When you think of a multiplayer shooter, you’re probably not picturing bright colors, cute outfits, or flying cat robots, but that might be different if you’ve played Popucom. First released in June 2025, the unique co-op shooter came to Switch in December, bringing an unlikely mix of combat and match-3 puzzles together for one of the best multiplayer games of the year.
At first glance, you could mistake Popucom for Splatoon, another great game that turns typical shooter tropes on their head. The colorful world and doll-like characters of Popucom bear a lot of resemblance to Nintendo’s own cutesy multiplayer shooter, but the games could hardly be more different in practice. Where Splatoon is a competitive battle for control of its stages, Popucom is cooperative, with up to four players working together across a series of extremely clever platforming stages.
