Shiba Match

Shiba Match is a homebrew game by Einar Hov released on 26 December 2017. It’s a memory matching game themed with cute Shiba Inu dogs.

You can download the ROM from its download page by using the passoword wowsuchmatchmuchmemory or by getting it from its releases page. You can also check the source code if you like.

About Shiba Match

Shiba Match is one of those games that is so simple that I can barely say anything about it. It’s the classic memory match game where there’s a grid of unknown cards lined up and you can only turn around two at a time. If they show the same image then it’s a match and they stay uncovered, otherwise they go back down.

The objective is to find and match every pair of identical shibas, of which there are 18 unique images. In games like this, there is normally a move counter where you need to complete it in the fewest moves possible, but Shiba Match lets you try as much as you like without penalty.

That’s all there is to it really. There’s a nice happy victory screen when you win the game.

Review and conclusion

This game isn’t really much to run home about. The gameplay is simple and basic, there’s no audio at all and there’s no lose condition.

It is quite impressive that this game wasn’t made in either the official SDK orLibdragon, but rather with Libn64 and N64chain which is a challenge on its own.

Back in 2017 when this game was released was (I’d say) the peak of the shiba Doge meme. Being possibly the top meme of the 2010’s, I’m glad to see that it has made its way into the hallowed halls of the N64 homebrew library.

The dogs are cute though, I’ll give them that.