{"id":137511,"date":"2026-06-08T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/#article-201857"},"modified":"2026-06-08T13:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T13:00:00","slug":"mini-review-kabuto-park-switch-gotta-catch-em-all-in-this-cosy-bug-battling-deckbuilder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2026\/06\/08\/mini-review-kabuto-park-switch-gotta-catch-em-all-in-this-cosy-bug-battling-deckbuilder\/","title":{"rendered":"Mini Review: Kabuto Park (Switch) \u2013 Gotta Catch &#8216;Em All In This Cosy, Bug-Battling Deckbuilder"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><a href=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/f18c570f41a5d\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/f18c570f41a5d\/small.jpg\" class=\"media_thumbnail\"><\/a><\/div>\n<aside class=\"picture embed pictures\" id=\"screenshots\"><a href=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/164222\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/164222\/900x.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Kabuto Park Review - Screenshot 1 of 10\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>Reading the description for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/kabuto_park\">Kabuto Park<\/a>, I imagined it would be like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/nintendo-switch\/animal_crossing_new_horizons\">Animal Crossing<\/a>\u2019s Bug-Off. But this quick, cosy beetle-collecting game from French developer Doot Tiny Games presents a concept that\u2019s closer to another Nintendo series: <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/pokemon\">Pok\u00e9mon<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The story is pretty light. Your character, Hana, visits the eponymous park for a month to catch bugs and catch up with friends. It\u2019s played through menus, where you select areas rather than explore them \u2013 you\u2019ll unlock four throughout. But the gameplay loop is where Kabuto Park really flies: an addictive combination of catching and battling. Capturing bugs takes the form of a minigame inspired by another <em>very<\/em> cosy title, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.purexbox.com\/games\/xbox-360\/gears_of_war\" class=\"external\">Gears of War<\/a>\u2019s Active Reload.<\/p>\n<p>Its speed scales with area and rarity. You can use Joy-Con, too, and swinging them like a net is fun and responsive. There are three levels of difficulty, from a casual easy mode to a hard mode that demands insect-like reflexes. Watching your collection fill out is satisfying, especially when you get rare bugs or Shinies.<\/p>\n<p>The bug battles take inspiration from sumo fights. Teams of three bugs take turns to \u2018PUSH or \u2018HOLD\u2019 against each other on a platform, until one team falls off. You and your opponent have sets of cards determined by the bugs in your colony. Beetles have cards like \u2018Beetles Kick\u2019, while butterflies have \u2018Strong Wind\u2019, and the Energy bar is a timer that determines when you can play a card. Each card is assigned a number \u2013 gustier attacks have higher numbers, so you wait longer to play them. The higher your combined Energy, the faster your timer.<\/p>\n<p>Early game, you can flap into battle without much prep, but you\u2019ll soon need to develop stat-based strategies. It\u2019s not too intense on the (hive)mind, though using the Battle menu isn\u2019t all smooth snailing. Selecting a bug from the menu puts them in the team automatically; I wanted to view their stats before I chose them \u2013 like seeing your Pok\u00e9mon\u2019s summary in the PC before adding them to your party. Battle opponents named Ash and Satoshi are also present, for those counting the Pok\u00e9mon references.<\/p>\n<p>This game has plenty of bugs (insects), yet no bugs (imperfections) that I encountered. Touchscreen controls are there if you&#8217;re playing handheld. It looks great too: everything is coloured with a storybook art style, with block-coloured backgrounds, and crayon-texture details that have been carefully considered right down to your creatures\u2019 cute bug-eyes. That\u2019s all set to earworm-worthy music that strikes the balance between catchy and relaxing, complete with nature and insect sound effects.<\/p>\n<p>Kabuto Park\u2019s runtime is less than a day (that oft-misquoted lifespan of a fly), but for a low price, it\u2019s worth it. The cycle between catching and battling is simple yet variegated and captivating. And if you\u2019re a completionist, capturing all the bugs and exploring their various battle tactics \u2014 not to mention post-game content that ups the ante \u2014 could have you coming back like a moth to a flame.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reading the description for Kabuto Park, I imagined it would be like Animal Crossing\u2019s Bug-Off. But this quick, cosy beetle-collecting game from French developer Doot Tiny Games presents a concept that\u2019s closer to another Nintendo series: Pok\u00e9mon. The story is pretty light. Your character, Hana, visits the eponymous park for a month to catch bugs [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-137511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nintendo-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137511\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}