For most games, the idea of co-op is having one more person to help out a solo player, whether that's having an extra ship to provide more firepower or another person to kick around enemies. Some games try to split players into classes with different abilities, but a truly co-op game where extra players are almost necessary is quite rare. Titles like Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime or Overcooked, where you need to split duties among the party, are atypical but slowly gaining traction. Vitamin Connection tries to fit in this space on the Nintendo Switch, and for the most part, it does a great job.

The Sable family just moved from Japan to the U.S., and things seem to be going fine. One day, the family receives a mysterious package from Professor Uncle containing a new type of pill. You take on the role of the pill's pilots, Vita-boy and Mina-girl, as they pilot the pill and take on the task of obliterating the sicknesses in each member of the Sable family to get them through any calamity that has befallen them.

The story is rather loose but does a good job of presenting the game's whimsical nature. Every cut scene with the family feels wholesome without being an outright parody. Every scene with the enemies has a few lines of goofy dialogue. It is likeable throughout, but it would've been nice if the protagonists were vocal instead of pantomiming with facial expressions.

The core gameplay can be described as a classic space shooter with twin-stick shooter sensibilities. You can shoot in any direction with your vitamin beam, but you need to monitor your meter, since your beam is much weaker once the energy is drained. You can also move all over the screen since the game automatically scrolls in any direction, but the maze-like structures of the levels means that you need to rotate your ship often to compensate for its rectangular shape. Aside from the game letting you choose your own path at various points in the level, all of this should be familiar to shooting fans.

Of course, there are a few things that make Vitamin Connection very different from other shooters. For starters, there are boss fights, but you aren't stuck with the expected routine of dodging enemy fire while using your beam to whittle down their energy meter until they explode. Instead, each boss fight plays out as different types of minigames. One fight is a rhythm game where you're trying to follow on-screen directions for a few rounds. Another fight is a bigger version of glide hockey, and another has you navigating your ship through a twisted set of lines without touching any lines. The minigames fit with the title's quirky vibe, but they also provide a reprieve from the usual shooting and maneuvering.

Another difference is that Vitamin Connection was built as a completely co-op experience. By default, player 1 holds the left Joy-Con vertically and controls the ship movement and the beam's firing mechanism. Player 2 holds the right Joy-Con horizontally and controls the aim of the beam and the ship's rotation. Even in the first level, the game demands cooperation; you'll face obstacles like barriers that can only be broken by using the same-colored side of the ship to barge through them or rotating the ship enough to avoid contact with barriers that react to your ship rotation.

As the game progresses, you'll notice that it emphasizes co-op and takes advantage of Switch-specific features. Get the claw, and player 1 has to move the Joy-Con like a pointer to determine the claw's extended length while player 2 determines when to grab. In one of the boss fights, player 1 moves normally, but player 2 has to use the Joy-Con's IR sensor and move their hand close to and away from the sensor to determine the length of a different extension arm to grab chunks of matter for the fight. It can seem a touch gimmicky, but it also shows that WayForward didn't shy away from system features that few third parties have bothered with.

Once you come to grips with the control scenario, you'll find Vitamin Connection to be perfect for people of differing skill levels. The level layouts can be tricky to navigate due to tight spaces or an abundance of enemies that forces you to take breaks between laser discharges. The game isn't afraid of giving you dead ends that force you to double back and fight your way out, but the levels are also fond of showing you enough secrets that you'll want to revisit stages with new abilities (e.g., the claw or reflective beam) so you can see them all. Despite having you double back from a boss fight to the same forks in the road, the trek through each level feels enjoyable, since the game doesn't overwhelm you with too many challenges at once.

If there's anything that some people might complain about, it would be the length of the individual levels. The game may sport only a few stages, but each stage can take upward of 30 minutes to complete, even if you decide to use your turbo button to speed things along. The liberal use of checkpoints and automatic restarts during boss fights means that dying isn't too much of a setback, but there's no ability to save the game mid-level to pick it up later. It's not catastrophic, but it doesn't lend itself to quick bouts of gaming compared to other titles in the shooter genre.

There is a bit more here to do once you finish the game. For starters, there's a New Game+ mode that acts as a higher difficulty level for those who feel they've mastered the co-op nuances. All of the 24 minigame boss fights are unlocked as you progress through the game, so you can go back and improve your completion times if you want. It's a bummer that there is no versus mode, since some of the minigames would've lent themselves well to competition, but it isn't that big of a deal.

All this time we've been talking about Vitamin Connection in co-op mode, but the title also features a solo mode that might not be too appealing to most players. For starters, progress in solo mode is separate from co-op mode, so if you start here and decide to continue the journey with a friend, you'll have to restart the whole thing. The other issue is with the controls. You can control all of your actions using both Joy-Cons in a traditional configuration or using the Pro Controller. While it's easy to shoot out your vitamin beam, rotation can feel slower since you're using your triggers to do that. What will make people give up on the scheme is when motion controls are introduced via the claw, as moving your controller to extend the claw feels out of control, since you can't fine-tune your extension length or direction. Unless you're willing to put in some practice, you're better off treating this as a purely co-op title.

The presentation is very inviting. Graphically, there's a bevy of bold colors, and all of the characters look like they come out of children's books. Everything is easily discernible, and everything of importance is clearly visible. You won't accidentally bump into walls because you thought they were part of the background. The sound features some nice effects and excellent voice acting, but the music will stand out the most. The soundtrack goes for a nice mix of styles similar to what you might hear in Katamari Damacy or Space Channel 5, but it is presented in a radio station format similar to Jet Set Radio. It is a fantastic set of tunes that you can easily see on a soundtrack at a later time.

In the end, Vitamin Connection is a fun and endearing addition to the Switch library of exclusives. The level of difficulty is there, but nothing feels impossible unless you're playing solo so beating each stage feels like an accomplishment. The long stages mean that stretches of gameplay can feel lengthy, but the overall duration feels just right, while the New Game+ mode and the ability to improve on each minigame gives the game some legs once you beat the campaign. If you want something that feels fresh in the co-op space, grab Vitamin Connection.

Score: 8.5/10