Fun: I must say I didn’t really quite enjoy my time with the game. However both games were satisfying to play. The main mechanic is however an hindrance to the progression and enjoyment if you focus on it so you ended up playing the platformer then playing the TopDown AA games (or vice-versa).
Innovation: Has this already been done? Yes. But I find the two-game aspect still original and still a daring choice for a GJ. Again, both game genre are well executed.
Theme: I am not sure about this. I guess it is a combo of two games, but my main issue is that the two games aren’t related so it is not really a combo but more of a simple addition.
Graphics: The graphics of both games were delivering that sweet retro vibe, in each cases fitting the game they were inspired by. It translated everything you needed to know about the different situation so yeah pretty good!
Mood: Again, both mood fitted well with the gameplay of both games.
Audio: We can spot both elements of the themes of the original games and it’s a nice touch. It however gets repetitive quite quickly and the problem is that both games share the same music.
Humor: While it is not very applicable to this game, the face of the turtles put a smile on my face.
Final thoughts on overall quality:
In terms of work realized within the span of 48 hours, the feat is quite impressive with what I felt was a decent level of polishing (coyote time is here, buffed input is here). Both games feel nice to play and are nice nostalgy ride to Mario and Zelda. The main mechanic, while interesting, is however not used to the benefit of the game. The game made me think heavily of one of the games of this year GMTKGameJam: The curse of the dice witch. (https://jhunter2551.itch.io/curse-of-the-dice-witch) and I think we can identify where it managed to do something similar but better executed.
-Both “sides” have inequal values in terms of progression and User investment while both the games of Dual Cartridge each require a high investment in term of focus. This leads to the “imma put you in this nice little corner, I will come back to you soon” effect. -Both sides are heavily connected while the games in Dual Cartridge are independent, again leading to the effect mentioned above, especially since both games require investment of the player. This is also why in some aspect I think it does not really fit the theme.
Suggestion from a guy who know nothing: I think you could resolve some of the mentioned problems by just getting more into the theme. Since the games aren’t especially difficult for somewhat experienced player, you could put in place a scoring system.
Separate the controls of your game and bind the switch to Q. The switch does not stop time for the unplayed game (but can maybe slows it). Then put in place a two-part combo bar, with a cursor in the middle, each part corresponding to a game. The longer you play a game the longer the cursor is pulled toward the side of that game and the score multiplier gradually decrease with it. So, if you want big numbers you need to switch regularly, which put pressure on the player for accomplishing the tasks when the multiplier is high. The player may complete each game separately but will have to play a certain way to get some better score.
Add some clearly partitioned section with “pause areas” for safe switching, some roadblock that need to be passed by playing the other game and I think you could have a decently demanding and fun game, a strange kind of speedrunnnable title, while keeping the core idea.
I think it a work nicely done that does have potential! Nice work!