How Buddy’s Parents Met Review

Game: How Buddy’s Parents Met
Genre: Jigsaw puzzle
System: Switch (also on Steam (Windows and Mac))
Developer|Publisher: Mens Sana Interactive| QUByte Interactive
Age Rating: EU 3+ | US Everyone
Price:  US $3.99 | UK £3.59 | EU € 3,99
Release Date: August 26th, 2021

Review code provided with many thanks to Mens Sana Interactive

Jigsaw puzzles…there are many, many people around the globe who love spending their spare time pouring over little puzzle pieces spread out over the dinner table. Searching for the corner pieces, trying to find the pieces that form the borders. Sighing that there’s no way they can get all the sky pieces in place, as they all look alike. If you have a family member who likes to try his or her hand at one of these puzzles, you’ll also know how annoying it can be. The dinner table can’t be used for fear of losing precious pieces. Or you have to put the table cloth over it and accept the hobbles and bobbles, being careful to put your glass on a flat spot.

There is, however, another way. You could also point them to How Buddy’s Parents Met, a little jigsaw story on the Switch. Let’s see if it’s as relaxing, without the added annoyances.

735 Pieces Without Cluttering the Kitchen Table

How Buddy’s Parents Met tells the story of a cat named Buddy. Well, actually not about Buddy, but you see the tale unfold on how his caretakers met and fell in love. Love at first sight at the supermarket, but of course, some hurdles have to be conquered before true love wins at the end of the day. The story isn’t the star of course in this game, but it’s a nice background to work on the six puzzles offered.

You have to play the puzzles in order, otherwise, it would spoil the story, right? As soon as you have finished one on any of the difficulty levels, the next unlock. There are five difficulty levels, you can choose if you want the image to be displayed in 135, 240, 375, 540 or 735 puzzle pieces. Every time you choose a new number, the puzzle wipes clean and you can start over.

Highlight the Border Pieces

I played How Buddy’s Parents Met in handheld mode, which means it sometimes gets crowded. The developers have thought of this, however. There’s a zoom option, you can set the screen to another contract mode and by pushing the R button, you can make the screen scroll left and right. Another option that was very nice for a novice like me was the way you can highlight certain pieces. You could highlight the border pieces or highlight pieces in a certain quadrant. And of course, a button to take a sneak peek at the tableau, because how else will you put it all together?

With all these options added, the little screen of the Switch works just fine replacing your kitchen table. After all, it still comes down to finding that elusive one piece of a certain colour. A nice touch: as soon as you have put a piece in its rightful place, little hearts floating show you have it right.

Find Yourself a Stylus

The lovely looking images are illustrated by Katia Numakura and once you have put them together, they turn into little gifs. Colourful and sweet, with Buddy of course looking on at every scene. The tune played in the background is a relaxing lounge music type.

Though the game worked fine in handheld, I did have some difficulty in getting the pointer arrow to do as I wanted to. I found that using the touchscreen worked best. I don’t think one could do it just using your fingers, a stylus comes in very handy.

Conclusion

I don’t often make jigsaw puzzles in real life, but I live with someone who loves nothing better than to clutter my kitchen table and countertop with puzzles of 1000 pieces or more. I felt How Buddy’s Parents Met is a very nice alternative to have the same puzzling fun in your pocket. It has all the qualities that make putting jigsaws together fun and adds the benefit of it being compact. With various difficulty levels, sweet images to form and a relaxing tune in the background, this love story will give your hours of fun!

Final verdict: I Like it a Lot