of time playing this one! There are many secret and rare creatures to find and discover. For example, I remember that during my PlayStation 4 run I managed to find a dragon! Can you find one of these amazing creatures during your time with the Nintendo Switch version of the game?
On top of the lush green plains there are three other worlds to enjoy to help you create and evolve some colorful creatures to spice things up, and if you’re feeling a bit adventurous you can even end up creating your own flora and fauna society in each of these worlds, which will greatly increase your overall time with the game as you evolve creatures and plant life into new and improved versions to help you fill up your list of created lifeforms so that you can 100% the game.
Happy Birthdays is a very colorful and highly addictive game in which you can experience a condensed version of the evolutionary process that has gotten us to this point in history – you know, minus the dragons and other mythical creatures. Having played the PlayStation 4 version for review, and after playing this new and revised version for the Nintendo Switch, I’m happy to report that it feels and plays great when playing at home or in Portable or Tabletop mode. This is a game that, in my opinion, is definitely worth a double dip, especially since you now get to enjoy it everywhere and at any time.
Disclaimer
This Happy Birthdays review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy provided by NIS America.
