News

Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana Releases in 2025 from XSEED Games

XSEED Games is bringing Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana to Switch and PS5 in the West in early 2025 following its debut on Switch last year. I adore Ys: The Oath in Felghana so much, I already bought the Japanese Switch release last year and beat it. Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana is a remaster of the PSP and PC game with higher quality visuals, multiple soundtrack options, a turbo mode, accessibility options, a new portrait option, a new voiceover option, and more. I can’t wait to play the English release next year. I’ll definitely be grabbing the physical release at the end of the trailer above.

Gundam Breaker 4 Open Network Test Announced for July 18th to 20th

An open network test for Gundam Breaker 4 is set to arrive on July 18th until July 20th for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation. The full game launches at the end of August for consoles and PC, but I’ll definitely be checking out this test on Switch and PS5. The new gameplay trailer above looks excellent. After enjoying Gundam Breaker 1 and 2 in Japanese and then loving Gundam Breaker 3’s English Asia release, I’m glad this one is officially launching worldwide on multiple platforms from day one.

Reviews & Mini-Views

Metal Slug Attack Reloaded ($9.99)

I can give you a simple two-step quiz to determine if you’ll like this game or not. First off, do you like Swords and Soldiers-style base defense games? Second, are you okay with a structure similar to mobile gatcha games? If you answered yes to both, then you can go ahead and pick this game up. It’s well-made for what it is. The biggest problem is that “what it is" is an echo of what it was, which is to say a very hungry F2P gatcha game. The IAPs have been stripped out and an attempt at rebalancing the game has been made, but some stains just don’t come out no matter how hard you scrub.

I’ll cut to the heart of the issue here. This game has a number of ridiculous difficulty spikes. Levels that you have no hope of completing unless you’ve got some properly leveled-up and kitted-out Rare units of the right type to deploy. Properly leveling those units up and kitting them out takes a whole lot of grinding, but even getting them requires a bit of luck with the game’s gatcha system. Unless you have phenomenally good fortune, you’re going to have to spend a lot of time grinding out stages you’ve already finished again and again to get the necessary resources to make all that happen. And if you do have that kind of luck, you’re still probably going to need to do some grinding for leveling up those fancy units.

Aside from that admittedly major issue, Metal Slug Attack Reloaded is a fine enough example of its genre. The sprites look great, which you would expect given the source, and there are a ton of different units to collect. The controls are easy enough to use, and it sits nicely in that zone where it has enough going on to engage you but not so much as to require your full attention. If you want a game to play while you watch some TV shows on your streaming service of choice, this will do the job. It’s just a shame that the difficulty spikes make the game come across like it still wants to shake you down, despite not having any way to do that.

SwitchArcade Score: 3/5

Select New Releases

River Tails: Stronger Together ($19.99)

A fish and a cat working together? Well, now I’ve seen it all. I’ve even dropped my monocle. Anyway, this is a 3D platformer for up to two players via local multiplayer. You can also play by yourself controlling both characters, if you want. Either way, you’ll be traveling through various environments, tackling the challenges found within. The two characters will have to work together to move forward, and you’d be correct to assume that it’s best with a friend. It’s difficult either way, but on your own it’s really tough. Not bad, though. Not bad at all.

Sales

(North American eShop, US Prices)

Yoku’s Island Express for two bucks is a deal so good that I can’t imagine anyone passing on it. Seriously, that game should have 140 million units sold by the time that deal finishes. I’ll be counting. There are some other goodies in the inbox, so have a careful look. The outbox also has quite a lot in it. Grab a drink, I guess. Sift through. Find those deals.

Select New Sales

Landflix Odyssey ($3.49 from $6.99 until 7/6)
Rainbows, Toilets & Unicorns ($3.49 from $6.99 until 7/6)
Boreal Tenebrae ($1.99 from $6.99 until 7/9)
Cat’s Cosmic Atlas ($1.99 from $19.99 until 7/9)
Golfinite ($1.99 from $12.99 until 7/9)
Wira & Taksa: AtMoG ($1.99 from $16.99 until 7/9)
Monument ($1.99 from $7.00 until 7/9)
Colsword ($1.99 from $4.00 until 7/9)
Syndrome ($1.99 from $24.99 until 7/9)
Ebenezer & the Invisible World ($15.99 from $19.99 until 7/10)
My Child Lebensborn Remastered ($5.99 from $9.99 until 7/10)
Towers Watch ($7.20 from $12.00 until 7/15)
Zombie Watch ($7.20 from $12.00 until 7/15)

Blasphemous 1 + 2 Bundle ($26.99 from $44.99 until 7/16)
Quell Reflect ($1.99 from $7.99 until 7/16)
Quell Memento ($1.99 from $7.99 until 7/16)
Jump King ($5.19 from $12.99 until 7/17)
Lost Labyrinth: Lucidity Lost ($20.99 from $29.99 until 7/18)
Adore ($11.99 from $19.99 until 7/18)
Oni: Road to Be the Mightiest ($8.99 from $29.99 until 7/18)
Marchen Forest ($6.99 from $34.99 until 7/18)
Demon Gaze Extra ($17.99 from $59.99 until 7/18)
Brigandine Legend of Runersia ($19.99 from $49.99 until 7/18)
O-VOID ($3.99 from $4.99 until 7/22)
ReactorX ($1.99 from $4.99 until 7/22)
My Maite ($1.99 from $4.99 until 7/22)
Void Source ($1.99 from $5.99 until 7/22)
Dark Grim Mariupolis ($1.99 from $4.99 until 7/22)

Taimumari Complete ($3.19 from $7.99 until 7/22)
IN-VERT ($1.99 from $4.99 until 7/22)
Bullet Beat ($1.99 from $4.99 until 7/22)
Nexoria: Dungeon Rogue Heroes ($1.99 from $4.99 until 7/22)
WildTrax Racing ($1.99 from $7.99 until 7/23)
Formula Retro Racing World Tour ($9.99 from $19.99 until 7/23)
Kao the Kangaroo Well Good Bundle ($9.89 from $32.99 until 7/23)
Kao the Kangaroo Anniversary Edition ($14.79 from $36.99 until 7/23)
Worms WMD ($5.99 from $29.99 until 7/24)
Killer Frequency ($12.49 from $24.99 until 7/24)
Hokko Life ($7.99 from $19.99 until 7/24)
The Serpent Rogue ($1.99 from $19.99 until 7/24)
Batora: Lost Haven ($9.99 from $24.99 until 7/24)
Raging Justice ($1.99 from $14.99 until 7/24)

Yoku’s Island Express ($1.99 from $19.99 until 7/24)
The Escapists Complete Edition ($1.99 from $14.99 until 7/24)
Sheltered ($2.99 from $14.99 until 7/24)
Monster Sanctuary ($4.99 from $19.99 until 7/24)
Crown Trick ($4.99 from $19.99 until 7/24)
Ageless ($2.99 from $14.99 until 7/24)
Going Under ($4.99 from $19.99 until 7/24)
Overcooked 2: Gourmet Edition ($12.12 from $48.49 until 7/24)
Yooka-Laylee & the Impossible Lair ($2.99 from $29.99 until 7/24)

Sales Ending Tomorrow, July 4th

A Knight’s Quest ($3.74 from $24.99 until 7/4)
Alekon ($2.39 from $15.99 until 7/4)
Alfred Hitchcock Vertigo ($3.99 from $19.99 until 7/4)
American Fugitive ($2.99 from $19.99 until 7/4)
Ancestors Legacy ($9.99 from $39.99 until 7/4)
Another Crab’s Treasure ($23.99 from $29.99 until 7/4)
Aquadine ($9.99 from $19.99 until 7/4)
Arkanoid Eternal Battle ($2.99 from $19.99 until 7/4)
Avenging Spirit ($2.99 from $5.99 until 7/4)
Beholder: Complete Edition ($2.24 from $14.99 until 7/4)
Bomber Crew ($2.99 from $19.99 until 7/4)
Caveman Ransom ($2.49 from $4.99 until 7/4)
Cooking Simulator ($2.99 from $19.99 until 7/4)
Dr Fetus’ Mean Meat Machine ($2.99 from $9.99 until 7/4)
Dr. Frank’s Build a Boyfriend ($2.49 from $4.99 until 7/4)
DragonFangZ: TR&DoT ($9.99 from $24.99 until 7/4)

Dusk Diver 2 ($24.99 from $49.99 until 7/4)
Embr ($3.99 from $19.99 until 7/4)
Flooded ($3.24 from $12.99 until 7/4)
For The King ($4.99 from $24.99 until 7/4)
Gibbon: Beyond the Trees ($7.49 from $14.99 until 7/4)
Gigapocalypse ($1.99 from $9.99 until 7/4)
Gleylancer ($3.49 from $6.99 until 7/4)
Green Hell ($3.74 from $24.99 until 7/4)
Gynoug ($3.49 from $6.99 until 7/4)
Hard West ($2.99 from $19.99 until 7/4)
Hell Pie ($7.49 from $24.99 until 7/4)
Hello Kitty & Friends Happiness Parade ($1.99 from $19.99 until 7/4)
Highrise Heroes: Word Challenge ($1.99 from $7.99 until 7/4)
Horse Tales: Emerald Valley Ranch ($13.99 from $39.99 until 7/4)
Hotshot Racing ($2.99 from $19.99 until 7/4)

Hue ($2.49 from $9.99 until 7/4)
Human: Fall Flat ($5.99 from $19.99 until 7/4)
Just Die Already ($2.99 form $14.99 until 7/4)
Just Shapes & Beats ($12.99 from $19.99 until 7/4)
Krimson ($7.99 from $9.99 until 7/4)
Little Witch Nobeta ($24.99 from $49.99 until 7/4)
Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle ($13.99 from $39.99 until 7/4)
MONOBOT ($3.89 from $12.99 until 7/4)
Motorsport Manager ($2.99 from $14.99 until 7/4)
My Universe: Cooking Star Restaurant ($1.99 from $29.99 until 7/4)
Panzer Dragoon Remake ($2.49 from $24.99 until 7/4)
Phantom Doctrine ($2.99 from $19.99 until 7/4)
Prisonela DX ($2.49 from $4.99 until 7/4)
Pumped BMX Pro ($2.24 from $14.99 until 7/4)
Pumpkin Jack ($6.89 from $29.99 until 7/4)
Q-Yo Blaster ($2.49 from $9.99 until 7/4)

Rigid Force Redux ($3.99 from $19.99 until 7/4)
River City: Rival Showdown ($17.49 from $24.99 until 7/4)
Runbow ($2.99 from $14.99 until 7/4)
Rytmos ($4.50 from $15.00 until 7/4)
Sifu ($15.99 from $39.99 until 7/4)
Silver Chains ($1.99 from $24.99 until 7/4)
Slime-san: Superslime Edition ($2.39 from $11.99 until 7/4)
SUPERBEAT: XONIC ($14.99 from $29.99 until 7/4)
Survivor Castaway Island ($14.99 from $29.99 until 7/4)
Syberia ($1.99 from $12.99 until 7/4)
The Adventures of Panzer Collection ($4.49 from $8.99 until 7/4)
The House of the Dead Remake ($6.24 from $24.99 until 7/4)
The Quest for Excalibur Puy du Fou ($5.99 from $29.99 until 7/4)
The Sinking City: Deluxe ($9.74 from $64.99 until 7/4)
The Smurfs 2 ($19.99 from $39.99 until 7/4)

The Swindle ($2.24 from $14.99 until 7/4)
Thief Simulator ($2.99 from $19.99 until 7/4)
Towaga: Among Shadows ($2.24 from $14.99 until 7/4)
Truberbrook ($1.99 from $29.99 until 7/4)
Turnip Boy Robs a Bank ($10.49 from $14.99 until 7/4)
Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 4 ($9.99 from $19.99 until 7/4)
UNABLES ($6.49 from $12.99 until 7/4)
Vambrace: Cold Soul ($2.99 from $24.99 until 7/4)
Velocity 2X ($2.99 from $19.99 until 7/4)
Watch ($3.59 from $5.99 until 7/4)
We Need to Go Deeper ($9.99 from $19.99 until 7/4)
When Ski Lifts Go Wrong ($2.24 from $14.99 until 7/4)
Zombie’s Cool ($1.99 from $3.99 until 7/4)

That’s all for today, friends. Tomorrow is Thursday, so we should have a fair number of new games to look at. Beyond that, there should be some sales to consider, and maybe some news. Probably not. But maybe! I have some paperwork to attend to, so I’m going to get to that now. I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday, and as always, thanks for reading!

Reviews & Mini-Views

Times & Galaxy ($19.99)

This game is awfully clever. It has really sharp writing, and as far as adventure game set-ups go this one is certainly novel. You’re a robot reporter for a galactic newspaper called the Times & Galaxy, just starting out on your career. You’re actually the first robot reporter, so… good luck with that. You head out on assignments where you’ll collect information by investigating the scene and talking to the people there. You’ll then use whatever information you collected to create a story for the paper, and the better the story you write the better things will go for you and your employer.

Each of the stories feels like a little episode of its own, and it’s fun to try to dig for better information and juicier quotes to use in your write-ups. Even setting aside what you’re going to put in your story, it’s enjoyable to try to unravel the truth behind situations that can sometimes seem completely different at a glance. Putting together the story is easy, with a handy tool that lets you set up each part of it based on the info you have collected. The game shows you exactly what each selection will do, so it’s easy to build the Times & Galaxy into the kind of media outlet you want it to be. Great power, great responsibility. The presentation is charming, and the quality of the writing is exactly where it needs to be for a game like this.

The worst thing you can say about Times & Galaxy is that it is very consistent in its mechanics, which means it falls to how well the writing clicks with you to keep your interest. I won’t say that every single scene had me glued to the Joy-Cons, but I think as a whole it’s worth a look for those on the hunt for an unorthodox adventure game. I had a good time with it, and I think it has a nice thing going with its basic loop. If you like the sound of its premise and are in the mood for some silliness, you’ll want to your nearest newssta… er, eShop, and grab a copy.

SwitchArcade Score: 4/5

Beyond Good & Evil 20th Anniversary Edition ($19.99)

I was there on the frontlines to watch this poor game go out and die. It’s beyond my pay grade to say exactly why; the reviews were good and the few people who picked up the game seemed to like it a lot. But within a few weeks, we were stickering over those $59.99 price tags with $29.99 ones. That’s when I gave the game a shot, and to be honest, it didn’t strike me quite the same way it did others. Stylish, yes. Good pacing, for sure. It’s a good game, but I personally never mourned the lack of a follow-up. That’s just me, of course. I know how much it means to others and I hope they get what they’re wishing for.

One encouraging step towards that is this fine reissue of the original game. Beyond Good & Evil 20th Anniversary Edition gives the game a bit of graphical spit polish, has a new recording of the soundtrack, and adds in some useful quality of life features like autosaves. Otherwise, this is the game as it was. It handles itself well for a game of its vintage, and it’s easy to see why so many people saw something special in it. You’re always doing something new or interesting, and the world building is really solid. Plus, photography! Everyone loves video game photography. What can I say? This is an Ubisoft game from the last era before it really got its annualized ducks in a row, and there is something distinct about its games from this time period.

Mikhail has also been playing Beyond Good & Evil 20th Anniversary Edition on Switch and PS5. While there’s no shortage of information on the platform differences, one aspect he wanted to highlight is the cross progression. When you login to Ubisoft Connect in the publisher’s titles, you usually get some in-game bonus, but the addition of cross progression across all consoles and PC has been excellent. While I played Beyond Good & Evil 20th Anniversary Edition only on Switch, he enjoyed playing it at home on PS5, and then picking up his save on Switch to play on the go. It works flawlessly here as it did in Assassin’s Creed Mirage which he played on PS5 and iPhone 15 Pro.

Beyond Good & Evil 20th Anniversary Edition is a great way to play this beloved cult classic, especially for those who want a portable option. While you’ll get a smoother framerate on other platforms, this Switch version isn’t hard on the eyes by any means. The improvements are welcome without overstepping, making the game very easy to get into despite its vintage. If you haven’t played it before, it’s worth trying out. Who knows? You might join the folks clamoring for that sequel. And if you have played it before, I’m sure I don’t need to twist your arm to convince you of the merits of a return trip.

SwitchArcade Score: 4/5

Tchia ($29.99)

I’ll say at least this much for Tchia: its highs are very, very high. When it’s showing off its New Caledonia-inspired setting, or the distinct culture of its creators, it’s truly captivating. I like that it’s willing to let some moments just stew and really sink in. The soul-jumping mechanic that serves as its main gameplay gimmick is sometimes used in very clever ways. The first time you encounter some of its tricks, it’s fun to solve them. It’s also surprisingly polished for the size of the game and the size of its development team.

Sometimes I’m less pleased with it. Combat isn’t a huge part of the game, but it gets old really fast. Enemy encounters in general just don’t offer a diverse enough range of options to keep them interesting. The islands you explore are gorgeous, but there isn’t enough incentive to fully explore them beyond your own curiosity. I’m not fond of how cumbersome controlling the boat can be. The story doesn’t quite come together as well as the world-building does. There are some technical issues in places that I assume are a Switch thing.

But I’m not sure how much any of this matters. Tchia sometimes fools you into thinking it’s a bigger game than it is. But for all the size of its world and the degree of its interactivity, this feels like a deeply personal game. As I played through this game, soaking in all it had to offer, it made me think how lucky we are to have video games. Each of us can only live one life, and we can never truly know what another life would be like. But through video games, we can share our lives and pull other people into our world for a short while. And that’s how I felt playing Tchia. None of this is familiar to me, and yet I could feel the creators’ passion for their home in every bit of it. Splendid.

Tchia has something to it. I don’t think it’s the most fully-formed and properly fleshed-out open world game by any means, but I also don’t think that’s the main priority of it. This is a window to the place, the life experiences, the culture that the people behind it know so well. This Switch port carries itself well enough, though there are some noticeable visual flaws at times. Don’t come to this looking for a Pacific Island take on Breath of the Wild, because it isn’t that even if it sometimes resembles it. It’s Tchia. And it’s good.

SwitchArcade Score: 4/5

Select New Releases

The Battle Cats Unite! ($19.99)

You like base defense with weirdly-drawn cats? Here’s base defense with weirdly-drawn cats. You may have seen this series on mobile or potentially other platforms before. It’s pretty good as this sort of thing goes. There are over three hundred and fifty different kinds of cats to collect. and more than three hundred stages to challenge. There are also some mini-games to spice things up. Oh, and you can play with another player via local multiplayer or local wi-fi. No in-app purchases in this one, so you can simply enjoy the experience without worrying about your wallet.

Utah Games Presents ($4.99)

This is kind of a nice little thing. It’s an assortment of games created by graduate students from the University of Utah’s Masters of Entertainment Arts and Engineering program, covering a handful of different genres. Supposedly you’re helping out the current and future students by picking this up and playing it, and that isn’t the worst way to spend a fiver.

Sales

(North American eShop, US Prices)

Another inbox with a lot of good games in it but no sales that get me particularly excited. Ditto for the outbox. Just one of those days, I guess? I’m sure we’ll see more cool sales in a few days, so don’t worry too much.

Select New Sales

OKAMI HD ($9.99 from $19.99 until 7/15)
Shotgun King: The Final Checkmate ($8.74 from $12.49 until 7/15)
Game Dev Tycoon ($7.49 from $14.99 until 7/16)
Goonya Monster ($9.99 from $19.99 until 7/18)
Mystery Box: Evolution ($4.99 from $9.99 until 7/21)
Mystery Box: Escape the Room ($4.99 from $9.99 until 7/21)
Mystery Box: The Journey ($4.99 from $9.99 until 7/21)
Zotrix Starglider ($1.99 from $9.99 until 7/21)
Mechstermination Force ($1.99 from $11.99 until 7/22)
Super Punch Patrol ($1.99 from $4.99 until 7/22)
Gunman Clive HD Collection ($1.99 from $4.99 until 7/22)
Onion Assault ($1.99 from $7.99 until 7/22)
Fly Punch Boom! ($1.99 from $14.99 until 7/22)
Roombo: First Blood ($1.99 from $4.99 until 7/22)
Suicide Guy: The Lost Dreams ($4.39 from $7.99 until 7/22)
TRIOS: lofi beats/numbers ($2.39 from $7.99 until 7/22)
Railway Empire ($19.99 from $39.99 until 7/22)
Commandos 2 HD Remaster ($14.99 from $19.99 until 7/22)
Feather ($2.99 from $9.99 until 7/22)
Dungeon Nightmares 1+2 Collection ($1.99 from $12.99 until 7/22)
Shadow Gangs ($14.39 from $23.99 until 7/22)

Sales Ending Tomorrow, July 3rd

Cats & the Other Lives ($14.99 from $19.99 until 7/3)
Cook, Serve, Delicious! 2!! ($2.00 from $12.99 until 7/3)
Death Road to Canada ($4.49 from $14.99 until 7/3)
Die for Valhalla! ($3.59 from $11.99 until 7/3)
DNF Duel: Who’s Next ($14.99 from $49.99 until 7/3)
Fight Club ($4.49 from $14.99 until 7/3)
HunterX ($8.99 from $14.99 until 7/3)
HunterX: Code Name T ($11.89 from $16.99 until 7/3)
Immortal Planet ($4.49 from $14.99 until 7/3)
Retimed ($5.99 from $14.99 until 7/3)
STAB STAB STAB! ($2.99 from $9.99 until 7/3)
Steamburg ($1.99 from $4.99 until 7/3)
Thea: The Awakening ($5.39 from $17.99 until 7/3)
Wingspan ($9.99 from $19.99 until 7/3)

That’s all for today, friends. We’ll be back tomorrow with more new games, more sales, perhaps a review, and maybe some news. My tooth extraction went off without a hitch, so that’s a worry off my shoulders. Now if the pain would subside a little, I’ll be all set. I hope you all have a terrific Tuesday, and as always, thanks for reading!

Reviews & Mini-Views

Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble ($49.99)

When Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble was announced, I thought it was going to be a multiplayer-focused entry, and didn’t pay much attention to it. I saw the trailers following that, and started getting hopeful. Fast forward to today, I think Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble is excellent, but it suffers from some major technical issues. Despite that, the single player content more than justifies the asking price. One thing to note is that this review is based on the game with its day one patch. I saw some folks wondering if the day one patch improved things from what reviewers played, but I’ve been playing it from the start with the patch included.

Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble‘s main adventure mode ships with 200 stages that you slowly unlock. Even if Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble featured the same gameplay mechanics as Banana Mania, I would’ve been ok with it, but SEGA took things a step further with the new Spin Dash option included. Early on, the Spin Dash feels unneeded, but you will slowly start needing it to complete the missions in each stage or to improve your time.

When I first booted up Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble, I almost dropped it because the camera movement and judder made me want to throw up. I wasn’t sure I’d have been able to review it, but after some tweaking in the settings and getting used to the annoying Unity issue, I started enjoying the adventure mode a ton. Some stages are evil while others are great at introducing you to new layouts and things you will need in future levels. While the levels start ramping up in difficulty, there are a few assist options you can toggle on to make things a bit easier. I also recommend using motion controls for the best experience. I rarely say that, but they felt good in Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble.

I said it before, but just the single player content here justifies a purchase, but SEGA kept showcasing multiplayer so let’s get into that. Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble ships with local multiplayer, online play, and local wireless support in addition to single player. The multiplayer modes see a visible cutback to visuals and performance, but nothing prepared me for how miserable the actual online multiplayer feels.

On paper, a few of the battle modes included are great. Some of them were fun despite the mess of an online experience, but I want to reiterate that it is not worth buying Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble to play online in its current state. My favorite battle modes are race and robot smash. I tested this pre-release and even this morning (as of this writing). Nothing has improved with the online play. It just feels frustrating and sluggish.

After playing and loving Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania as my first experience with the original games through the Switch and PS5 versions, I am disappointed in how Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble feels right now. The performance issues in adventure mode aren’t a dealbreaker, but this is a Nintendo Switch exclusive. It should be better. Hopefully the Unity issue can be addressed at least in patches.

On the audio side, I have no complaints. Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble sounds great across its effects and the music in every stage. I’m glad SEGA released the soundtrack on streaming services already.

There are also quite a few customization options already included, with you earning currency to unlock more at a regular pace. A lot of work went into this aspect of the game, and I’m curious to see whether we see more SEGA collaboration content added as cosmetics.

Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble also has DLC from the start letting you play as Sonic and there’s even a battle pass. Right now, the battle pass seems to only have a free tier. I want to note this because we’ve seen some publishers bring in paid battle passes in updates. I hope Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble doesn’t get one of those, but keep this in mind.

Despite my complaints with the online multiplayer and technical issue in single player, I’ve come away glad that Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble exists. Hopefully SEGA can fix some of the issues though, because this is a superb Switch exclusive held back right now.

Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble is an excellent game for single player content with varied and challenging stages, great music, and frustrating fun held back by a very annoying technical issue. If you get used to that, it is absolutely worth getting just to play solo. While the multiplayer modes had potential, it is embarrassing how they feel right now online.-Mikhail Madnani

SwitchArcade Score: 4/5

Fireside ($14.99)

An odd little game, but one with enough charm to carry it. You’re a merchant who is in a shipwreck and ends up on an island where a lot of folks seem to have ended up. You’ve lost all your stuff, but you’re going to make the best of it anyway. The aforementioned folks have things they need. You want to meet those needs, sometimes by trading with another person, sometimes by going out and finding said things yourself. By helping people out, you not only gradually increase your wealth, but also help restore the shrines scattered around the island. At first you can’t wander too far from your camp, but as you play more and more of the island opens up.

Fireside is a simple experience in a lot of ways, but it does what it does to a satisfying degree of quality. It feels a bit plain in terms of presentation, but the amusing characters, strong gameplay loop, and well-formed trading mechanics make it a hard game to put down. If you’re looking for a low-stress game to chill with for a while, you could do a lot worse than this one.

SwitchArcade Score: 4/5

NeoSprint ($24.99)

I’m in a weird place with these Atari IP revivals, I think. I liked most of the Recharged line well enough. The ones that try to make a modern game out of one of those brands, I’ve had a more mixed experience with. It’s not that any of them are bad or anything, though Atari Mania felt close to that at times. But you have some that are so different from the original games that you wonder why they bothered applying the IP at all, and then some that are playing it a little too safe and end up feeling too quaint. I think they’re all a bit too in love with trying to push Atari, its brands, and its icons too, but I understand the company is trying to re-establish itself right now.

NeoSprint plays things very safe, and I can understand the thinking behind that. It wouldn’t really feel like Sprint at all if it didn’t use the familiar overhead perspective, and I don’t think Atari wants to try to compete in the standard racing space anyway. Things are a little less competitive in the overhead racing segment, though even here the best of the bunch make NeoSprint feel a bit too simple and shallow. The game compensates for that by packing in a very generous amount of content, so if you like what you get mechanically in this game, you’ll have plenty to enjoy. Lots of tracks, lots of modes, lots of unlockables, and so on. Up to eight can race locally, and that’s a hoot if you can set it up.

The track editor in particular is a lot better than I was expecting, and I had a lot of fun making various tracks to race on. You have to be careful as it’s fully possible to make a track with enough detail to bog down performance, which is something you’ll stumble over in the pre-made tracks at times too. Those playing in handheld mode might have trouble making out the action on the screen when dealing with the larger tracks if you want to play zoomed out. Your car becomes quite tiny, and the various things cluttering the track go from annoying to enraging in a hurry. Zooming in helps you see your car but reading the track from this perspective can be a bear. But these are the prices paid for maintaining the iconic perspective, so what can you do?

If you’re a huge fan of the old Sprint games or their many clones, I think you’ll probably enjoy NeoSprint. It does what it needs to, and it’s rather faithful to the core principles of the games that came before it. It’s also filled to the brim with things to do, and if you love to play “Spot the Atari References" then you can look forward to finding a lot to point at. For those without any real attachment to the series or publisher, this is an approachable casual racing game that could probably use a touch more complexity in its mechanics.

SwitchArcade Score: 3.5/5

EGGCONSOLE Topple Zip PC-8801 ($6.49)

Topple Zip is a little break from the action-RPGs we’ve been seeing so many of in the EGGCONSOLE line-up. Is it a welcome one? Well, it depends on what you’re after with these games. It’s certainly an interesting game, with some good ideas on paper. You’re in an aircraft race, but not really. Instead you’re trying to find the right path to the end of the game, a process that involves taking the right warps in the right order. Finding those warps is tough without a radar, but you can get one by knocking it out of one of the other racers. They’ll drop all kinds of other items too. But be careful, because they can knock the items out of you.

It’s a bit chaotic but the real problem with Topple Zip is that it’s a scrolling action game on hardware that really isn’t good at that kind of thing. There’s just too much going on here for the game to be running as choppily as it does, and it makes it very unpleasant to play. The good news it that there is very little text to worry about here, though you will need to pay careful attention to the HUD to notice when you have the radar in your inventory.

While I respect Topple Zip‘s unusual design, the PC-8801 probably wasn’t the best platform to realize it. This release is up to the usual standards of the EGGCONSOLE line in terms of the wrapper’s options and extras, and there’s almost no language barrier to worry about either. But the game itself just isn’t very fun to play, so it’s really just one for people who enjoy poking at ancient oddities.

SwitchArcade Score: 2.5/5

Sales

(North American eShop, US Prices)

Oh hey, a big Atari sale. And all the Atari-owned studios, too. That means some rare deals on Nightdive’s games in particular, but there are plenty of other goodies to be found too. Inti-Creates and ININ are running some nice sales of their own, so check that inbox list carefully. In the outbox, the incredibly rare discounts on the Metroid games are soon to expire. Check those lists!

Select New Sales

Wizardry ($35.99 from $39.99 until 7/10)
Atari 50: The Anniversary ($27.99 from $39.99 until 7/10)
The Making of Karateka ($17.99 from $19.99 until 7/10)
Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story ($26.99 from $29.99 until 7/10)
Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster ($20.99 from $29.99 until 7/10)
Turok ($5.99 from $19.99 until 7/10)
Turok 2 ($9.99 from $19.99 until 7/10)
Turok 3 Remastered ($26.99 from $29.99 until 7/10)
PowerSlave Exhumed ($9.99 from $19.99 until 7/10)
Rise of the Triad: Ludicrous Edition ($13.99 from $19.99 until 7/10)
PO’ed: Definitive Edition ($17.99 from $19.99 until 7/10)
Shadow Man Remastered ($9.99 from $19.99 until 7/10)
Blade Runner Enhanced Edition ($4.99 from $9.99 until 7/10)
Strife: Veteran Edition ($2.99 from $9.99 until 7/10)
Head over Heels ($4.99 from $9.99 until 7/10)

Swords & Soldiers 2 ($4.49 from $14.99 until 7/10)
Bubsy Paws on Fire ($12.49 from $24.99 until 7/10)
F-117A Stealth Fighter ($1.99 from $4.99 until 7/10)
Spirits of Xanadu ($2.49 from $4.99 until 7/10)
Haunted House ($13.99 from $19.99 until 7/10)
Lunar Lander Beyond ($23.99 from $29.99 until 7/10)
Tempest 4000 ($5.99 from $19.99 until 7/10)
Akka Arrh ($10.99 from $19.99 until 7/10)
Days of Doom ($16.49 from $29.99 until 7/10)
qomp2 ($15.99 from $19.99 until 7/10)
Pong Quest ($6.74 from $14.99 until 7/10)
Atari Flashback Classics ($17.99 from $39.99 until 7/10)
Atari Mania ($11.24 from $24.99 until 7/10)
Mr. Run and Jump ($13.74 from $24.99 until 7/10)
Kombinera ($6.74 from $14.99 until 7/10)

Berzerk Recharged ($7.99 from $9.99 until 7/10)
Caverns of Mars Recharged ($4.99 from $9.99 until 7/10)
Quantum Recharged ($4.99 from $9.99 until 7/10)
Yars Recharged ($4.99 from $9.99 until 7/10)
Gravitar Recharged ($4.99 from $9.99 until 7/10)
Black Widow Recharged ($4.99 from $9.99 until 7/10)
Centipede Recharged ($4.99 from $9.99 until 7/10)
Asteroids Recharged ($4.49 from $9.99 until 7/10)
Breakout Recharged ($4.99 from $9.99 until 7/10)
Missile Command Recharged ($4.99 from $9.99 until 7/10)
RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 CE ($13.49 from $29.99 until 7/10)
RollerCoaster Tycoon Adv. Deluxe ($31.99 from $39.99 until 7/10)
Hell Blasters ($3.74 from $14.99 until 7/12)
Surmount ($10.04 from $14.99 until 7/12)

Bloodstained Curse of the Moon 2 ($5.99 from $14.99 until 7/12)
Blaster Master Zero 3 ($7.49 from $14.99 until 7/12)
PuzzMiX ($3.19 from $3.99 until 7/12)
Gal Guardians Demon Purge ($13.74 from $24.99 until 7/12)
Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 ($14.99 from $29.99 until 7/12)
Luminous Avenger iX 2 ($12.49 from $24.99 until 7/12)
Gunvolt Records Cychronicle ($11.24 from $14.99 until 7/12)
Yohane the Parhelion BitD ($20.99 from $29.99 until 7/12)
Cotton Reboot ($11.99 from $39.99 until 7/13)
Spelunker HD Deluxe ($4.99 from $24.99 until 7/13)
Darius Cozmic Collection Arcade ($17.99 from $44.99 until 7/13)
Darius Cozmic Collection Console ($17.99 from $59.99 until 7/13)
Turrican Flashback ($11.99 from $29.99 until 7/13)
The Legend of Steel Empire ($14.99 from $24.99 until 7/13)
Irem Collection Volume 1 ($12.49 from $24.99 until 7/13)

Taito Milestones 2 ($21.99 from $39.99 until 7/13)
Ray’z Arcade Chronology ($29.99 from $49.99 until 7/13)
Puzzle Bobble Everybubble! ($25.99 from $39.99 until 7/13)
Puzzle Bobble 16-Bit Console Vers. ($5.59 from $7.99 until 7/13)
Ikki Unite ($11.99 from $14.99 until 7/13)
Trip World DX ($12.99 from $19.99 until 7/13)
Ninja JaJaMaru Retro Collection ($2.99 from $14.99 until 7/13)
Ninja JaJaMaru: Great Yokai Battle ($3.99 from $19.99 until 7/13)
Cannon Dancer Osman ($5.99 from $29.99 until 7/13)
The Ninja Saviors ($5.99 from $19.99 until 7/13)
Wall World ($5.99 from $9.99 until 7/13)
Air Twister ($12.49 from $24.99 until 7/13)
Double Dragon Gaiden RotD ($14.99 from $24.99 until 7/15)
Gordian Quest ($1.99 from $19.99 until 7/15)
Teslagrad Remastered ($2.99 from $9.99 until 7/15)
Teslagrad 2 ($5.99 from $19.99 until 7/15)

Saga of Sins ($5.99 from $19.99 until 7/15)
Afterimage ($12.49 from $24.99 until 7/15)
Ganryu 2: Hakuma Kojiro ($1.99 from $19.99 until 7/15)
God of Rock ($2.99 from $29.99 until 7/15)
Crime O’Clock ($9.99 from $19.99 until 7/15)
Quadroids ($8.39 from $11.99 until 7/15)
Before the Green Moon ($5.99 from $11.99 until 7/16)
Treasures of the Aegean ($5.99 from $19.99 until 7/16)
New Joe & Mac Caveman Ninja ($8.99 from $29.99 until 7/19)
Asterix & Obelix Slap Them All 2 ($9.99 from $24.99 until 7/19)
Nocturnal Visitors ($3.99 from $4.99 until 7/19)
Noob The Factionless ($15.99 from $39.99 until 7/19)
Frog Detective: The Entire Mystery ($13.96 from $19.95 until 7/20)
Dead in Vinland ($2.79 from $27.99 until 7/21)

Sales Ending Tomorrow, July 2nd

Cook, Serve, Delicious! ($5.19 from $12.99 until 7/2)
Metroid Dread ($41.99 from $59.99 until 7/2)
Metroid Prime Remastered ($33.99 from $39.99 until 7/2)
PlateUp! ($13.39 from $19.99 until 7/2)
Super Mega Baseball 4 Ballpark Edition ($17.99 from $59.99 until 7/2)

That’s all for today, friends. Tomorrow morning I have to go get a wisdom tooth pulled, so that should be fun. Provided everything goes okay, I’ll be back tomorrow with more new games, more sales, more reviews, and maybe some news. I hope you all have a marvelous Monday, and as always, thanks for reading!

Teeny Tiny Town, Free I feel like getting the award out of the way early this week, so I’ll give this update the coveted UMMSotW prize. Teeny Tiny Town is celebrating its anniversary, and it’s introducing a cool new sci-fi theme as a little treat. It costs $1.99, so consider it a present to the developer that also gives you something. Like one of those boss candy bags they used to hand out at birthdays when I was a kid. The presentation has also gotten some nice improvements, and you might see cars or sheep meandering around now. Sheep? That’s the award right there.

Suika Game-Aladdin X, $2.99 Suika Game has an update! It’s bringing an event into the game, but don’t expect it to be a fancy thing. For the month of July (well, until July 27th), the Summer Harvest Festival skin will be available. Just hit the button on the title screen and you’re all set. Other than that, this update also allows you to choose whether or not Poppy loops around when you go towards the edge of the jar. Hey, it’ll do.

Jetpack Joyride, Free Betty Beefpies? Apparently that’s the new skin for the game. Professor Brains is hot on your tail, so you’ll have to do some serious jetpacking… jetpack joyriding? Push screen good. If push screen good maybe new skin get. Maybe not. Shaun tired and needs tooth extracted. Moving on to next game now, after perhaps dragging this paragraph out a bit longer so the formatting doesn’t break.

Hello Kitty Island Adventure, Well, this game has now been out long enough for an event to return. The Sunshine Celebration is back, and not only are the classic rewards making a return but also a bunch of new ones will be on offer. Collect lemons for lemonade and get some cool citrus-themed goodies. There are also some new horse avatars for people who want to horse around, plus some new music players, stories, visitors, and more. This is one mighty big update with a whole lot in it to play around with. So, you know… go. Play.

MARVEL SNAP, Free Aside from the usual routine of OTA updates, Marvel Snap got a proper update last week to set up the deck chairs for the July Deadpool celebration that will kick in after we get the Eternals to leave. The new season’s title is Maximum Effort, and that sounds compelling. The new cards will apparently include Gwenpool, Hydra Bob, Ajax, Copycat, and Cassandra Nova. The new locations are the Taco Truck and the Weapon X Facility. The details? I’ll let you know when I know! Also, a new game mode will be part of the festivities, and it’s called Deadpool’s Diner. Nifty. Looking forward to finding out what all of this means at the end of this week.

Angry Birds Reloaded, Summer updates are all the rage right now, and Angry Birds Reloaded is going to take its piece of that pie. Midsummer Mayhem 2 is here, with thirty sunny levels to play and a new bird in the form of Tony. Apparently he’s gone on a fishing trip that the pigs have spoiled somehow, perhaps by existing. We know the birds won’t be putting up with that nonsense. There’s a new boss level to tackle, too. I mean, if you already have Apple Arcade, you might as well. Nobody really hates Angry Birds, do they? This is my new idea for promoting engagement in the comments. If you say “nobody does X" then people will post. Unless no one reads it, which would be a chilling realization.

Disney Dreamlight Valley, The Dreamlight Valley has a new Realm to explore. Mulan and Mushu are joining the neighborhood, and you’ll have to help Mushu around the Training Camp while sharpening your skills with Mulan in order to test your might. Let’s get down to business! Who is that girl I see? A girl worth fighting for! True to your heart! You must be true to your heart! Are those all the songs? I haven’t seen Mulan in a while. I should watch it again. I know it has its issues and isn’t considered one of the best Disney movies or anything, but it’s fun. Anyway, this game. Mulan and Mushu. Isn’t that lovely?

Puyo Puyo Puzzle Pop, Did I talk last time about how the title of this game tries to combine two of the names this series has been localized under? Well, I just did. This update adds the new Chain Simulator mode that allows you to practice making chains by arranging the Puyos as you like. Six new character episodes have been added to Adventure Mode, and as you clear each one you’ll unlock that character for the playable roster. Finally, six new music tracks from past Puyo games have been added to the shop. Oh, and some little bug fixes. As a little bonus, for being good children.

Brawl Stars, Free Alright, let’s look in on this one. Not directly. That’s dangerous. At any rate, the new Classic Brawl event is here, and there are some new Brawlers joining the bunch as usual. Berry and Clancy. I don’t know who they are, but they’re new. Let’s see… new Hypercharges, some Brawl Pass Seasons, some new seasonal game modes, some reworks of existing characters, and some other bits and bobs. I could look in closer on this, but I’m hungry. I’m sure the fans of this game are all up on it already. Those who don’t know can enjoy the fun exercise of imagining what Clancy might look like.

Royal Match, Free As we often do, let’s end with the obligatory free-to-play matching puzzle game update for the week. You get one hundred new levels to play, and this time the new area is the Air Festival, and I hope they drop that idiot King Robert out of a plane without a parachute. I hate him so much, it’s unreal. New event too, with some challenges and rewards. You know, as events do in this kind of thing. King Robert, go melt in paint thinner like the Judge in Roger Rabbit.

That about wraps it up for last week’s significant updates. I’m sure I’ve missed some, though, so please feel free to comment below and let everyone know if you think something should be mentioned. As usual, major updates will likely get their own news stories throughout this week, and I’ll be back next Monday to summarize and fill in the blanks. Have a great week!

Select New Releases

SPY X ANYA: Operation Memories ($49.99)

Anya has been given a most elegant homework assignment: making a photo diary of her memories. You’ll follow her on her daily life, going to school on the weekdays and doing various activities on the weekends. When Anya finds something worthy of attention, take a photo to add it to her book. There are fifteen different mini-games to play, ranging from riding good boy Bond to using Anya’s mind-reading powers to cheat at cards. You can also collect a range of outfits for the whole family and dress them up as you like. Even Bond! Dressing up Bond? That’s worth fifty bucks alone.

Last Night of Winter ($9.99)

This is a top-down action-adventure game where you play as a wandering spirit of a warrior who fell during a siege on a fortress. You need to make your way to the top of the tower to see a fellow who might be able to help you with your current situation. To do that, you’ll need to explore, collect items, solve puzzles, and battle enemies. This is a pretty tough game, so be aware of that before you jump in. One of those games that takes a lot of cues from the Souls series.

Gigantosaurus: Dino Sports ($39.99)

We’re like a month away from the next Summer Olympics, in case you’re wondering about the uptick in event-based sports games recently. Here’s one with dinosaurs! You only get eight mini-games to play, but they’re at least different from what you’ll see in other such games. Up to four players can join in via local multiplayer, so that box is checked. It’s Outright Games publishing it, so adjust your expectations appropriately.

34 Sports Games – World Edition ($29.99)

But hey, maybe you want the big variety pack of sports? You get a whopping thirty-four events to play here, and it has the usual local multiplayer for up to four players. Compete against other countries in the different events, just like in the… you know, that sports event. The one coming next month. You’re paying less than a buck per mini-game here, so there’s a good chance a party-minded individual could get a nice value out of this one.

Nocturnal Visitors ($4.99)

A normal guy named Jamie gets transported to another world one day, where he finds out he is not so normal after all. He’s a Visitor, a rare type of person who can cross the barrier between his world and this new one. He’s soon recruited into an organization that investigates cross-dimensional crimes, and that’s where your skills come into play. Help Jamie investigate scenes and piece together clues to figure out the answers in this adventure game. But keep your eyes open, as all may not be as it initially seems.

CATS BASEBALL ($7.99)

This is a dice-based baseball game about cats who play baseball. There are some different modes on offer, including a story mode that will probably serve as the meat of the experience for most players and a battle mode that sets you against another player via local multiplayer. It’s a very unique game, to say the least. That might be enough to get it into the hands of some players.

Luxor Evolved ($19.99)

One of the more popular rip-offs of Mitchell Corporation’s 1998 classic Puzz Loop, Luxor now has a new game on the Switch. There are sixty-five levels, and it seems to be going for a whole neon vibe that seems fresh out of the late 00s. My favorite Luxor story is when the original publisher asked Apple to take down a similar game from the iOS App Store. The utter gall. Sorry, I’m going on a whole thing here. The current owner of Luxor doesn’t have anything to do with all that. Do what you will with this.

Sales

(North American eShop, US Prices)

Some oddities in the list today, with quite a few games hitting new low prices. If you don’t mind a little undead cheesecake and like crawling dungeons, Undead Darlings is a steal at 90% off. Levelhead and Crashlands at four bucks and three bucks respectively are also great pick-ups. There isn’t much to worry about in the weekend outbox, so focus your attention on that list of new sales and see what treats you can walk away with.

Select New Sales

Oxytone ($1.99 from $7.99 until 7/5)
Conjured Through Death ($7.49 from $14.99 until 7/8)
DEEMO ($11.99 from $29.99 until 7/11)
Gift ($14.99 from $24.99 until 7/11)
Ninja Smasher! ($6.39 from $7.99 until 7/11)
Spy Bros. ($4.79 from $7.99 until 7/11)
Transiruby ($10.49 from $14.99 until 7/11)
Venba ($8.99 from $14.99 until 7/11)
Claire: Extended Cut ($3.74 from $14.99 until 7/11)
Great Ambition of the Slimes ($9.59 from $11.99 until 7/11)
Astlibra Revision ($19.99 from $24.99 until 7/11)
Grammarian Ltd ($2.99 from $9.99 until 7/11)
Sagres ($13.99 from $19.99 until 7/11)
Invercity ($10.49 from $14.99 until 7/11)
Hamster on Rails ($8.99 from $14.99 until 7/11)

Whitestone ($4.99 from $19.99 until 7/11)
Ruff Ghanor ($14.99 from $19.99 until 7/11)
Cleopatra Fortune S-Tribute ($10.49 from $14.99 until 7/12)
Redemption Reapers ($21.59 from $29.99 until 7/12)
Jorel’s Brother & TMIGitG Complete ($7.49 from $14.99 until 7/12)
Notebook Artillery ($1.99 from $4.99 until 7/12)
Final Exerion ($10.49 from $14.99 until 7/12)
Corbid! A Colorful Adventure ($7.99 from $9.99 until 7/12)
Little Kitty, Big City ($19.99 from $24.99 until 7/12)
Master Key ($10.00 from $12.50 until 7/12)
Layer Section/Galactic Attack S-Tribute ($20.99 from $29.99 until 7/12)
Batsugun Saturn Tribute Boosted ($20.99 from $29.99 until 7/12)
Akai Katana Shin ($23.99 from $29.99 until 7/12)
Samurai Aces III: Sengoku Cannon ($4.99 from $9.99 until 7/12)
Deathsmiles I-II ($27.99 from $39.99 until 7/12)

Abarenbo Tengu & Zombie Nation ($5.99 from $11.99 until 7/12)
Strikers 1945 III ($4.99 from $9.99 until 7/12)
Hades ($9.99 from $24.99 until 7/12)
We Know the Devil ($1.99 from $6.66 until 7/12)
Gunbird2 ($3.99 from $7.99 until 7/12)
Later Alligator ($4.49 from $17.99 until 7/12)
Clea ($7.49 from $14.99 until 7/12)
Clea 2 ($7.49 from $14.99 until 7/12)
Dragon Blaze ($3.99 from $7.99 until 7/12)
Undead Darlings: No Cure for Love ($2.99 from $29.99 until 7/12)
The Kids We Were ($7.99 from $15.99 until 7/12)
Grabitoons ($5.59 from $7.99 until 7/12)
Manitas Kitchen ($9.09 from $12.99 until 7/12)
The Battle of Polytopia ($7.49 from $14.99 until 7/12)

TOEM ($3.99 from $19.99 until 7/12)
Gothic Murder: Adv. That Changes Destiny ($5.99 from $11.99 until 7/17)
Sword of the Necromancer ($2.99 from $14.99 until 7/18)
Levelhead ($3.99 from $19.99 until 7/18)
Crashlands ($2.99 from $14.99 until 7/18)
Spacebase Startopia ($14.99 from $49.99 until 7/18)
Unmetal ($4.99 from $19.99 until 7/18)
Rhythm Sprout ($3.74 from $14.99 until 7/18)
The Hand of Merlin ($7.49 from $29.99 until 7/18)
Sword of the Vagrant ($2.49 from $9.99 until 7/18)
Tamarak Trail ($11.99 from $14.99 until 7/18)
Squad 51 vs the Flying Saucers ($8.99 from $19.99 until 7/18)
Magical Drop VI ($14.99 from $29.99 until 7/18)
Dungeons 3 Complete Collection ($37.49 from $49.99 until 7/18)
Piczle Cross: Story of Seasons ($6.99 from $9.99 until 7/18)
Crystal Chip Collector e ($2.99 from $4.99 until 7/18)
Cattails: Wildwood Story ($4.99 from $19.99 until 7/18)
Seventh Lair ($6.39 from $7.99 until 7/18)
Evidence Destroyer ($1.99 from $3.99 until 7/18)
Mutant Express ($5.99 from $11.99 until 7/18)
Justice Sucks ($4.99 from $19.99 until 7/18)
Milk inside a bag of milk inside… ($3.99 from $7.99 until 7/18)
Commandos 3 HD Remaster ($20.99 from $29.99 until 7/18)

Sales Ending This Weekend

Freud’s Bones: The Game ($3.89 from $12.99 until 6/29)
Griftlands ($7.99 from $19.99 until 6/29)
Yonder: Cloud Catcher Chronicles ($5.99 from $29.99 until 6/29)
Among Us ($3.00 from $5.00 until 6/30)
Bakeborough ($1.99 from $5.99 until 6/30)
Brutalism22 ($2.99 from $9.99 until 6/30)
Frogvival ($2.99 from $9.99 until 6/30)
Railbound ($2.59 from $12.99 until 6/30)
Where is Drake? ($2.99 from $9.99 until 6/30)

That’s all for today, this week, and this month, friends. Unless something wild happens, we’ll be back next week with more new games, more sales, more reviews, and some news as it happens. I have some contract work to get through this weekend, so I fear I will be pulling some serious late nights. Can’t be helped sometimes! I hope you all have a restful and relaxing weekend, and as always, thanks for reading!

As usual it’s a mix of nerfs and buffs, but the biggest change here is to Angela. Recently she’s been wreaking havoc with her pals Kitty Pryde, Jeff, Nocturne, and Thena, and apparently she’s been doing a bit too well because today the bat came for her. She’s moving from 2-Cost 0-Power to 2-Cost 3-Power, and her ability will now only give her +1 power per card played at her location instead of +2. She’s still strong, but she’ll cap out a lot lower than before.

The recent rule changes to how Move resolves seems to have not really changed a whole lot, but a couple of cards took it a bit hard and they’re getting some adjustments to try to help them recover. Hercules moves from 4-Cost 7-Power to 3-Cost 4-Power, with no change to his ability. Surfer gang? Surfer gang. The Kingpin is joining the ranks of the 1-Cost cards, moving from 2-Cost 3-Power to 1-Cost 2-Power, and again no change to his ability. Miles Morales is also getting a little buff, gaining a point of power as he moves from 4-Cost 5-Power to 4-Cost 6-Power, with his ability remaining intact.

Things are rounded out with a few other “odds and ends" buffs. Second Dinner seems concerned about how much High Evolutionary decks have dropped off, and while this is just the first step in trying to help that type out, a buff from 4-Cost 4-Power to 4-Cost 6-Power for High Evolutionary himself is a nice start. I find these decks don’t really prioritize playing HE himself, so this might get him into play more often.

Nick Fury has a cool ability, but he’s another character you don’t see played as much as you might hope for how big his presence in Marvel media is. He’s getting a little more power, moving from 4-Cost 5-Power to 4-Cost 6-Power. Hmm, that’s three cards in this OTA that are moving to 6-Power. Maybe something can be done with Cerebro here? Well, I’ll leave that to someone else to figure out. Perhaps Shaun of next week as he puts together the July deck guide.

Finally, poor old Alioth. It’s been getting bounced around hard almost since the minute it was introduced, but this latest change is a positive one. It was 6-Cost 8-Power, and now it’s 6-Cost 10-Power. Its ability is unchanged. You might see a potential disadvantage here as it puts Alioth within Shang-Chi’s strike zone, but if you think about how Alioth’s ability works, you’ll see it’s all good for the big ol’ dust cloud.

And that does it for this batch of balance changes to Marvel Snap. What do you think? Do any of these affect you? Are you going to add any of the buffed cards to your rotation? Feel free to sound off in the comments below, and be sure to keep your eyes open for our newest deck building guide next week!

Select New Releases

Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD ($59.99)

More Luigi? Sure, I’m always up for Green Mario’s adventures. This is a port of the Nintendo 3DS sequel to the GameCube launch title, and it’s a good bit of fun. Go through the haunted spaces, catch the ghosts, solve some puzzles, and so on. There’s also an enjoyable multiplayer component that you can enjoy with four players via local wireless or online multiplayer. I’ll have a review of this one soon, but if you enjoyed Luigi’s Mansion 3 you might enjoy stepping back into this one. Tantalus handled the port, so it should be fine on that front.

Tchia ($29.99)

I heard a lot about this open world game when it launched on other platforms last year, and impressions were truly all over the place. Most seemed to agree that its New Caledonia-inspired island setting was refreshing and well-realized, but opinions were more split about whether or not the campaign actually kept the player interested enough to explore it. The main gimmick is that you can soul jump into various creatures and objects, giving you access to whatever abilities they might possess. I’ll have my review of this for you soon, covering both what I think of the game and the port.

NeoSprint ($24.99)

Another Atari brand gets revived with NeoSprint, a top-down racer for up to eight players via local multiplayer. There’s a ton to do here, with a campaign, grand prix, time trials, a course creator, lots of unlockables, and more. The gameplay feels very familiar if you’ve ever played any of the Sprint games or the many games inspired by them. I’m doing a review of this one soon-ish, but I think if you’re a fan of the series and aren’t expecting any radical changes to the formula, you’ll like what you get here.

Arcade Archives Jackal ($7.99)

It has been fourteen years since this game was last released in any form, and it gets far too few rereleases in general for its quality. Jackal is a top-down Commando-style shooter where up to two players take control of combat jeeps on a mission to rescue POWs and defeat the enemy forces. The NES version was particularly popular in the West. While there are a number of differences between the two, fans of that one will find plenty to like here. You get both the Japanese and Overseas versions here, with the former having the jeep’s machine guns fire in the direction it’s facing and the latter having the machine guns always fire forwards. I love this game and highly recommend it.

EGGCONSOLE Topple Zip PC-8801 ($6.49)

Another EGGCONSOLE release so soon? And it’s not an action-RPG with a lot of Japanese text and opaque mechanics? Well, neat. Topple Zip is an odd game all on its own, though. Certainly some opaque mechanics of its own. Part racer, part shooter, with plenty of Druaga-style hidden (but required!) nonsense, Topple Zip is a very distinct work. As ever, I will be reviewing this once I’ve put it through its paces.

Tsukihime -A Piece of Blue Glass Moon- ($49.99)

And now let’s take a step into the visual novel wing of today’s new releases. First up, we have this remake of the 1999 classic Tsukihime, which collects the two stories of the Near Side of the Moon scenario. The setting has been updated to the 2010s, and there’s new art, animations, and music to go with that. Even this remake has been out for a few years in Japan, but this will be the first English release of the game in any form. Sure, it’s considered an important work among Japanese fans, but how does it hold up these days? Our pal Mikhail is looking into this one and will let us know his thoughts soon.

Radiant Tale -Fanfare!- ($49.99)

And here’s a fan disk add-on for Radiant Tale, offering up three new modes of play complete with new routes for two side characters. The usual fan disk rule likely applies here: if you enjoyed the original and want more from its world, give this a look. If you didn’t like the original, I can’t imagine this going over any better. And if you haven’t played the original at all, this is definitely not the place to start.

Planetarian: Snow Globe ($4.99)

We’ve had a remake and a fan disk, so how about a prequel now? See what happened with companion robot Yumemi Hoshino in her earlier days working at the planetarium, before things went completely ca-ca. One day she seems to malfunction and leaves the planetarium to walk around the town. One of the staff members is sent to go and bring her back. I don’t know if this will get the tears jerking like the main game does, but I can tell you this is like the main game in that you won’t be making any choices, just reading along. Don’t play this before the main game, of course.

How to Sing to Open Your Heart Remastered ($14.99)

And we close the visual novel portion of the show today with this, the third entry in the Story of Eroolia series. It follows on from How to Take Off Your Mask and How to Fool a Liar King, and follows the story of previous side character Princess Myana. Will her song finally settle the grievances between the humans and luccretias? Your choices will determine the outcome, but I have to believe the odds are good in one reality or another.

Frogue ($4.99)

It’s kind of a shame to see a cute name like that used on anything other than a traditional roguelike, but nothing can be done about that now. This is a procedurally-generated bullet hell platformer where you can use a quick dash and time manipulation to attack your foes and avoid their attacks. Title disappointments aside, this is an okay little five-dollar game.

Flying Tank ($14.99)

Ahh, this is one of those grindy shooters. Well, I know some people enjoy them. I won’t rain on their parades. And for whatever it’s worth, this does seem to have good reviews on other platforms. You play as a flying tank (like in the title!) and blast your way through the enemy forces to reclaim the Earth. You can play solo or pull in a friend for some local multiplayer fun, but either way you’re going to have a big job ahead of you if you want to complete all twenty-four missions in the game. You’ll have to properly build up and customize your tank to be able to handle the challenges ahead of you using more than thirty different upgrades. You can try it out for free on mobile if you like, where the full game unlocks with an IAP.

Echolocaution ($5.00)

This is really cute. It’s a score attack game where you play as a bat, and your goal is to catch as much prey as you can in each hunt while using your echolocation to avoid incoming threats. You can also find little treasures and baubles to bring back home with you, and each has its own little description. All the little different bats hang out together in a cave with a bat-mom between hunts, and you’ll get to see conversations unfold among them. It’s only an hour or two long, and there is certainly fancier dining to be had today, but this game has a lot of charm and that’s not nothing.

A Street Cat’s Tale 2: Outside is Dangerous ($13.99)

Lots of games recently about cats falling out of their owner’s window and having to try to find their way back home while making their way through an unfamiliar concrete jungle. Here’s another one, and it’s a sequel to a game that I seem to remember as a bit of a sad one. Anyway, you’re a former housecat who has to cope with life on the streets as you try to find your owner. There are puzzles to solve, battles to fight, and fine garbage can cuisine to chow on. I sure hope this one has a happy ending, no one needs sad cat stories in 2024.

Fortress Challenge – Fort Boyard ($39.99)

It is only now, this late in the game, that I realize Fort Boyard must be some kind of licensed property. With Microids handling it, I’m sure it will be of dubious quality. But hey, who knows? This game is for up to four players via local multiplayer, and it features multiple game modes and what I presume are various elements from the… is it a TV show? I’m going to search it now. Okay, yes. TV show. Microids is usually pretty good about making these games look the part and pass on paper, but the execution is where things typically fall apart and that is the one part I can’t speak to as I haven’t played this yet. Proceed with caution, if you must.

Cape’s Escape Game 9th Room ($9.80)

This time around, Cape is escaping to the one place that hasn’t been corrupted by capitalism… SPACE!

Make It! Yakitori ($3.00)

You have to hand it to SAT-BOX. When they find a concept that works, they keep at it until there isn’t a speck of meat left on the carcass. Make some yakitori with your friends!

Sales

(North American eShop, US Prices)

The main sales I want to call out from the inbox today are for Dave the Diver and Megaton Musashi W: Wired. Both great prices for games our pal Mikhail has raved about, so if you’re feeling the inclination to follow in his footsteps, why not hop in? Some decent games in the outbox too, so make sure you have a look at that before moving on with your adventure.

Select New Sales

Brotato ($3.99 from $4.99 until 7/8)
Space Gladiators ($11.99 from $14.99 until 7/8)
Hardcore Mecha ($14.99 from $24.99 until 7/8)
Time Trap: Hidden Objects ($10.49 from $14.99 until 7/11)
Neko Journey ($4.99 from $9.99 until 7/12)
Pretty Girls Rivers ($2.39 from $5.99 until 7/12)
The Many Pieces of Mr. Coo ($9.99 from $19.99 until 7/12)
Space Mercenary Defense Force ($3.74 from $4.99 until 7/12)
Megaton Musashi W: Wired ($24.99 from $49.99 until 7/12)
Yonesawara Hospital ($9.00 from $18.00 until 7/12)
Saga of the Moon Priestess ($3.89 from $5.99 until 7/12)
Dave the Diver ($13.99 from $19.99 until 7/15)
KORG Gadget ($24.00 from $48.00 until 7/16)
Groove Coaster Wai Wai Party ($35.99 from $59.99 until 7/16)
Dragon Prana ($7.49 from $14.99 until 7/18)
Masquerade Kiss ($17.49 from $34.99 until 7/18)
Finally, in Love Again ($14.99 from $29.99 until 7/18)
Love Letter from Thief X ($7.49 from $24.99 until 7/18)
Our Two Bedroom Story ($7.49 from $24.99 until 7/18)
Metro PD: Close to You ($20.99 from $29.99 until 7/18)
Knights of Grayfang ($11.24 from $14.99 until 7/18)

Sales Ending Tomorrow, June 28th

9 Years of Shadows ($13.99 from $19.99 until 6/28)
Alpha Particle ($3.99 from $9.99 until 6/28)
Burrow of the Fallen Bear ($6.99 from $19.99 until 6/28)
Cozy Hamlets ($4.23 from $5.29 until 6/28)
Cyber Shadow ($9.99 from $19.99 until 6/28)
Danmaku Unlimited 3 ($4.99 from $9.99 until 6/28)
Dark Deity ($6.24 from $24.99 until 6/28)
Diorama Dungeoncrawl ($3.99 from $9.99 until 6/28)
Dream Tactics ($14.39 from $17.99 until 6/28)
Empires Shall Fall ($9.74 from $12.99 until 6/28)
Euphoria ($3.74 from $14.99 until 6/28)
Freak Crossing ($2.49 from $4.99 until 6/28)
Ginnung ($2.24 from $5.00 until 6/28)
Golazo 2: Soccer Cup 2022 ($3.19 from $15.98 until 6/28)
Inertia 2 ($2.85 from $4.39 until 6/28)

Make It! Ikayaki ($1.99 from $3.00 until 6/28)
Monster Outbreak ($11.99 from $14.99 until 6/28)
Monster Tribe ($15.99 from $19.99 until 6/28)
Mugen Souls Double Pack ($45.49 from $69.99 until 6/28)
Rider’s Spirits ($4.79 from $5.99 until 6/28)
Shovel Knight Dig ($12.49 from $24.99 until 6/28)
Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon ($9.99 from $19.99 until 6/28)
Shovel Knight Treasure Trove ($19.99 from $39.99 until 6/28)
Siralim 3 ($7.49 from $14.99 until 6/28)
Siralim Ultimate ($9.99 from $19.99 until 6/28)
The Sorrowvirus ($3.74 from $14.99 until 6/28)
Thunder Ray ($8.24 from $14.99 until 6/28)
Until the Last Plane ($3.49 from $9.99 until 6/28)

That’s all for today, friends. We’ll be back tomorrow with the remaining releases of the week, plus whatever news and sales roll in over the course of the day. Phew, I’m exhausted again today. These early mornings I’ve been doing lately are going to be the end of me if I’m not more careful about my late nights. I hope you all have a thrilling Thursday, and as always, thanks for reading!

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe ($59.99)

And we’ll start with the lowest-hanging fruit of the low-hanging fruit, Mario Kart 8. The best-selling game on the Nintendo Switch and one of the best-selling games of all-time, period. And it’s easy to see why: this game is a good time for almost anyone, regardless of skill level, and the more players you add the better. It’s packed with courses and characters from the get-go, and you can expand it to a wild degree with the DLC course packs. To put it into perspective, almost half of Switch owners have this game in their collections. Wowza.

Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury ($59.99)

For better or worse, Mario’s 3D outing on the Wii U didn’t make the heaviest of use of the system’s unique features. That made it a good candidate for a Switch release, and when it finally came it had a rather robust extra adventure in tow. Super Mario 3D World is a really fun game that takes a very different approach from Super Mario Odyssey‘s exploration and discovery focus, one that is more about those good old-fashioned obstacle courses. No reason why you can’t enjoy both kinds!

Bayonetta 2 ($49.99)

This was one of the games that tempted me to get the Wii U to begin with, and in the end I didn’t play it much on there. Well, it happens. Bayonetta 2 came to the Switch fairly early on, and it was a welcome addition to the library. It also initially came with a port of the first game, and that’s a bonus we can all get behind. I still think the first game in this series is the best, but Bayonetta 2 is a really fun sequel that is just as irreverent and action-packed as its predecessor.

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze ($59.99)

I’m not the world’s biggest fan of Rare’s Donkey Kong Country games, and I had a different but equal set of issues with Retro’s take on the franchise. Still, I have to push my personal issues aside and acknowledge that Tropical Freeze is one heck of a platforming treat for fans of the genre. It’s gorgeous, creative, and fast-paced, and it has a new Funky Mode! How can you resist?

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker ($39.99)

It’s a shame that Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker appears to have swung and missed on three different platforms, because this is a charming and highly compelling puzzle-action game. I’ve bought it three times and played it through three times. It fits the Switch like a glove, and between the new Odyssey levels and DLC there’s plenty here to merit a double-dip for Wii U owners.

Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition ($59.99)

Speaking of games that did the three-system tour, here’s Hyrule Warriors in what I believe to be its final form. You know, until the next Nintendo console launches. Not only does this version of the game include all of the content that was added to the game over time, it also runs fairly well on the Switch. Which isn’t a given for any Warriors game, so let’s enjoy that moment. Seriously though, this is a Zelda fan’s dream in a lot of ways. Certainly worth playing, and this is the best way to do that.

LEGO City Undercover ($29.99)

Okay, yes, LEGO. These games are to an extent very similar to one another and lean heavily on their familiar licenses to appeal to the player. So how could a LEGO game with no Marvel or Lord of the Rings or Star Wars license possibly distinguish itself? By being absolutely hilarious, that’s how. This is by some measure among the very best-written of all the LEGO games, and if you have any fondness for classic cop movies or TV shows you’ll have a blast making your way through this game.

Pikmin 3 Deluxe ($59.99)

You never really know, do you? Pikmin seemed like its moment in the sun was limited to a brief window of the GameCube’s life, and the release of Pikmin 3 on Wii U only appeared to back that up. The game was good! The sales were not! How much of that was as a result of the platform, though? Nintendo decided to give this one another go, and it’s a good thing. Pikmin 3 Deluxe did well enough globally on the Switch to get the series rolling again, and it’s probably more popular now than it has ever been. Pikmin 3 Deluxe: a good game. Maybe not as good as Pikmin 4, but still very good.

Rayman Legends Definitive Edition ($39.99)

Okay, I need to include at least one game on here that Nintendo had nothing to do with. Rayman Legends is the follow-up to Rayman Origins, and while it was made multiplatform in the end the game was clearly designed around the Wii U. That multiplatform release meant it had to work on consoles without the Wii U’s unique aspects, and that is perhaps part of why it made a smooth transition to the Switch. This game is regularly on sale for ridiculously low prices, and if you enjoy a good 2D platformer I can’t imagine not owning it.

Pokken Tournament DX ($59.99)

You want Tekken on Switch? Sorry! Harada doesn’t, and that means you get no Tekken. The closest thing we’ll ever get is Pokken Tournament DX, which isn’t exactly Tekken but isn’t exactly not Tekken, either. It’s a fun fighting game that shows us yet another side of the Pokemon world, one where problems are solved in a far more real-time manner than the core series presents. Also, combos. Pokken was another early transplant, and I think it’s one a lot of people missed out on. If you like 3D fighters, what other options do you have on Switch?

And… 5 Wii U Games We’d Like to See on Switch

Xenoblade Chronicles X

This is the top pick on most people’s lists, and I probably don’t need to explain why. We have all three of the mainline Xenoblade Chronicles games on the Switch, and that is fantastic. A really nice trilogy of RPGs, there. But Xenoblade Chronicles X has its own very cool thing going on, and it would be a shame if it didn’t get carried forward to a newer platform at some point. Maybe it’s too late for that to be the Switch, but it would be really nice to have everything in one place.

Yoshi’s Woolly World

Confession time: I actually enjoy all of the Yoshi platformers. Yes, even Yoshi’s New Island. I just think they’re neat. But even as a fan of the series, I can see which ones are better and which ones are worse. I think Yoshi’s Woolly World is probably one of the better games in the franchise. Sure, it’s no Yoshi’s Island SNES. Nothing ever will be. But it’s good looking, enjoyable to play, and hits a decent difficulty curve. The 3DS port is fine, but imagine how nice this game would look playing on the Switch’s screen?

NES Remix 1 & 2

Nintendo World Championship has enough overlap with this that I am almost ready to give up on any prospects of this quirky take on the NES classics resurfacing on the Switch. But I will not completely give up until it’s all over! The off-beat challenges in this game are a lot of the appeal, and the pure speed-running aspect of NWC probably won’t be able to replicate that. It’s really something to have games you’re intimately familiar with turned on their heads. Fingers crossed this isn’t dead. We didn’t even get SNES Remix!

Pushmo World

One thing I miss in the modern era of Nintendo is the small games it was pushing out in the 3DS/Wii U era. There are a lot of good ones from that bunch, but Pushmo was my favorite. A charming puzzle game with a clever gimmick and some serious teeth in its more complicated stages, Pushmo came in strong but seemed to have completely faded by the time this Wii U installment arrived. Maybe the Switch’s bigger userbase could juice it? I just want more Pushmo, friends.

Those Legend of Zelda HD Remakes

Insiders have been calling them for ages. Fans have been asking for them since the start. But will we ever see those fine remakes of Windwaker and Twilight Princess on Switch? The answer is increasingly looking to be in the negative, but there is no harm in keeping our hopes up.

And that’s the list, friends. Are there any Wii U games you enjoy on the Switch? Any you would like to see? Feel free to sound off down in the comments and let us know what you’re thinking! It’s always interesting to hear the opinions of others on this kind of thing. As always, thanks for reading!

Reviews & Mini-Views

Dicefolk ($14.99)

Is adding dice and a bit of creature collecting enough to spice up the Slay The Spire/Darkest Dungeon turn-based roguelite formula? You know, I think it is. To an extent, anyway. Dicefolk has the same basic set-up as other games of this sort. You’ve got your little map for each stage and choose where you’re going to go next, with each spot offering a battle, a shop, or event of some kind. Eventually you’ll have to fight a boss battle, after which you move to the next map. In this game your party is a group of monsters, and you’ll have opportunities to swap in new ones here and there.

When it’s time to fight, things get a little interesting. Each turn, the dice are rolled for both your team and the opposing team. You don’t progress to the next turn until all of those dice have been used up, and the kicker is that you get to choose the order those actions play out in. Both yours, and the enemies’. That… is actually a pretty neat twist. As you play through you’ll be able to customize your dice faces with new actions, and the gear and badges you find will also make a difference in battles. It’s quite enjoyable, even if it does wear thin a little sooner than some games of this type.

While the title of Dicefolk might have you thinking the dice are the most intriguing gimmick of this game, it’s actually the battle system’s set-up of having you control both your party and the enemy party that truly stands out. In other respects, this is a fairly ordinary but well-made example of its genre. If you enjoy turn-based roguelites, you might want to give Dicefolk a bit of your time.

SwitchArcade Score: 4/5

Select New Releases

Go Go Jump!!! ($9.99)

Is this really all we have today? I guess so! This is a platformer with ninety different challenges to complete. It’s not your standard platformer, despite the fact that you’ll just be moving left or right and jumping. Indeed, it’s almost like a series of platforming mini-games. It’s also pretty goofy, which adds a bit of charm to the proceedings. Well, it’s the only new game for today. Do with it what you will.

Sales

(North American eShop, US Prices)

It’s one of those days without too much going on sales-wise, but football/soccer fans will find the two big titles for that sport are on sale right now. In the outbox, there’s still time to get some affordable legendary shoot-em-ups at reasonable prices. Check both of those lists and make your choices!

Select New Sales

Backbeat ($17.49 from $24.99 until 7/9)
Hexagroove: Tactical DJ ($13.99 from $19.99 until 7/9)
Ekstase ($7.99 from $19.99 until 7/9)
Football Manager 2024 Touch ($24.99 from $49.99 until 7/12)
Hazelnut Hex ($2.39 from $7.99 until 7/13)
Descenders ($6.24 from $24.99 until 7/14)
Hypnospace Outlaw ($4.99 from $19.99 until 7/16)
Nowhere Prophet ($2.24 from $24.99 until 7/16)
Yes, Your Grace ($2.99 from $19.99 until 7/16)
Fashion Police Squad ($10.99 from $19.99 until 7/16)
Let’s Build a Zoo ($8.99 from $19.99 until 7/16)
Formula Retro Racing ($1.99 from $14.99 until 7/16)
Pinball Freedom ($1.99 from $9.99 until 7/16)
Family Man ($1.99 from $19.99 until 7/16)
EA Sports FC 24 ($14.99 from $59.99 until 7/16)
GeoJelly ($5.00 from $10.99 until 7/16)
Vera Blanc Supernatural Mysteries ($6.39 from $7.99 until 7/16)

Sales Ending Tomorrow, June 27th

20XX ($5.39 from $17.99 until 6/27)
30XX ($13.99 from $19.99 until 6/27)
Alphadia I & II ($14.99 from $19.99 until 6/27)
Amibition Record ($8.24 from $14.99 until 6/27)
Attack of the Karens ($2.99 from $4.99 until 6/27)
Berserk Boy ($15.00 from $20.00 until 6/27)
Dead Cells ($12.49 from $24.99 until 6/27)
DoDonPachi Resurrection ($9.99 from $19.99 until 6/27)
Donut Dodo ($2.99 from $4.99 until 6/27)
Espgaluda II ($9.99 from $19.99 until 6/27)
Galacticon ($2.99 from $4.99 until 6/27)
Gale of Windoria ($8.24 from $14.99 until 6/27)
Illusion of L’Phalcia ($6.49 from $12.99 until 6/27)
Jinshin ($11.24 from $14.99 until 6/27)
Mushihimesama ($9.99 from $19.99 until 6/27)
Rabi-Ribi ($13.99 from $19.99 until 6/27)
Revenant Dogma ($6.49 from $12.99 until 6/27)
Revenant Saga ($6.49 from $12.99 until 6/27)
The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa ($8.99 from $14.99 until 6/27)

That’s all for today, friends. Tomorrow is Thursday, and that should in theory mean a nice assortment of new games for us to look at. Well, we’ll have Luigi even if no one else shows up. Whatever news and sales roll in will also be there. Hopefully we’ll be coming out of this dry spell soon. I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday, and as always, thanks for reading!

First of all, with Marvel’s next movie Deadpool & Wolverine on the immediate horizon, we can expect Marvel Snap (and probably most other Marvel apps) to give some extra love to the titular pair in July. There is a new Character Album feature being introduced that allows you to collect various cards for one particular character, getting some nice rewards as you fill it out. More or less the same deal as the other themed albums we currently have, but focused on one hero. And hey, look at this: the first Character Albums are for Deadpool and Wolverine!

I’m not sure who’s banging the pot lid for Collectible Borders, but you can now find them in many more places. You’ll now see them in the Season Pass, as Conquest Shop items, and even as Login Bonuses. Indeed, they have been appearing as that last thing in the current set of Login goodies. Personally, I don’t really use them and I can’t imagine a case where I would exchange valuable in-game currencies for them, but maybe you love them? If so, here you go.

As to the cards themselves, the only changes are edits to the text to make things more consistent and understandable. No actual balance adjustments at all, which is weird. Real weird. I fear for that next OTA update now. There are some new visual and audio FX here, plus some bug fixes. All par for the course there. And that’s it! Perhaps we’ll get more when the next update hits with the new season, whatever that may be. Snikt.

This is not related to the update, but hey, tips for using Phastos.

What do you think about this update? Did you want to see more balance changes, or are you relieved they didn’t come for your latest deck? Feel free to sound off in the comments below, as usual!

News

‘Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration’ Expands Later This Year

Regular readers will know that I loved Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration to pieces. It has so much to offer compared to most retro game collections, mostly thanks to the focus on telling the story around the games first and foremost. The game got some games added via a free update a little while back, and at that time Atari said more would be coming. Well, we now know what they meant: Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration Expanded Edition will be launching later this year on October 25th. It adds two more timelines full of information and over a dozen new videos, plus a whopping thirty-nine games.

This includes Berzerk and a selection of M Network games. No word yet on the full list of titles, but the two new topics expand more on Atari’s influence and the first console war between Atari 2600 and the Intellivision. This Expanded Edition will be available in physical form, but owners of the existing Atari 50 will be able to buy the added content as DLCs if they wish. The physical sets are priced at $39.99 for the Standard Edition and $49.99 for the fancy Steelbook version. No price mentioned thus far for the DLCs, but we’ll let you know when we know.

‘Tetris 99’ Has Ninety-Nine Events, and ‘F-Zero 99’ Is One of Them

Okay, it’s more like forty-one events. But I wanted to use that headline, so here we are. The latest Maximus Cup event for Tetris 99 has been announced, and it’s getting a bit meta in here because the theme this time is F-Zero 99. The event kicks off on June 28th and runs through the end of the weekend on July 1st. The rules are the usual. Play the game and get points based on how you place. If you get one hundred event points before the end, you get to keep the special theme permanently. I’ll probably remind you later when the time comes.

Select New Releases

Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble ($49.99)

I feel like Super Monkey Ball wasn’t intentionally a great party game; it just kind of happened. Every Monkey Ball game since has tried to some degree or another to recreate the magic, and I don’t know that they’ve found much success in that. Well, here’s a new one that really leans into that end of things, with support for four players locally and sixteen players online. There’s a huge multiplayer focus this time, and I’ll let you know how that pans out when I post my review.

Beyond Good & Evil 20th Anniversary Edition ($19.99)

Wow, this came out faster than I was expecting. Anyway, Ubisoft is reminding everyone that it hasn’t completely forgotten Beyond Good & Evil. Sequel? What? It can’t hear you. But here is the original game, spiffed up and with some new quality of life features to bring it more in line with modern tastes. You know, things like auto-saving. If you haven’t played this game before, it’s kind of similar to a Zelda-style affair, but there’s a bit more to it than that. Just be warned that its story was very much written with a sequel in mind, and we haven’t seen much happening there for a long while. The game itself is worth a romp, no doubt.

Frogun Encore ($12.99)

Renata and Jake return in this follow-up to the low-poly platformer from a couple years back. This standalone adventure supports couch co-op for up to two players, and features a bunch of new stages to play through and plenty of challenge. There’s a particular flavor to Frogun, and I know some folks couldn’t get into it. I don’t know that this game will change their minds, but the people who did like the first will surely appreciate this one.

Sales

(North American eShop, US Prices)

A small but steady list today, it seems. Nothing in there I feel particularly strong about, so I’ll let you do your thing. The outbox is similar, with some good games in there that will probably be on sale again soon. Check out both lists carefully and see if anything in there is singing your tune, but do keep in mind that the week is young.

Select New Sales

Orten Was The Case ($11.24 from $14.99 until 7/1)
PlateUp! ($13.39 from $19.99 until 7/2)
Krimson ($7.99 from $9.99 until 7/4)
SUPERBEAT: XONIC ($14.99 from $29.99 until 7/4)
Terror of Hemasaurus ($8.20 from $14.99 until 7/8)
Super Blood Hockey ($3.69 from $14.99 until 7/8)
Cryptrio ($2.99 from $4.99 until 7/9)
Dungeons of Dreadrock ($1.99 from $10.00 until 7/15)
Move or Die: Unleashed ($3.74 from $14.99 until 7/15)
Ankora: Lost Days ($5.99 from $14.99 until 7/15)
Summer in Mara ($7.99 from $19.99 until 7/15)
Koa & the Five Pirates of Mara ($11.99 from $19.99 until 7/15)
LIMBO ($1.99 from $9.99 until 7/15)
INSIDE ($1.99 from $19.99 until 7/15)
Mortal Kombat 1 Premium Edition ($43.99 from $109.99 until 7/15)
Mortal Kombat 11 ($9.99 from $49.99 until 7/15)
LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2 ($5.99 from $29.99 until 7/15)
LEGO DC Super-Villains ($8.99 from $59.99 until 7/15)
Moonlighter ($3.74 from $24.99 until 7/15)
Children of Morta ($5.49 from $21.99 until 7/15)

Sales Ending Tomorrow, June 26th

Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX ($2.99 from $19.99 until 6/26)
Aragami 2 ($9.99 from $39.99 until 6/26)
Close to the Sun ($4.99 from $24.99 until 6/26)
Dungeon of the Endless ($3.99 from $19.99 until 6/26)
Forest Golf Planner ($6.00 from $12.00 until 6/26)
Fresh Start ($7.99 from $19.99 until 6/26)
Monster Harvest ($2.99 from $19.99 until 6/26)
Morbid: The Seven Acolytes ($2.49 from $24.99 until 6/26)
Ponpu ($2.24 from $14.99 until 6/26)
Slaycation Paradise ($2.99 from $19.99 until 6/26)
Sparklite ($3.74 from $24.99 until 6/26)
Spells & Secrets ($14.99 from $29.99 until 6/26)
Spirit of the North ($3.74 from $24.99 until 6/26)
Stranded Sails EotCI ($3.74 from $24.99 until 6/26)
The Last Worker ($7.99 from $19.99 until 6/26)
The Sushi Spinnery ($4.62 from $14.00 until 6/26)
Tiny Troopers Joint Ops XL ($2.07 from $12.99 until 6/26)
Vaporum ($3.74 from $24.99 until 6/26)
Whisker Waters ($14.99 from $24.99 until 6/26)

That’s all for today, friends. We’ll be back tomorrow with more new releases, sales, and perhaps some news. I’ll also try to have at least one review for you, and I think our pal Mikhail has some things cooking as well. It was a family member’s birthday today, and it was nice to have something to celebrate for once. It’s been a rough year and I suspect it isn’t going to get better soon. Eat that cake when you can, chums. I hope you all have a terrific Tuesday, and as always, thanks for reading!

Reviews & Mini-Views

EGGCONSOLE Tritorn PC-8801 ($6.49)

Hey, we’ve finally got another EGGCONSOLE release that doesn’t require any Japanese language knowledge to play! It’s a shame the game itself is so very much of its era that most people are going to bounce off it, but we take our blessings where we can. Speakers of any language can… enjoy Tritorn equally. But do you want to? If you have an opinion on Hydlide, that will be surprisingly helpful towards answering that question. Tritorn is in a lot of ways Hydlide from the side. Sidelide. A ton of grinding against enemies that can kill you incredibly easily, a lot of opaque “puzzles" to solve, and virtually no story to speak of outside of the set-up and ending. Really not for everyone, or most.

Anyway, you’re the brave warrior Tritorn, and you’re tasked with the job of saving the island of Luwandia from the evil… Pay-Valusa. Sure, why not? You start your journey with little more than the sword in your hand and a small amount of magic balls you can throw to temporarily freeze enemies. Save them for emergencies; you won’t have a way to replenish them for quite a while. Tritorn is woefully inadequate for his task at the outset, as even a mild disagreement with a slime will put him six feet under. Abuse that EGGCONSOLE rewind feature. Abuse the save states. Take full advantage of every tool you’ve got, because the game never stops being able to kill you in two seconds if you let an enemy nudge up against you the wrong way.

Your first job is to grind a hundred slimes to reach the next level. You should also earn an item in the process, teaching you one way to get the things you need in this game: killing a bunch of one type of enemy. It is not the only way to get items, of course. You can also find some in chests, and a few others through some absolute nonsense. It’s not quite Druaga-level in this regard, but at least one required item is hidden behind an action you would never think to do. As you find items, you can explore more of the world, and I think I wouldn’t argue with much vigor against anyone who wants to call this a prototype Metroidvania. It’s just that every time you enter a new area, you have to stop and grind for a half hour. You can’t even abuse the fast-forward feature to make it more painless, because as I have said it is very easy for enemies to get the drop on you and murder you in two seconds.

Ultimately, I wasn’t able to finish Tritorn. I got to the last boss but I couldn’t find one of the necessary items to defeat him. With the relative obscurity of this particular version of the game (and the versions are somewhat different from each other), I couldn’t find my answer among Japanese players. So… everyone, please buy this and try to find that crown for me so I can finish it and delete it from my brain.

I don’t know why I get sucked into games like Tritorn, these Hydlide-likes, but I do. The controls are clunky, the gameplay is unpleasant, the tedium is real, and there is all kinds of pure foolishness standing between the player and the ending. And yet, here I am. Are you like me? This is where you need to be honest with yourself. If you have this same weakness to old, grindy games, you’ll get your money’s worth out of Tritorn. But I imagine most people will just find it annoying and quit playing after five minutes, despite there being no language barrier this time around.

Edit: I found the bloody crown! Demon exorcised, in more ways than one!

SwitchArcade Score: 3/5

Select New Releases

Lost Pixel ($4.99)

Such is the state of these summer Mondays that I will include this game just so that we have something in the new release section. I mean, at least it isn’t using crappy AI-generated art for its shop thumbnail? Anyway, you control a pixel and go through some pretty standard traps and hazards. The camera angle is skewed, and that’s about the fanciest trick it has up its sleeve.

Sales

(North American eShop, US Prices)

Some nice sales to start the week off with from folks like Team 17 and QUByte, plus some extra bits and bobs like Elderand, Dorfromantik, and Moon Dancer to spice things up. Not much in the outbox, but if you are craving the cloud version of Guardians of the Galaxy, it’s um… it’s sure there. Check those lists!

Select New Sales

Nekomin ($8.25 from $15.00 until 7/7)
Mustache in Hell ($2.49 from $4.99 until 7/11)
Racoo Venture ($9.74 from $14.99 until 7/11)
Bem Feito ($6.49 from $9.99 until 7/11)
Zero Tolerance Collection ($4.99 from $9.99 until 7/11)
VASARA Collection ($4.99 from $9.99 until 7/11)
VISCO Collection ($13.99 from $19.99 until 7/11)
Doomsday Hunters ($10.79 from $17.99 until 7/12)
GyroGunner ($5.76 from $7.20 until 7/12)
Shakedown Hawaii ($4.99 from $19.99 until 7/12)
Retro City Rampage ($4.99 from $14.99 until 7/12)
Viviette ($4.99 from $9.99 until 7/12)
Demon Turf ($12.49 from $24.99 until 7/12)
Star Gagnant ($22.80 from $38.00 until 7/12)
Witch Explorer ($9.99 from $19.99 until 7/12)
Elderand ($7.99 from $19.99 until 7/12)
CosmoPlayerZ ($7.69 from $10.99 until 7/12)

Dorfromantik ($11.99 from $14.99 until 7/12)
Moon Dancer ($13.29 from $18.99 until 7/12)
Metal Mind ($13.49 from $17.99 until 7/13)
Redden: 100denarii ($1.99 from $7.99 until 7/13)
ANIMUS: Revenant ($3.44 from $22.99 until 7/13)
Demong Hunter ($1.99 from $7.99 until 7/13)
Dungeon Limbus ($2.24 from $14.99 until 7/13)
Moving Out 2 ($14.99 from $29.99 until 7/14)
DREDGE ($16.24 from $24.99 until 7/14)
Neon Abyss ($4.99 from $19.99 until 7/14)
Blasphemous ($6.24 from $24.99 until 7/14)
Overcooked 2 ($6.24 from $24.99 until 7/14)
The Escapists 2 ($4.99 from $19.99 until 7/14)
Life of Slime ($3.49 from $4.99 until 7/14)

Knowledge Keeper ($3.49 from $4.99 until 7/14)
Re:Touring ($6.99 from $9.99 until 7/14)
Cybertrash STATYX ($6.99 from $9.99 until 7/14)
Cat & Ghostly Road ($5.99 from $9.99 until 7/14)
Time Traveler’s Guide to Past Delicacies ($2.49 from $4.99 until 7/14)
Edge of Reality ($2.49 from $4.99 until 7/14)
Fusion Paradox ($4.99 from $9.99 until 7/14)
Hero Survival ($2.49 from $4.99 until 7/14)
Earthshine ($2.49 from $4.99 until 7/14)
Stranded Deep ($12.49 from $24.99 until 7/14)

Sales Ending Tomorrow, June 25th

Alchemist Adventure ($2.79 from $19.99 until 6/25)
Broken Lines ($3.49 from $24.99 until 6/25)
Chasm: The Rift ($6.99 from $19.99 until 6/25)
Furi ($7.99 from $19.99 until 6/25)
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cloud Version ($14.99 from $59.99 until 6/25)
Haven ($9.99 from $24.99 until 6/25)
Hot Lap League Deluxe ($1.99 from $19.99 until 6/25)
Retro Machina ($2.79 from $19.99 until 6/25)
Slime Rancher Plortable ($9.99 from $24.99 until 6/25)
Squids Odyssey ($2.24 from $14.99 until 6/25)
The Long Dark ($17.49 from $34.99 until 6/25)

That’s all for today, friends. We’ll be back tomorrow with a more robust selection of new releases, plus more reviews and sales. Maybe some news, depending on how the world turns as I sleep. I really hope someone figures out how to find that stupid crown in Tritorn. I just want to beat Pay-Valusa and call it a job done. Oh well. I hope you all have a marvelous Monday, and as always, thanks for reading!

Subway Surfers, Free The Subway Surfers are going Hollywood in the latest update to the game. Three new Surfers with three new Boards, plus a spiffy new outfit for Vivienne. You can play the Summer Run and get an exclusive frame for your profile, if that’s something you care about. Some people do! It surprises me, but many things do these days. Like when there’s a guy hiding in the bush with a bottle of seltzer that he sprays at me. I never see him coming.

Tiny Tower: Tap Idle Evolution, Free The days of ice cream making are over, and now it’s back to the same-old, same-old in Tiny Tower. But as a little parting gift, we have a new set of legendary Bitizens to collect. They all seem to be warriors of some description, so that’s fun. Boosters have also been reworked so that you can use them when you like, though some of them are now a lot shorter in duration. Finally, you can now upgrade your Legendary Lounge. You know, in case you needed another resource sink with no real benefit.

Honkai: Star Rail, Free I’m trying to be a mature adult and not giggle at the name of this new update. They’ve gone and called it Farewell, Penacony. Pfft. Farewell. That’s too much. Anyway, new characters. The card says Firefly and Jade, which are perfectly good names. A couple of returning characters, some new Light Cones, some new events, a new story, some new game modes, and a bunch of other odds and ends. It seems like a robust update but since I don’t play this game I am ill-equipped to speak in much detail about it.

AFK Journey, Free This AFK Journey is off on its little journey, though I’ll be honest and say that I actually expected it to update more often than it does. Well, no matter. This latest version has a new S-Level Hypogean Hero, Phraesto – Ayssal Illusionist. Basically Mysterio. Probably less of a loser, but there’s only one way to know for sure. There are also some new Season Artifacts, a new Magic Charm Merchant, some adjustments to combat mechanics and the overall play experience, and some bug fixes to finish things off.

Japanese Rural Life Adventure, You know, can you really say you’ve been living a proper Japanese rural life adventure so far without pottery? In hindsight, it’s so obvious. We need pottery. Lucky for us, the latest update to this Apple Arcade slow life game adds just that. Pottery! Turn the wheel and you can make some nice pottery of your own, as we in the rural areas of Japan often do. I just finished making some pottery a few minutes ago. No, you can’t see it. I won’t show it until I have perfected the craft, but at least I can now practice in this game. Dang, that was smooth. Well done, Shaun.

Asphalt 8: Airborne, Free It’s interesting that Asphalt 8 still keeps getting updates after all these years, and often different updates between this standard free-to-play version and the Apple Arcade version. Both got updated this last week, both with different content. Anyway, new cars. The Lamborghini Huracán STO and McLaren Senna GTR are here and ready to drive, if you can get your hands on them. You can also watch ads for some kind of benefit now, and there are some new ways to spend your real money. You know, just play the Apple Arcade one. You probably have Apple Arcade. You don’t need to put up with this.

Tamagotchi Adventure Kingdom, Did you know? Tamagotchi belongs to Bandai, and Bandai and Namco are the same company, and Pac-Man belongs to Namco. And so, here comes Pac-Man! A new mini-game allows you to play some Pac-Man mazes in a new limited-time event where you can earn some exclusive rewards. Exclusive to everyone who plays this event. That’s at least four people, possibly more. There are all sorts of other things that have been added with this mini-game, but some other small changes and adjustments have been made to other aspects. Bug fixes, too. It’s not all Pac-Man and ghosts. Just… mostly.

Solitaire Stories, Wow, this game just keeps the events coming at a regular clip, doesn’t it? This update brings a new story of summer love in the form of Soulmatez, a tale that follows an operator at a matchmaking agency. Along with that, there are three events running. Jupiter relates to the best planet ever outside of Earth, All of Us is a Pride Month event, and Tiki Luau brings a little bit of Hawaiian charm to the game. Yes, that all sounds quite nice. Whatever keeps the cards coming, right?

Adventure To Fate Lost Island, $4.99 We’re almost done for this week, which means I should give out the coveted UMMSotW award before we run out of time. This is the winner this time, and it’s not hard to see why. A new Witch class has been added to the game, and they bring a lot of neat twists to the game. The most interesting is that if your Witch dies five times, they will be permanently deleted. But each death also makes them more powerful, so… push your luck as far as you dare. It’s the first of the new Mystical Classes, which make the game more like a roguelike. There are also two new races, the Leprechaun (Shaun, Shaun) and the Zombie, plus three new pets. Fruit Bat! A bunch of new skills, some UI adjustments, more achievements and leaderboards, and more round this fantastic update out. Play this game!

Toon Blast, Free We’ll finish things out with our obligatory free-to-play matching puzzle game update for the week, this time going with Toon Blast because… I mean, it’s there. It’s fine. Fifty new levels in an episode called No Rush, and that’s all the update notes are giving us to go on. Well, I’m not going to put in much more effort than the person who wrote the notes, so let’s say that’s it right there.

That about wraps it up for last week’s significant updates. I’m sure I’ve missed some, though, so please feel free to comment below and let everyone know if you think something should be mentioned. As usual, major updates will likely get their own news stories throughout this week, and I’ll be back next Monday to summarize and fill in the blanks. Have a great week!

Select New Releases

Times & Galaxy ($19.99)

You’re the first robo reporter for the Times & Galaxy, the solar system’s holopaper of choice. You’ll have to prove yourself by writing the best stories you can. Head out on assignments, interview some wacky characters, explore around for clues and info, and then head back to the office and write up your story. Your work will be reflected in the paper, so if it ends up being a rag that’s all on you. I’ll have a review of this one soon, but I’ve really enjoyed what I’ve played so far.

Mouse & Crane ($14.99)

This is a game aimed for the younger set. You take control of the crane in each stage and use it to pick things up and move them around to solve puzzles. There’s a co-op mode included that allows a parent to play with their child, making their way through the stages together. Might be something nice if you have a little one of the right age.

Pogo Stick Champion ($4.99)

A goofy platforming game where you’re on a pogo stick and need to bounce your way to exit of each of the sixty levels in the game. The deeper into the game you go, the more hazards and traps you’ll encounter. I can think of worse ways to spend a fiver today. Like buying a small bag of flour and eating it raw with your bare hand. Why? Why would you do that?

Racine ($9.99)

A fairly straightforward roguelite battle game where you build your deck and engage in a series of battles and other events. Enemies will automatically attack you at regular intervals, so you don’t have a ton of time to think during combat. The dining isn’t exceptionally fancy by any means, and if you’re interested enough in this kind of thing to be reading this far, you probably already own a lot of games like this. It’s up to you whether or not you need another.

Rusted Moss ($19.99)

With so many Metroidvania-style games to choose from these days, it can be hard to stand out from the pack. This one knows what its best foot to put forward is, as the eShop description immediately states that this Metroidvania has a physics-based grapple. Well, okay. That’s pretty good. You also get a nice assortment of weapons to use. Reviews on other platforms look quite positive, so I’d say if the hook works for you, give this one a deeper look.

Sales

(North American eShop, US Prices)

Not a bad list of sales by any means, with lots of good games in it. None of the discounts are particularly singing to me, but Pocky & Rocky fans might want to dig in on that extremely rare sale on Snow Battle Princess Sayuki. In the outbox: Dadish! Get your Dadish on discount while you can! They’re all pretty fun, and a solid challenge for platforming fans. Check those lists!

Select New Sales

9 Years of Shadows ($13.99 from $19.99 until 6/28)
Siralim Ultimate ($9.99 from $19.99 until 6/28)
Siralim 3 ($7.49 from $14.99 until 6/28)
Dark Deity ($6.24 from $24.99 until 6/28)
Monster Outbreak ($11.99 from $14.99 until 6/28)
Dream Tactics ($14.39 from $17.99 until 6/28)
Monster Tribe ($15.99 from $19.99 until 6/28)
Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle ($13.99 from $39.99 until 7/4)
Just Shapes & Beats ($12.99 from $19.99 until 7/4)
Another Crab’s Treasure ($23.99 from $29.99 until 7/4)
Untitled Goose Game ($9.99 from $19.99 until 7/5)
Breakneck City ($2.49 from $9.99 until 7/5)
Venus: Improbable Dream ($3.49 from $9.99 until 7/5)
Crime Opera: The Butterfly Effect ($2.49 from $9.99 until 7/5)

Nephenthesys ($3.59 from $5.99 until 7/5)
Turbo Shell ($5.99 from $11.99 until 7/5)
Stickman’s Arena ($2.99 from $4.99 until 7/5)
The Traveler’s Path ($2.99 from $4.99 until 7/5)
Lily in Puzzle World ($2.99 from $4.99 until 7/5)
Giant Wishes ($2.49 from $4.99 until 7/5)
Kizuna Ai: Touch the Beat ($20.99 from $29.99 until 7/5)
In the Mood ($1.99 from $4.99 until 7/5)
The Diabolical Trilogy ($3.99 from $19.99 until 7/5)
Beat Souls ($2.49 from $9.99 until 7/5)
Snow Battle Princess Sayuki ($4.50 from $15.00 until 7/10)
Nickelodeon All Star Brawl 2 Deluxe ($20.99 from $69.99 until 7/11)
DreamWorks All-Star Kart Racing RE ($14.99 from $49.99 until 7/11)
Jubilee ($4.99 from $9.99 until 7/11)
DreamWorks Trolls Remix Rescue ($14.99 from $49.99 until 7/11)

Shinorubi ($9.99 from $19.99 until 7/11)
Starward Rogue: Complete Edition ($11.99 from $19.99 until 7/11)
Flippin Kaktus ($3.59 from $11.99 until 7/11)
Skull Island: Rise of Kong ($9.99 from $39.99 until 7/11)
NASCAR Arcade Rush ($17.49 from $49.99 until 7/11)
Operation Wolf Returns 1st Mission ($13.49 from $29.99 until 7/11)
Nuclear Blaze ($4.99 from $9.99 until 7/11)
WRC Generations Fully Loaded Edition ($9.99 from $49.99 until 7/11)
TT Isle of Man RotE 3 ($14.99 from $49.99 until 7/11)
Inspector Gadget MAD Time Party ($19.99 from $39.99 until 7/11)
NHRA Championship Drag Racing ($4.99 from $49.99 until 7/11)
3 Minutes Mystery 2 ($4.49 from $8.99 until 7/11)
Little League World Series Baseball ($4.99 from $49.99 until 7/11)
Tennis World Tour 2 ($4.99 from $49.99 until 7/11)

Cobra Kai 2: Dojos Rising ($4.99 from $49.99 until 7/11)
Smack ($1.99 from $9.99 until 7/11)
Dolphin Spirit: Ocean Mission ($14.99 from $29.99 until 7/11)
One True Hero ($5.24 from $14.99 until 7/11)
Asterix & Obelix: Slap Them All! ($4.99 from $24.99 until 7/11)
My Universe: My Baby Dragon ($8.99 from $29.99 until 7/11)
Sophstar ($6.49 from $12.99 until 7/11)
The Smurfs: Mission Vileaf ($7.99 from $39.99 until 7/11)
Street Outlaws 2: Winner Takes All ($4.99 from $49.99 until 7/11)
Nickelodeon Kart Racers ($2.99 from $29.99 until 7/11)
Monster Boy & the Cursed Kingdom ($9.99 from $39.99 until 7/11)
IIN ($3.00 from $10.00 until 7/11)
Goroons ($3.00 from $10.00 until 7/11)

Sales Ending This Weekend

Dadish ($7.99 from $9.99 until 6/22)
Dadish 2 ($7.99 from $9.99 until 6/22)
Dadish 3 ($7.99 from $9.99 until 6/22)
Dadish 3D ($11.99 from $14.99 until 6/22)
Daily Dadish ($7.99 from $9.99 until 6/22)
Demon Drop DX ($1.99 from $3.99 until 6/22)
Fur Squadron ($3.14 from $6.99 until 6/22)
Gravityscape DX ($1.99 from $3.99 until 6/22)
Molecano ($6.40 from $8.00 until 6/22)
Promenade ($12.49 from $24.99 until 6/22)
Super Fowlst ($7.99 from $9.99 until 6/22)
Super Fowlst 2 ($8.00 from $10.00 until 6/22)
The Cat ($1.99 from $9.99 until 6/22)
Blasphemous 2 ($17.99 from $29.99 until 6/23)
Boardwalk Arcade 2 ($19.99 from $29.99 until 6/23)

Citizen Sleeper ($9.99 from $19.99 until 6/23)
DREDGE Deluxe Edition ($17.54 from $26.99 until 6/23)
Headbangers: Rhythm Royale ($9.99 from $19.99 until 6/23)
Moving Out ($7.49 from $24.99 until 6/23)
Moving Out 2: Deluxe Edition ($16.49 from 32.99 until 6/23)
Neon Abyss Deluxe Edition ($6.99 from $27.99 until 6/23)
Overcooked! All You Can Eat ($15.99 from $39.99 until 6/23)
The Escapists 2 GotY Edition ($5.39 from $26.99 until 6/23)
The Survivalists ($2.49 from $24.99 until 6/23)
Worms Rumble ($2.99 from $14.99 until 6/23)

That’s all for today and this week, friends. We’ll be back next week with more new games, more sales, more reviews, and some news. This has been a very tiring week for me for some reason, and I think I’m going to take some time this weekend to properly rest. That’s important sometimes, I’m told. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and as always, thanks for reading!

Select New Releases

Operation STEEL ($9.99)

Despite the clear Gradius II homage going on in that screenshot, this is yet another one of those roguelite-ish affairs where the stages are procedurally generated and you have to upgrade your ship, which means a whole lot of grinding. I’m a bit burnt out on these, but I know some of you can’t get enough of them. Perhaps this is what you’re looking for today.

Dicefolk ($14.99)

This is a really interesting and well-made deck (dice)-building roguelite, with the usual strategy you would expect from the genre plus a few interesting twists like being able to control both sides in a battle. There’s a major creature-collecting component the game, which puts a further spin on things. I’ll be reviewing this one soon, but I’ve really enjoyed playing it.

Ylands: Nintendo Switch Edition ($24.99)

One of those Everything Bagel kinds of games, with crafting, exploration, survival, combat, and so on loaded in. You can play the game in Adventure Mode and have fun making your way through six distinct regions, or fire up Creative Mode to roll around in the sandbox a little. While the reviews of this game are quite mixed on Steam, that seems to be largely directed at a pricing issue that I’m fairly sure isn’t relevant here. I have some concerns about the potential technical performance here on Switch, but as I haven’t had a chance to play this version yet I can’t really speak to it.

DarkStar One – Nintendo Switch Edition ($29.99)

Here’s a blast from the past. DarkStar One is a space sim that first released on computers in 2006, which makes it… pretty vintage at this point. It has a bit of the ol’ Elite/Freelancer feel to it, with you rolling around space in your ship and engaging in trading, combat, and so on. It was decent then, it’s decent now, but you can certainly feel some of the weight of its age. Still, we don’t have a ton of games like this on the Switch so you might be interested in it anyway.

EGGCONSOLE Tritorn PC-8801 ($6.49)

This time around in the EGGCONSOLE line it’s Sein Soft’s 1985 release Tritorn, an action-RPG more than a little inspired by Namco’s Dragon Buster. As usual for EGGCONSOLE, the game is presented in its original Japanese form. I can’t speak to how big of a problem that is yet, but I’ll let you know once my review is ready to go. I’m hoping we get a more straightforward game again in this line soon, but I’m still engaged enough with all of these oddball releases to not mind it too much.

Arcade Archives Rastan Saga II ($7.99)

Some innocent soul out there is looking at this and thinking “Wow, I love Rastan! I didn’t know there was a sequel! Cool!", and let me just say that we have all been there once. Hopefully I can save some of you from the disappointment by letting you know that Rastan Saga II is nowhere near as good as the first game. It is, in fact, quite bad. Those big sprites are cool, the music is as good as you would expect from Taito, but the gameplay is clunky and boring. Rastan would get a little redemption in his third and final game, but this one is so bad I’m surprised they made another one. Hamster has given it the usual treatment, so if anyone out there somehow has happy memories of it… here it is.

Everafter Falls ($19.99)

Sure, another slow life game with a mysterious undertone. Never hurts to have more of these. The set-up here is that you had a chill life going on in Everafter Falls, but wake up one day to discover it was just a simulation. Slowly you begin your life anew, and it’s certainly a comfortable place to be. As you play you’ll start noticing some… unusual things. What do they mean? That’s up to you to discover, if you’ve got the gumption to do so. The game supports local co-op with another player, so you can even bring a friend along.

Cave Digger 2 ($14.99)

It’s like Cave Digger, but more Cave Digger. Do you want more Cave Digger? Here you go. That’s about as much as I’ll say about this one, because I did not want more Cave Digger.

Tavern Talk ($21.99)

We’ve had enough games like this by now that I can just say this is another game about mixing and serving drinks while getting to know the patrons of your bar. This game’s gimmick is that it is set in a fantasy world. Seems well-made for what it is, so if what it is is the “is" you’re after, you might want to investigate this further.

Garten of Banban I-IV ($1.99 – $9.99)

Four games built around a story where you’re exploring the mysterious Banban’s Kindergarten facility using a drone. A bunch of people have disappeared, and you need to uncover the secrets of the bizarre location. Solve the puzzles and make your way through the place room by room. Popular enough to have a metric ton of installments, but reviews of it aren’t terribly enthusiastic. Well, do what you will with it.

Sales

(North American eShop, US Prices)

Not too much in the inbox so far, but if you want the fancy edition of Super Mega Baseball 4 or feel like playing some good ol’ Gynoug, it’s your day. There are a few things in the outbox, so you’ll want to perhaps give that one a closer look.

Select New Sales

Super Mega Baseball 4 Ballpark Edition ($17.99 from $59.99 until 7/2)
HunterX ($8.99 from $14.99 until 7/3)
HunterX: Code Name T ($11.89 from $16.99 until 7/3)
Retimed ($5.99 from $14.99 until 7/3)
Caveman Ransom ($2.49 from $4.99 until 7/4)
Prisonela DX ($2.49 from $4.99 until 7/4)
Avenging Spirit ($2.99 from $5.99 until 7/4)
Gleylancer ($3.49 from $6.99 until 7/4)
Gynoug ($3.49 from $6.99 until 7/4)
Dusk Diver 2 ($24.99 from $49.99 until 7/4)
Dr. Frank’s Build a Boyfriend ($2.49 from $4.99 until 7/4)
The Adventures of Panzer Collection ($4.49 from $8.99 until 7/4)
Little Witch Nobeta ($24.99 from $49.99 until 7/4)
Aquadine ($9.99 from $19.99 until 7/4)

Sales Ending Tomorrow, June 21st

Apollo Justice: AA Trilogy ($39.99 from $49.99 until 6/21)
Barbie DreamHouse Adventures ($19.99 from $39.99 until 6/21)
Big Adventure Trip to Europe 5 ($8.99 from $14.99 until 6/21)
Demon’s Tilt ($9.99 from $19.99 until 6/21)
Detective Agency Gray Tie 2 ($2.99 from $14.99 until 6/21)
Encodya ($2.99 from $29.99 until 6/21)
Fall of Porcupine ($7.99 from $19.99 until 6/21)
Finding America: The Pacific Northwest ($7.99 from $9.99 until 6/21)
First Time in Hawaii ($7.19 from $11.99 until 6/21)
I Love Finding Furbabies ($5.99 from $9.99 until 6/21)
Itorah ($3.99 from $19.99 until 6/21)
Just Find It ($5.99 from $9.99 until 6/21)
Lacuna ($1.99 from $19.99 until 6/21)
Magic City Detective Secret Desire ($8.99 from $14.99 until 6/21)
Magic City Detective Wings of Revenge ($8.99 from $14.99 until 6/21)

Maze of Realities Flower of Discord ($8.99 from $14.99 until 6/21)
Maze of Realities Reflection of Light ($8.99 from $14.99 until 6/21)
Mystery Box: Hidden Secrets ($5.99 from $9.99 until 6/21)
Mystery Lover ($7.49 from $9.99 until 6/21)
Nature Escapes 2 ($8.99 from $14.99 until 6/21)
Nature Escapes 3 ($8.99 from $14.99 until 6/21)
Neko Secret Homecoming ($3.99 from $9.99 until 6/21)
Pretty Girls 2048 Strike ($3.49 from $6.99 until 6/21)
Q.U.B.E. 10th Anniversary ($2.79 from $19.99 until 6/21)
Ravva and the Phantom Library ($4.99 from $9.99 until 6/21)
RedRaptor ($2.49 from $4.99 until 6/21)
Seven Pirates H ($23.99 from $39.99 until 6/21)
Super Crush KO ($4.49 from $14.99 until 6/21)
Three Minutes to Eight ($2.99 from $14.99 until 6/21)
Thunder Kid II: Null Mission ($1.99 from $7.99 until 6/21)
Turret Rampage ($2.99 from $4.99 until 6/21)
Twin Mind Murderous Jealousy ($3.74 from $14.99 until 6/21)
Twin Mind Nobody’s Here ($3.74 from $14.99 until 6/21)
Twin Mind Power of Love ($3.74 from $14.99 until 6/21)

That’s all for today, friends. We’ll be back next week with more new games, more sales, some reviews, and perhaps some news. Not as much news as this week, most likely. I am ridiculously tired today, and keep falling asleep on my keyboard. Not a great thing, but some days are like that. I hope you all have a thrilling Thursday, and as always, thanks for reading!

Monster Hunter Stories ($29.99)

You’re going to see a lot of Capcom on this list, and I suspect it’s because the way it built its 3DS games made them easier to port than most. Monster Hunter Stories is the latest, and it’s a charming and enjoyable RPG based on the publisher’s extremely famous series of action games. While the game certainly has better performance on other platforms, this Switch version at least looks and runs a lot better than the very ambitious 3DS original. The price is nice, too!

Apollo Justice – Ace Attorney Trilogy ($49.99)

Okay, one of the games in this set was a Nintendo DS game rather than a 3DS game. But the other two are 3DS games, so I’m rounding up. The second Ace Attorney Trilogy is perhaps less agreeable than the first, and it’s clearly struggling with trying to respond to fan reactions on the fly, but there’s still a lot of good lawyering to be had here. Follow new protagonists along with original hero Phoenix Wright as they try to navigate the dark age of the law. A solid collection that does these games… justice. NO APOLOGIES!

Snack World: The Dungeon Crawl – Gold ($49.99)

It’s a little hard for me to separate this game from what it was here in Japan. This was supposed to be the next major multimedia hit from the company behind Inazuma Eleven and Yokai Watch, with games, NFC toys, an animated series, and more planned. And it belly-flopped hard. The toys were rotting bins here for ages. This was all the distant past by the time the game made its way to the West via the Switch, of course. There was no such push accompanying it. No, it was just a game, and you know what? It’s not too shabby at all. A bit mindless, but it’s an enjoyable grind.

Resident Evil Revelations ($19.99)

One of the higher-profile early third-party releases for the Nintendo 3DS, Resident Evil Revelations was also one of the more impressive-looking games on the system. Capcom seemed to be dissatisfied with the sales of the game on 3DS however, and it soon made its way to other platforms and found the success it deserved. That improved version is what we have here on Switch, and it’s still quite the game. Its sequel is also very good, but since that was never on the 3DS it is not allowed on this list. At any rate, despite Revelations being very much a spin-off, it plays and feels like a proper Resident Evil game. It goes on sale often, too.

Miitopia ($49.99)

There were a lot of Nintendo 3DS games that perhaps arrived a bit too late to land as well as they might have. Miitopia could be said to be one of those, arriving in Japan scant months before the Switch launch and a similar number of months after the launch in the West. This is basically Tomodachi Life made into a fantasy RPG, and it has that usual Mii charm fused with a decent casual RPG. As usual, half the fun is putting your friends, family, and anyone else you can make a Mii of into ridiculous situations. I feel like this slipped under the radar on the Switch too, so maybe that’s just its lot in life.

The Alliance Alive HD Remastered ($49.99)

A successor to The Legend of Legacy (also available on Nintendo Switch these days), The Alliance Alive sheds some of the quirkier aspects of that game in favor of making a more straightforward turn-based RPG. It still keeps some fragments of the SaGa inspiration driving the previous game, but it’s a lot gentler on the whole. A pleasant RPG to play through on the whole, particularly for those looking for something that doesn’t take a lot of fiddling or fussing.

Rune Factory 4 Special ($29.99)

Sure, the Story of Season games are a lot of fun, but you know what makes them even more interesting? Bolting them on to an action-RPG. That’s the idea behind the Rune Factory series, and this fourth installment proved to be one of the best of the bunch. You can find a few Rune Factory games on the Switch, and I think they’re all fun. Rune Factory 4 was my entry point to the series, however, and as such it has some special meaning to me. Share my nostalgia!

Shantae & the Pirate’s Curse ($19.99)

Yes, this was indeed a Nintendo 3DS game first. This is my favorite Shantae game, as it turns out. I think it hits the right balance between exploration and guiding the player, and it’s a change of pace from collecting genie powers. The story is also a lot of fun as basically any reason to put Shantae and Risky together more often is a good one. The whole Shantae series is basically available everywhere now, but if you’re only grabbing one this is the one you want.

Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate ($39.99)

Another Monster Hunter game for good measure. This turned out to be a good opportunity for Capcom, as the 3DS was a bit too long in the tooth by the time the Ultimate version of Monster Hunter Generations would have been ready for Western release. Instead, this is how we got the improved version of one of the quirkier entries in the series. I would recommend Rise over this game, but there’s a certain flavor to Generations I cannot deny that makes it feel distinct from its peers. And hey, for a 3DS port it looks really good.

Azure Striker Gunvolt: Striker Pack ($39.99)

In some ways the successor to Inti Creates’ Mega Man Zero games, the Azure Striker Gunvolt series is fast, challenging, and stylish. The Striker Pack includes both of the games that originally hit the Nintendo 3DS, and it’s a great way to get your feet wet before you dive into the newer entries in the series. The sprites look really good on the Switch, too. Just make sure you get a controller with a decent dpad, because you’ll be giving it a real workout.

And… 5 Nintendo 3DS Games We’d Like to See on Switch

Kid Icarus: Uprising

Look, I don’t know if Kid Icarus: Uprising would find more success on the Switch or not, but I do know the game would almost certainly play a lot better than it did on the 3DS. This game screams for dual-stick controls, and pretty much everything else about the it is so well-done that it’s a shame that the core gameplay had to fight against the very controls of the system that hosted it. I think it would make a great choice for the Nintendo Switch or whatever its successor ends up being.

Bravely Default

I’ve enjoyed all three Bravely Default games, but for my money there is only one truly great game in the series, and that is this first one. Both traditional and fresh at the same time, it was the exact tonic many RPG fans needed in the wake of the, er, creative choices of the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy. There are one or two gimmicks to the game that might be difficult to translate without all of the 3DS’s special features, but I think the game could more or less make the trip intact. It would be nice to have this landmark title available more widely, and the Switch would be a good host for it.

Super Mario 3D Land

If you’ve been reading all of these articles I’ve been doing, you are probably noticing a theme. I want all the 3D Mario games on Switch, and we’re so close that I can practically smell it. Super Mario 3D Land isn’t the best 3D Mario, but the post-game content in particular has that spicy flavor that I appreciate. I’m not sure if it would be best served as a stand-alone release or with some other Mario games in a new All-Stars package, but either way I’d love to see it.

Metroid – Samus Returns

This was one of those games that hit in the Nintendo 3DS’s endgame period, and as such I don’t think it quite got the attention it deserved. Sure, it has a few issues with its over-reliance on counters and some overly-long boss battles, but if you enjoyed Metroid Dread then you’ll probably like this audition for it. I think it would scale up really nicely, and a port might give the team a chance to make some little changes to address some of the criticism.

Shin Megami Tensei IV

We have Shin Megami Tensei III and Shin Megami Tensei V on the Nintendo Switch, and if you’re willing to deal with the Japanese Nintendo Switch Online apps and can read Japanese, we have the first two games as well. The one we don’t have is Shin Megami Tensei IV, and if Atlus put it out on the Switch I’d be more than happy to add it to my collection. If Atlus is feeling extra generous, Apocalypse could be packed in with it for the ultimate Shin Megami Tensei IV release. Both are very cool games that deserve wider exposure.

And that’s the list, friends. Are there any Nintendo 3DS games you enjoy on the Switch? Any you would like to see? Feel free to sound off down in the comments and let us know what you’re thinking! It’s always interesting to hear the opinions of others on this kind of thing. As always, thanks for reading!

News

Holy Smokes, What A Nintendo Direct That Was

I went into this one with low expectations given we’re basically on the last year of the Switch’s life, in all probability. Well, it definitely leapt over that bar. The big first-party highlights were the new Mario & Luigi game, Brothership, and The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, along with our long-awaited first glimpse at Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. Other games from Nintendo on the schedule include Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, The New Denpa Men, and Super Mario Party Jamboree. Third-party highlights are probably Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven, Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics, Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D (and the announcement of 1&2 HD-2D!), Ace Attorney Investigations Collection, and Darkest Dungeon II. Well… a lot. Check out the Direct if you haven’t already, it really is looking like quite a solid year.

Four New Games Join Nintendo Switch Online’s Expansion Pack

Among the oodles of news bits from yesterday’s Direct was the announcement of four new additions to the Expansion Pack for Nintendo Switch Online. For two of them, you’ll need to download a new app – the Nintendo 64 Mature 17+ app. Once you’ve got that installed, you’ll be treated to Turok the Dinosaur Hunter and Perfect Dark, a pair of first-person shooters that practically bookended the console’s output in that genre. The other two games are for the Game Boy Advance app. The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords and Metroid: Zero Mission are both great games, and I’m happy to see them available on the service. Just update the app and they’ll be waiting for you to play.

Select New Releases

Metal Slug Attack Reloaded ($9.99)

I think this was a follow-up or mutation of Metal Slug Defense? Anyway, tower defense with Metal Slug characters. Very simple and easy to understand, but the game gets quite challenging as you go on. I remember enjoying this for a while on mobile, and I think this is a fair price for the total package here on Switch.

Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation Quest of Memories ($44.99)

Based on one of the more popular of the large number of anime/manga/light novel series about someone who gets isekai‘d into a fantasy world and ends up surrounded by beautiful women who marvel at how amazing he is, this is an RPG where you can use your favorite characters from Mushoku Tensei and go on some dungeon crawling adventures. One for the fans, to be sure. I don’t think it’s going to click for those without a significant investment in the brand, but maybe if you’re hungry enough.

Echo Generation ($24.99)

A turn-based RPG about normal 90s kids going on extraordinary adventures. The game has a voxel art style, which I’m sure most will have feelings about one way or the other. The developer also did Riverbond, and I know some people really dug that one. Echo Generation has been out for a while on other platforms, and I don’t think it really knocked anyone’s socks off but it seems to have found some fans. Maybe you’ll be the next one.

Moonstone Island ($19.99)

Take a Stardew Valley style life sim and mash it up with a creature-collecting turn-based RPG, then douse the whole thing in a rich card battling sauce. That’s the recipe for Moonstone Island, and it’s one that by and large works pretty well. Probably too ambitious for its own good at times, but I think if you like the basic concept then you’ll probably enjoy this well enough.

Scars of Mars ($19.99)

Must be RPG day today or something. This one has a science-fiction theme and the battles are real-time. They take place on a grid, too. Everyone loves grids! Honestly this one didn’t really catch my eye until I saw Acquire was behind it. That’s a developer who makes very interesting games, even if they’re not always good. I’ll have to investigate this one further, and I’ll let you know if it turns out to be something cool.

#BLUD ($24.99)

An animated hack-and-slash dungeon crawler that certainly has its look down, if nothing else. Some business about a vampire-killing hockey stick? Charm in almost equal measure to its rough edges, but if you’re willing to put up with some gameplay annoyances there is assuredly some good times to be had here.

Glyphs of Gitzan ($4.99)

A nifty little puzzle game where you have to push stone pillars into the correct positions in fifty stages of brain-teasing fun. The pillars carry symbols that will give you a hint as to where they need to go, so all you need to do is figure that out and then push them into place. No shortage of good, cheap puzzle games on Switch but it never hurts to have another one in the pile.

Fireside ($14.99)

One of those games where you chill, talk to other characters, help them with their stuff, and explore a relaxed world. Reviews for this one are pretty solid over on Steam, and I imagine it won’t have too much trouble finding an eager audience here on Switch.

Sales

(North American eShop, US Prices)

Metroid got a lot of attention in the Nintendo Direct, and perhaps to celebrate that both Metroid Dread and Metroid Prime Remastered are on sale. NISA is also running some excellent sales, and if you want to catch up on its classics there is no better time. Meanwhile, in the outbox: a ton of games. Just check through it yourself and see what’s what, is what I say.

Select New Sales

Don’t Starve ($4.99 from $19.99 until 6/29)
Griftlands ($7.99 from $19.99 until 6/29)
Metroid Dread ($41.99 from $59.99 until 7/2)
Metroid Prime Remastered ($33.99 from $39.99 until 7/2)
DNF Duel: Who’s Next ($14.99 from $49.99 until 7/3)
Death Road to Canada ($4.49 from $14.99 until 7/3)
River City: Rival Showdown ($17.49 from $24.99 until 7/4)
Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 4 ($9.99 from $19.99 until 7/4)
SNK 40th Anniversary Collection ($14.99 from $39.99 until 7/8)
Psikyo Shooting Stars Alpha ($14.99 from $39.99 until 7/8)
Psikyo Shooting Stars Bravo ($14.99 from $39.99 until 7/8)
The Silver Case 2425 ($17.99 from $39.99 until 7/8)
Saviors of Sapphire Wings/Sword City ($17.49 from $49.99 until 7/8)
Prinny 1-2 Bundle ($14.99 from $33.99 until 7/8)
NIS Classics 1: Phantom Brave/Soul Nomad ($9.99 from $39.99 until 7/8)

NIS Classics 2: Makai Kingdom/ZHP ($24.99 form $39.99 until 7/8)
NIS Classics 3: La Pucelle/Rhapsody ($24.99 from $39.99 until 7/8)
Raiden III x Mikado Maniax ($14.99 from $29.99 until 7/8)
The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails ($24.99 from $39.99 until 7/8)
Rhapsody: Marl Kingdom Chronicles ($29.99 from $49.99 until 7/8)

Sales Ending Tomorrow, June 20th

1000xRESIST ($17.99 from $19.99 until 6/20)
Adventure Bar Story ($15.99 from $19.99 until 6/20)
Adventures of Ben: Rabbit Run ($11.24 from $24.99 until 6/20)
Aggelos ($3.74 from $14.99 until 6/20)
Alan Wake Remastered ($14.99 from $29.99 until 6/20)
Alien: Isolation ($14.99 from $19.99 until 6/20)
Amabilly ($2.49 from $4.99 until 6/20)
Anodyne ($1.99 from $9.99 until 6/20)
Assassin’s Creed: Ezio Collection ($15.99 from $39.99 until 6/20)
Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration ($27.99 from $39.99 until 6/20)
Axiom Verge 2 ($7.99 from $19.99 until 6/20)
Balatro ($13.49 from $14.99 until 6/20)
Berzerk Recharged ($5.99 from $9.99 until 6/20)
Blazing Chrome ($5.77 from $16.99 until 6/20)
Bob the Elementalist ($2.49 from $4.99 until 6/20)

Bugsnax ($8.74 from $24.99 until 6/20)
Burnout Paradise Remastered ($5.99 from $29.99 until 6/20)
Bustafellows ($5.99 from $39.99 until 6/20)
Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium Bundle ($15.99 form $39.99 until 6/20)
Castaway Paradise ($2.79 from $19.99 until 6/20)
Castle Morihisa ($2.24 from $14.99 until 6/20)
COCOON ($14.99 from $24.99 until 6/20)
Contra: Operation Galuga ($31.99 from $39.99 until 6/20)
Crash Bandicoot 4 ($19.99 from $39.99 until 6/20)
Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled ($13.99 from $39.99 until 6/20)
Crossing Souls ($1.99 from $14.99 until 6/20)
Dead by Daylight ($11.99 from $29.99 until 6/20)
Death’s Gambit: Afterlife ($10.99 from $19.99 until 6/20)
Diablo II: Resurrected ($13.19 from $39.99 until 6/20)
Diablo III: Eternal Collection ($19.79 from $59.99 until 6/20)

Disco Elysium: The Final Cut ($11.99 from $39.99 until 6/20)
Disney Classic Games: Aladdin & Lion King ($6.99 from $19.99 until 6/20)
Doki Doki Literature Club Plus ($11.24 from $14.99 until 6/20)
DOOM 1993 ($1.99 from $4.99 until 6/20)
DOOM 2016 ($7.99 from $39.99 until 6/20)
DOOM 3 ($3.99 from $9.99 until 6/20)
DOOM 64 ($1.99 from $4.99 until 6/20)
DOOM Eternal ($9.99 from $39.99 until 6/20)
DOOM II Classic ($1.99 from $4.99 until 6/20)
DOOM Slayers Collection ($14.99 from $49.99 until 6/20)
Dragon Ball FighterZ: FighterZ Edition ($14.39 from $89.99 until 6/20)
Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen ($4.99 from $29.99 until 6/20)
Earth Defense Force: World Brothers ($15.99 from $39.99 until 6/20)
Effie ($2.99 from $19.99 until 6/20)
Evil Nun: The Broken Mask ($11.99 from $19.99 until 6/20)

Fearmonium ($7.79 from $12.99 until 6/20)
Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark ($7.49 from $29.99 until 6/20)
Gargoyles Remastered ($10.49 from $14.99 until 6/20)
Garlic ($7.49 from $14.99 until 6/20)
Gates of the Mind ($6.74 from $14.99 until 6/20)
Goat Simulator: The GOATY ($5.99 from $29.99 until 6/20)
Grounded ($27.99 from $39.99 until 6/20)
Hatsune Miku: Project DiVA Mega Mix ($19.69 from $39.39 until 6/20)
Highwater ($3.99 from $19.99 until 6/20)
Homebody ($3.99 from $19.99 until 6/20)
Huntdown ($3.99 from $19.99 until 6/20)
Immortals Fenyx Rising ($7.99 from $39.99 until 6/20)
Ion Fury ($6.24 from $24.99 until 6/20)
Jack Jeanne ($34.99 from $49.99 until 6/20)
Kaiju Wars ($8.99 from $19.99 until 6/20)

Kentucky Route Zero TV Edition ($9.99 from $24.99 until 6/20)
Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning ($15.99 from $39.99 until 6/20)
LEGO 2K Drive ($9.89 from $29.99 until 6/20)
Loot Hero DX ($1.99 from $4.99 until 6/20)
Lost in Random ($4.49 from $29.99 until 6/20)
Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope ($19.79 from $59.99 until 6/20)
Mochi Mochi Boy ($1.99 from $4.99 until 6/20)
Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate ($9.99 from $39.99 until 6/20)
Monster Hunter Rise ($9.99 from $39.99 until 6/20)
Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak ($15.99 from $39.99 until 6/20)
moon ($13.29 from $18.99 until 6/20)
Murder Is Game Over ($2.49 from $4.99 until 6/20)
Need for Speed Hot Pursuit ($7.99 from $39.99 until 6/20)
NeonPowerUp! ($2.49 from $4.99 until 6/20)
Nexomon Extinction ($8.99 from $19.99 until 6/20)

Nickelodeon Kart Racers 2: GP ($3.99 from $39.99 until 6/20)
Night in the Woods ($9.99 from $19.99 until 6/20)
Onirike ($2.24 from $14.99 until 6/20)
orbit.industries ($5.99 from $19.99 until 6/20)
Outer Wilds ($14.99 from $24.99 until 6/20)
Pentiment ($11.99 from $19.99 until 6/20)
Persona 5 Strikers ($17.99 from $59.99 until 6/20)
Pirates on Target ($2.49 from $4.99 until 6/20)
Quake ($3.99 from $9.99 until 6/20)
Quake + Quake II Enhanced Bundle ($5.99 from $14.99 until 6/20)
Quake II ($3.99 from $9.99 until 6/20)
Quantum Recharged ($5.49 from $9.99 until 6/20)
Return to Monkey Island ($12.49 from $24.99 until 6/20)
Risen ($20.99 from $29.99 until 6/20)
Rogue Legacy 2 ($14.74 from $24.99 until 6/20)

Rose & Camellia Collection ($14.99 from $19.99 until 6/20)
Runnyk ($2.49 from $4.99 until 6/20)
Samba de Amigo: Party Central ($15.99 from $39.99 until 6/20)
Samurai Maiden DE ($37.49 from $74.99 until 6/20)
Sea of Stars ($26.24 from $34.99 until 6/20)
Shadows of Adam ($7.49 from $14.99 until 6/20)
Sherlock Holmes: Devil’s Daughter ($4.49 from $29.99 until 6/20)
Slay the Spire ($8.49 from $24.99 until 6/20)
Sonic Frontiers ($20.99 from $59.99 until 6/20)
Sonic Origins Plus ($19.99 from $39.99 until 6/20)
South of the Circle ($6.49 from $12.99 until 6/20)
Spirit Hunter: Death Mark II ($34.99 from $49.99 until 6/20)
SpongeBob SquarePants: Bikini Bottom ($11.99 from $29.99 until 6/20)
Starward Rogue ($8.99 from $14.99 until 6/20)
Streets of Rage 4 ($11.24 from $24.99 until 6/20)

Super Mega Baseball 4 ($14.99 from $49.99 until 6/20)
Super Mega Zero ($1.99 from $9.99 until 6/20)
Super Planet Life ($1.99 from $9.99 until 6/20)
Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition ($9.99 from $49.99 until 6/20)
Tempest 4000 ($9.99 from $19.99 until 6/20)
TES V: Skyrim ($29.99 from $59.99 until 6/20)
TES V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition ($34.99 from $69.99 until 6/20)
TEVI ($26.24 from $34.99 until 6/20)
The Case of the Golden Idol ($10.79 from $17.99 until 6/20)
The Forgotten Land ($2.09 from $14.99 until 6/20)
The Lara Croft Collection ($19.99 from $24.99 until 6/20)
The Testament of Sherlock Holmes ($6.24 from $24.99 until 6/20)
The Wonderful 101 Remastered ($17.99 from $39.99 until 6/20)
TMNT: Cowabunga Collection ($19.99 from $39.99 until 6/20)
TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge ($16.74 from $24.99 until 6/20)

TMNT: Wrath of the Mutants ($20.09 from $29.99 until 6/20)
Tomb Raider I – III Remastered ($22.49 from $29.99 until 6/20)
Trek to Yomi ($6.99 from $19.99 until 6/20)
Tunic ($14.99 from $29.99 until 6/20)
Unicorn Overlord Monarch Edition ($52.49 from $69.99 until 6/20)
Unlife ($6.59 from $10.99 until 6/20)
We Love Katamari Reroll ($7.49 from $29.99 until 6/20)
Wolfenstein II New Colossus ($5.99 from $39.99 until 6/20)
Wolfenstein Youngblood ($4.99 from $19.99 until 6/20)
Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap ($5.99 from $19.99 until 6/20)
WRC Generations ($7.99 from $39.99 until 6/20)
Zomborg ($2.49 from $4.99 until 6/20)

That’s all for today, friends. We’ll be back tomorrow with… oh wow, tomorrow is Thursday. Lots of new games, then. We’ll be looking at those, plus whatever sales and big news items roll in over the course of the day. I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday, and as always, thanks for reading!

News

Check Out Today’s Nintendo Direct Presentation

We can do that amusing thing where I try to pretend I saw the Nintendo Direct already. Maybe I can use some rumors to guess at things, suggesting that I already know about certain RPGs or adventure games getting ported to the platform. But it’s an old joke, and we both know I haven’t seen it. If you haven’t, you can watch it right now! I bet there are some cool games in it. We’ll talk about them tomorrow, for sure. I mean, 40 minutes all on games coming to Switch in the back half of this year? There must be some great stuff in there!

Select New Releases

As I have mentioned above, I’m writing this before the Nintendo Direct presentation. You’ll be reading this after, I’m quite sure. Right now when I look at the new release schedule for today, it is (extremely suspiciously for a Tuesday) empty. There will almost certainly be some shadow drops following the Nintendo Direct, and I will catch up on them tomorrow. Regretfully, that’s the best I can do. See you back here tomorrow, hopefully with some tasty new games to dig into.

Sales

(North American eShop, US Prices)

I don’t know how much we’re going to have to allocate to buying some new releases today, but just in case there’s anything left in your pocket, Capcom is looking to fish it out. Good sales on Resident Evil games, and some really good sales on the fighting game bundles. The outbox is even bigger, with sales from the likes of Thunderful and Limited Run Games coming to a close. Buy what you must.

Select New Sales

Chico & the Magic Orchards DX ($2.99 from $4.99 until 6/24)
CounterAttack Uprising ($4.49 from $14.99 until 6/24)
Hot Lap League Deluxe ($1.99 from $19.99 until 6/25)
Rogue Glitch Ultra ($5.99 from $11.99 until 7/1)
Cleaning Queens ($2.99 from $5.99 until 7/1)
Skater XL ($29.99 from $39.99 until 7/1)
Rytmos ($4.50 from $15.00 until 7/4)
Bang-On Balls Chronicles ($9.99 from $24.99 until 7/8)
Everdream Valley ($9.99 from $24.99 until 7/8)
Railway Empire 2 ($39.99 from $49.99 until 7/8)
Figment 2: Creed Valley ($6.24 from $24.99 until 7/8)
Tools Up! ($1.99 from $19.99 until 7/8)
Ready, Steady, Ship! ($8.99 from $14.99 until 7/8)
Mega Man Battle Network Collection ($29.99 from $59.99 until 7/8)
Shinsekai Into The Depths ($9.99 from $19.99 until 7/8)

Ghosts ‘n Goblins Resurrection ($9.99 from $29.99 until 7/8)
Resident Evil 0 ($9.99 from $19.99 until 7/8)
Resident Evil ($9.99 from $19.99 until 7/8)
Resident Evil 4 ($9.99 from $19.99 until 7/8)
Resident Evil 5 ($9.99 from $19.99 until 7/8)
Resident Evil 6 ($9.99 from $19.99 until 7/8)
Resident Evil Revelations ($7.99 from $19.99 until 7/8)
Resident Evil Revelations 2 ($7.99 from $19.99 until 7/8)
Onimusha: Warlords ($7.99 from $19.99 until 7/8)
Devil May Cry ($9.99 from $19.99 until 7/8)
Devil May Cry 2 ($9.99 from $19.99 until 7/8)
Devil May Cry 3 SE ($9.99 from $19.99 until 7/8)
Ultra Street Fighter II ($19.99 from $39.99 until 7/8)
Capcom Fighting Bundle ($19.99 from $59.99 until 7/8)
Capcom Beat ‘Em Up Bundle ($9.99 from $19.99 until 7/8)
Street Fighter 30th Collection ($9.99 from $29.99 until 7/8)
Capcom Fighting Collection ($15.99 from $39.99 until 7/8)

Sales Ending Tomorrow, June 19th

20 Minutes Till Dawn ($3.49 from $4.99 until 6/19)
Arzette: Jewel of Faramore ($13.99 from $19.99 until 6/19)
Cloud Gardens ($3.59 from $17.99 until 6/19)
Corpse Killer 25th Anniversary ($3.74 from $14.99 until 6/19)
Cosmic Star Heroine ($10.49 from $14.99 until 6/19)
Crowns & Pawns: Kingdom of Deceit ($10.99 from $19.99 until 6/19)
Cthulhu Saves Christmas ($6.99 from $9.99 until 6/19)
Curious Expedition ($2.24 from $14.99 until 6/19)
Curious Expedition 2 ($5.99 from $19.99 until 6/19)
Deathwish Enforcers ($16.09 from $22.99 until 6/19)
Devil Slayer Raksasi: IoD ($4.89 from $6.99 until 6/19)
Double Switch 25th Anniversary ($3.74 from $14.99 until 6/19)
Firegirl: Hack ‘n Splash Rescue DX ($2.69 from $17.99 until 6/19)
Game Type DX ($2.99 from $5.99 until 6/19)
Get Packed: Couch Chaos ($2.99 from $14.99 until 6/19)
Giga Wrecker Alt ($1.99 from $24.99 until 6/19)

Jurassic Park Games Collection ($20.99 from $29.99 until 6/19)
LEGO Bricktales ($10.49 from $29.99 until 6/19)
Lonely Mountains Downhill ($5.99 from $19.99 until 6/19)
Night Trap 25th Anniversary ($3.74 from $14.99 until 6/19)
Paper Cut Mansion ($5.99 from $19.99 until 6/19)
Pictooi ($2.49 from $9.99 until 6/19)
Pig Eat Ball ($7.49 from $14.99 until 6/19)
Piggy Gambit ($5.59 from $7.99 until 6/19)
Plumbers Don’t Wear Ties: Definitive ($13.99 from $19.99 until 6/19)
Saturday Morning RPG ($2.49 from $9.99 until 6/19)
Savage Age ($10.49 from $14.99 until 6/19)
Save Me Mr Tako: Definitive ($10.49 from $14.99 until 6/19)
Say No! More ($2.24 from $14.99 until 6/19)
Shapeshooter ($1.99 from $3.99 until 6/19)
Shoot 1UP DX ($2.99 from $5.99 until 6/19)

Source of Madness ($5.99 from $19.99 until 6/19)
SteamWorld Build ($17.99 from $29.99 until 6/19)
SteamWorld Dig ($1.99 from $9.99 until 6/19)
SteamWorld Dig 2 ($3.99 from $19.99 until 6/19)
SteamWorld Heist ($1.99 from $19.99 until 6/19)
SteamWorld Quest ($4.99 from $24.99 until 6/19)
The House in Fata Morgana ($27.99 from $39.99 until 6/19)
The Last Hero of Nostalgia ($14.99 from $24.99 until 6/19)
This Way Madness Lies ($6.99 from $9.99 until 6/19)
Togges ($5.99 from $19.99 until 6/19)
Wavetale ($10.49 from $29.99 until 6/19)
Weapon of Choice DX ($2.99 from $5.99 until 6/19)
Worldless ($13.99 from $19.99 until 6/19)

That’s all for today, friends. We’ll be back tomorrow with the actual news from the Nintendo Direct, plus new releases and sales. I’m keeping my expectations in check given where we’re at in the lifespan of the Nintendo Switch. Hopefully future Shaun enjoyed what he saw. I’ll know when I am him, I suppose. I hope you all have a terrific Tuesday, and as always, thanks for reading!

TouchArcade (TA): Can you tell us who you are, your role on the game, and what your favorite pizza toppings are?

Remy Siu (RS): My name is Remy Siu and I’m the Creative Director at sunset visitor 斜陽過客. My role on 1000xRESIST was guiding the vision, working as a writer with the writers, leading voice-over direction, working directly in Unity building the game (lighting, level flow, audio implementation, etc.), finding money, doing tax credits, and anything else that needed to get done. We’re a pretty small team, so we all wear a bunch of hats!

My favourite pizza toppings are anchovies – if there is anchovy pizza, you bet I’m going to be ordering it.

TA: How did 1000xRESIST get started?

RS: I started on the prototype in March/April 2020, very soon after Canada entered the COVID-19 lockdowns. I was working on a game about retail theft previously, a kind of millennial Breaking Bad set during the dawn of the HDTV era, but the surreal nature of the lockdown pushed me to put that aside and start something new. That new thing was 1000xRESIST.

The prototype of 1000xRESIST covered the first communion in Chapter 1. It was more dreamlike than the final version, partly because I was working on it mostly between the hours of 1am-6am. Had a lot of trouble sleeping during the pandemic!

After finishing the prototype, we were very lucky to find a publisher in Fellow Traveller and funding with the Canada Media Fund. We started the company right into production, throwing away the prototype and beginning everything from scratch on June 1st, 2021.

TA: How would you describe 1000xRESIST, in ten words or less?

RS: A narrative adventure where you experience the cruelty of time.

TA: What were some of the inspirations for the story and setting of 1000xRESIST?

RS: A lot of the story and setting was influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic. This feeling of being alienated from the recent past was something that I wanted to explore. A deep nostalgia for…last year. There was also a lot of death in our lives during development – we are at the age where our grandparents started passing. A major mentor in our community passed. Our dear pets. This feeling that time and history was marching forward relentlessly.

TA: I know one shouldn’t choose their favorite child, but which of the sisters is your favorite and, without spoiling, why?

RS: Knower is my favourite sister to write.

I was speaking to a friend of mine about this, and we’ve been “outcast artists” in more traditional arts organizations before, and it’s this thing you have to learn, to play the system to try and achieve something. All the while, being very worried about being absorbed by that system, and perpetuating things you don’t like about it. I think I ultimately failed at this, because I ejected myself and really wasn’t able to make much of a difference in the end.

This tension of being inside an organization, trying your best to survive in it, but then maybe being eaten by it – that was something I really loved about writing Knower. It’s not clear what her intentions are, or her inner desires.

TA: Is the Moodle real?

RS: Hahaha, I don’t think so! Not YET, anyways. Pinki Li, one of the writers, is the one who came up with the recipe and name. Would love to see someone try to make Moodle, as described. Maybe we should try it and release an actual recipe!

TA: Light spoiler, but what’s the deal with the pigeon?

RS: Unfortunately, I must leave the majesty of the pigeon a mystery.

TA: Outside of the character we directly follow, who was the most challenging one to write and why?

RS: Bang Bang Fire (BBF) was always very challenging to write. We cast the actors before beginning the bulk of the writing, so it helped to have Felicia’s voice in our heads. However, BBF-isms are always difficult to come up with. This kind of awkwardness and willingness to say these strange things, as if she’s communicating 100% intelligibly in her mind. These BBF-isms are somewhat based on how a friend of ours talks. Just these strange and hilarious ways they would give us information. When in doubt, we would always try and recount examples that cracked us up to understand how BBF might say something.

TA: What are some of your favorite games? Have you been playing anything recently?

RS: Some of my favourite games: Final Fantasy 7 OG, Final Fantasy X, Grim Fandango, EverQuest, Star Wars: Galaxies (pre-NRE), Portal 2, Kentucky Route Zero, Nier: Automata, Outer Wilds.

More recent favourites: Perfect Tides, Videoverse, The Case of the Golden Idol, Norco, Pentiment, Unreal Life.

What am I playing recently? I play a lot of From Software games with co-op mods, with my friends. I’m still trying to get through FF7: Rebirth. And like everyone else, I have many many indie games that I want to get to, especially now that I have more time (?).

TA: Bloody Sister, Blue Communion, Inside Sunrise, or Dark ‘n’ Sinful? What’s in those, anyway?

RS: This is a dangerous question, as all these “drinks” are meant to be injected directly into you intravenously, hahaha. Don’t want to provide any recipes. Maybe I can say that Bartender is a real maverick and is willing to try anything.

However, for fun, if we were to compare them to real world cocktails:

Bloody Sister = Bloody Mary
Blue Communion = Sapphire Martini
Inside Sunrise = Tequila Sunrise
Dark ‘n’ Sinful = Dark and Stormy

TA: This is your free space to say anything you want to our readers. The floor’s all yours!

RS: I want to thank everyone who has been supporting the game so far, telling others about it, making podcasts, writing articles, writing posts, long forum analyses, videos, fan art, etc! Since the game is somewhat of a strange object, the word of mouth has been so important. We’re so grateful to all of them! Hekki grace!

A big thank you to Remy for his time and answers, and to the Bens of Fellow Traveller for helping set up this interview. 1000xRESIST is currently available on Steam and Nintendo Switch, and I cannot recommend it enough to anyone who enjoys a good story-based game. Seriously, I won’t shut up about it and it’s starting to annoy the people around me. It’s that good. Thanks for reading, everyone!

Reviews & Mini-Views

RAILBREAK ($19.99)

As regular readers know, I’m not really into horror games in general. Just not my thing. Survival-horror in particular isn’t something I’m into outside of a few of the Resident Evil games. As such, I have very little experience with the Outbreak series. Judging by how many installments there are however, they seem to have found a decent-sized audience. Well, the latest release in the series on the Switch is a spin-off in a genre that is much more enticing to me: an action-packed rail shooter. You know, like that one SEGA game. Alex Kidd or something.

You can choose from several different survivors, each with their own parameters. Head out on your own, bring a buddy for co-op, it’s up to you. If you’re playing handheld you can use touch controls which is a lot of fun, or you can use the analog sticks to point and shoot. Less fun, but it’s fine. There are six scenarios to play through and a handful of extra modes, which adds up to a fairly meaty experience as this kind of thing goes. The gameplay itself is pure House of the Dead-style undead blasting, with (intentionally) terrible voice acting and gore for miles. The pacing is brisk, and you don’t get much time to pick up the many items and power-ups that are strewn about.

Visually, the game looks okay. The character models can look a little plasticky and cheap, and it sometimes feels like the Switch is struggling when things get hot. There are probably better places to play this game, in other words. But if this is your only option, it gets the job done well enough. Honestly, my first impression of the game wasn’t great. I think I was expecting too much. Once I gave it a little time, I found myself enjoying just how… sincere it is? ‘Sincere’ feels like the right word, yes. It knows exactly what it wants to be, and it goes for it like Wile E Coyote after the Road Runner. Like that beleaguered hero (HE IS A HERO), it never quite catches what it’s after, but the journey itself is entertaining.

Railbreak provides an alternative to the House of the Dead Remake for fans of that series on Switch. It offers a decent amount of content, and the core action has a nice feel to it whether you’re playing alone or with a friend. The presentation is where it struggles, and it feels like it might be a bit much for the hardware. I also feel like playing with the sticks is a bit of a pain, but you can obviously only use touch controls when playing solo. If you want a quick hit of zombie-gunning fun, this will do.

SwitchArcade Score: 3.5/5

EGGCONSOLE Sorcerian PC-8801mkIISR ($6.49)

Just once I would like to see a Sorcerian reissue get localized into English. The last time this game saw an English release, and the only time, was with the MS-DOS release in April of 1990. That’s unfortunate, because Sorcerian is both historically important and a lot of fun for a game of its time. Sadly, it has a fair bit of text that you’ll need to be able to read in order to understand the quest goals and puzzle clues, and it’s all in Japanese. There’s a nice little guide in the wrapper that can help you get started with the game, but it’s not really enough this time.

Sorcerian is a good game, albeit one very much of its era. The problem is that like all EGGCONSOLE releases, nothing has been translated in-game from the original Japanese version. Given how much text is involved with this game and how important it is to completing the game’s quests, that’s going to be a hard deal-breaker for many. If you can read Japanese, by all means – the game is enjoyable, and the quality of the wrapper here is as good as other the other releases in the EGGCONSOLE line-up. Everyone else should give this one a pass.

SwitchArcade Score: 3/5

Sales

(North American eShop, US Prices)

Some Shovel Knight sales, presumably to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the game’s release. Buy ’em if you don’t own ’em, they’re all pretty good. If you can only get one, Treasure Trove is essential. A few decent games in the tiny outbox, so give that a look too while you’re out and about.

Select New Sales

Fur Squadron ($3.14 from $6.99 until 6/22)
Bloo Kid ($3.49 from $6.99 until 6/24)
Bloo Kid 2 ($3.49 from $6.99 until 6/24)
Cyber Shadow ($9.99 from $19.99 until 6/28)
Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon ($9.99 from $19.99 until 6/28)
Shovel Knight Dig ($12.49 from $24.99 until 6/28)
Shovel Knight Treasure Trove ($19.99 from $39.99 until 6/28)
Freud’s Bones: The Game ($3.89 from $12.99 until 6/29)
Among Us ($3.00 from $5.00 until 6/30)
Brutalism22 ($2.99 from $9.99 until 6/30)
Frogvival ($2.99 from $9.99 until 6/30)
Bakeborough ($1.99 from $5.99 until 6/30)
Where is Drake? ($2.99 from $9.99 until 6/30)
Venatrix ($1.99 from $14.99 until 7/1)
Block Buster Billy ($4.99 from $9.99 until 7/1)

NIGHTGHAST ($1.99 from $3.49 until 7/1)
Exit Slum 11 ($1.99 from $2.50 until 7/1)
Cats & the Other Lives ($14.99 from $19.99 until 7/3)
Rough Justice ’84 ($11.99 from $19.99 until 7/5)
Godlike Burger ($2.99 from $19.99 until 7/5)
Unrailed! ($4.99 from $19.99 until 7/5)
Zombie Rollerz: Pinball Heroes ($2.24 from $14.99 until 7/5)
Warpips ($2.99 from $19.99 until 7/5)
Inkulinati ($18.74 from $24.99 until 7/5)
My Horse Stories ($2.99 from $7.99 until 7/5)
Baking Time ($1.99 from $4.99 until 7/5)
Froggy Bouncing Adventures ($3.99 from $4.99 until 7/5)
Xeno Crisis ($7.99 from $19.99 until 7/6)
Tiny Little Farm ($1.99 from $9.99 until 7/6)
The Forest Quartet ($1.99 from $9.99 until 7/7)
Sigi ($1.99 from $4.99 until 7/7)

Sales Ending Tomorrow, Tuesday, June 18th

Batman Arkham Trilogy ($35.99 from $59.99 until 6/18)
Freedom Planet 2 ($19.99 from $24.99 until 6/18)
Frogsong ($11.24 from $14.99 until 6/18)
It Takes Two ($19.99 from $39.99 until 6/18)
Mortal Kombat 1 ($27.99 from $69.99 until 6/18)
Penny’s Big Breakaway ($19.79 from $29.99 until 6/18)

That’s all for today, friends. We’ll be back tomorrow with more… whatever we can find. Sales, for sure. It doesn’t look like there are any new releases lined up yet, and I don’t know if I have anything in the review queue. Well, that’s a problem for Future Shaun. Present Shaun is going to head out and play some games. I hope you all have a magnificent Monday, and as always, thanks for reading!

Bright Reappear, $0.99 Holy smokes, this is a big-pants update. I’m awarding the coveted UMMSotW prize to this, because it’s a dramatic overhaul of a game I already enjoyed. There are some new heroes to use: Red Panda and Orc, each with their own elimination method. This adds a lot to the game all on its own, but there are also some improvements to the UI, some expanded or upgraded features, and a ton of bug fixes. Wow! I love having new reasons to fire up games I haven’t touched in a while.

Jetpack Joyride, Free Hm, the update notes for Jetpack Joyride are getting a lot thinner lately. Not sure what to make of that. Anyway, it’s time for a new event in the game. It’s pirate-themed, so collect those Golden Skulls and get your goodies. I think we’ve had this event before, so it’s not really anything to go running up and down the street shouting at the top of your voice about.

PiKuBo - 3D Nonogram Puzzles, Free I already wrote about this one in its own article late last week, but I’m including it here again because it’s my party until the party is over. At any rate, this new update for puzzler PiKuBo has two main elements to it. First, a new puzzle pack of thirty-six puzzles you can buy for a buck. Next, some UI adjustments to make it easier to read the clues on the bricks and get into puzzles a little faster via double-tapping on them from the menu. A nice update all around, and I’m sure we’ll be seeing more puzzle packs for this one for a long time to come.

Disney Magic Kingdoms, Free Yes, I suppose it is about the time for a new update for Disney Magic Kingdoms. Despite it being very summer-like outside, this is apparently a spring-themed update. Characters from Pixar’s A Bug’s Life will be joining the park, along with new attractions and all the usual goodies that come with each event. Flik, Dot, and Atta have to show Hopper the door when he makes an unexpected return. Sure, that’s fine. I feel like A Bug’s Life tends to be overlooked, and to an extent I understand. But it’s one of the best kid-friendly adaptations of The Seven Samurai I can think of, and that is worth something.

MARVEL Future Fight, Free Marvel’s First Family takes the spotlight in the latest update to Marvel Future Fight. Franklin Richards and Valeria Richards join the playable roster, and I don’t even know what Franklin’s powers are anymore. I remember when he was a beyond Omega-level mutant who could bend reality itself, but I’m pretty sure he got nerfed. Or was he un-nerfed? Why have I wasted so many words on Franklin Richards, anyway? Sigh. New Tier-4 (get it?) advancement and uniforms have been added for Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman, and the new Multiverse Saga story has kicked off. There are also some new collectible Emblems. Every time I think this game is heading for the door, it orders another drink. Well, I won’t complain.

Hello Kitty Island Adventure, I’m not sure if the license handcuffs them from saying exactly what this event is or if there is some other reason, but Kitty and friends are celebrating Pride Month in the game’s latest update. The Paper Parade has arrived, and Tuxedosam is building his own float. Help him out by collecting Paper Crafts and add them to the float. You’ll be rewarded for helping out, and since this is a single-float parade you’ll be making sure the whole event goes off as best as it possibly can.

Sonic Dream Team, More levels! That’s what I like to see from a Sonic Dream Team update, and that’s what we get here. Specifically, more Sweet Dreams levels. There’s also a new Jukebox mode. You can collect music tracks from across the Dream World and listen to them. Finally, there’s a new special level waiting at the end of the Sweet Dreams Zone, and it’s a very spicy meatball. Bring your A-game if you plan to tackle it, because it isn’t fooling around! Not bad, not bad at all.

Honkai Impact 3rd, Free Look – close enough, okay? Shaun wants a hot dinner tonight. There’s a new S-Rank PSY-type Battlesuit available in the game, the Lone Destruction: Shadowchaser. Also in this update: a new main story chapter, a new event, a couple of new outfits, some new weapons, and some new stigmata. Most of this stuff is connected to that new Battlesuit, so I sure hope you like it or else there isn’t a whole ton in this update for you. Enough to keep you going until the next one, at least. Maybe that’s all it needs to be.

Merge Mansion, Free Taking the position of the obligatory free-to-play matching puzzle game update for this week is Merge Mansion. You can look forward to a whole new area this time around, the Secret Society. That sounds very… super-villain. What is Grandma up to this time? This update also includes some improvements for Secret Supply, seeds in special events for the month, and does some of those oh-so-lovely bug fixes and enhancements. Alright, moving on.

Diablo Immortal, Free Okay, Diablo Immortal seems like a good way to bring this to a close. The new summer update, titled Writhing Abyss, is officially on. There are two new PvE challenges, four new Helliquary bosses to tackle, and a new Runes progression system included. There is also a new Phantom Market, and some recurring events. Also some new stuff to blow real money on, but that’s the nature of the beast, isn’t it?

That about wraps it up for last week’s significant updates. I’m sure I’ve missed some, though, so please feel free to comment below and let everyone know if you think something should be mentioned. As usual, major updates will likely get their own news stories throughout this week, and I’ll be back next Monday to summarize and fill in the blanks. Have a great week!

Select New Releases

Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance ($59.99)

Oops, Atlus did it again! It played with our hearts, released an enhanced version game. It might seem like a rerun, like it’s not worth another buy, but it’s not that simple! Okay, so yes, it happened again. Atlus released a game, and now it is releasing a special shiny version of that game that you’ll have to pay full price for even if you own the original. Is it worth it? Our pal Mikhail assures me it is, so long as you enjoyed what you played in the base game. I haven’t tried it yet, but given how much I enjoyed the vanilla game, I’ll be looking into it as soon as possible.

Monster Hunter Stories ($29.99)

Well, we already have the second game on Switch. Might as well add the first one, too. I have a lot of fondness for this game despite some of its rough edges, and I think it holds up really nicely. It was originally built for a considerably more limited console, but it still manages a bit of spectacle. Curiously though, this Switch version doesn’t run as smoothly as one might expect. It’s not bad, but if you were hoping for silky smooth gameplay due to this being a 3DS transplant, you’re going to have to readjust your expectations.

Railbreak ($19.99)

An on-rails shooter where you get to blast away zombies? This might be the only zombie usage I’m interested in these days. This game knows exactly what it’s aiming at, and it might do a better job of it than the actual remake of that game you can buy on the eShop. I’ll be doing a review of this one soon, so I’ll let you know for sure.

Bug & Seek ($14.99)

This seems like a pretty neat thing for those who are into bugs enough to play a slow-life game built entirely around them. Catch up to 220 real-life bugs, fill out a compendium and insect zoo with them, and try to restart the troubled economy of BuggBurg. There are lots of interesting NPCs to interact with, and even a big mystery to solve. I’ll give it credit for putting a different spin on this well-worn genre.

Agnostiko Origins ($24.99)

An action game set in a steampunk version of 1890s Philippines that leans heavily into Pinoy folklore? I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t interested, but it’s an unknown developer and the price is a little high. The trailer looks really rough, but not exactly in a bad way? I don’t know. I’ll have to investigate further.

The Great Adventures of Nedmapagmahal ($19.99)

Your guess is as good as mine.

Froggy Bouncing Adventures ($4.99)

This is exactly what the title says. You get sixty levels spread across four worlds, and there are twenty hats you can unlock for the frog. That settles the five-dollar platformer for today.

A Fragile Mind ($5.99)

Another first-person escape room-style puzzle adventure from the entertaining folks at Glitch Games. If you’ve liked the other titles from them, you’ll probably enjoy this one. If you’ve never played one before but like to solve puzzles, you might like this one. A world of options in front of you, I say.

Bunny e-Shop ($12.99)

A trade war has erupted between monsters and humans, and you’re a rabbit spirit just trying to run your online store in all this mess. You sell carrots and radishes, which seems like a very rabbit-like thing to do. One of those business sim games, though the aesthetic and theme are obviously going to be hit or miss depending on your tastes.

Sales

(North American eShop, US Prices)

Quite a lot of new sales today, with some indies that used to be on sale every other week but recently haven’t popped up. Well, here they are! Perhaps the bigger concern is what is happening in the outbox, and I’ve done something a little different from usual here. The big MEGA HYPER TURBO RAD TO THE MAX sale is finishing Monday, so if you’re going to grab any of those games this weekend is the time to do it. Check both lists!

Select New Sales

Demon’s Tilt ($9.99 from $19.99 until 6/21)
Super Crush KO ($4.49 from $14.99 until 6/21)
Thunder Ray ($8.24 from $14.99 until 6/28)
Danmaku Unlimited 3 ($4.99 from $9.99 until 6/28)
Golazo 2: Soccer Cup 2022 ($3.19 from $15.98 until 6/28)
Gaokao.Love.100Days ($5.99 from $11.99 until 7/1)
The Sinking City: Deluxe ($9.74 from $64.99 until 7/4)
A Knight’s Quest ($3.74 from $24.99 until 7/4)
Vambrace: Cold Soul ($2.99 from $24.99 until 7/4)
Pumpkin Jack ($6.89 from $29.99 until 7/4)
Green Hell ($3.74 from $24.99 until 7/4)
Hotshot Racing ($2.99 from $19.99 until 7/4)
Towaga: Among Shadows ($2.24 from $14.99 until 7/4)
Rigid Force Redux ($3.99 from $19.99 until 7/4)
MONOBOT ($3.89 from $12.99 until 7/4)

We Need to Go Deeper ($9.99 from $19.99 until 7/4)
UNABLES ($6.49 from $12.99 until 7/4)
Turnip Boy Robs a Bank ($10.49 from $14.99 until 7/4)
Flooded ($3.24 from $12.99 until 7/4)
Dr Fetus’ Mean Meat Machine ($2.99 from $9.99 until 7/4)
Alekon ($2.39 from $15.99 until 7/4)
Hello Kitty & Friends Happiness Parade ($1.99 from $19.99 until 7/4)
Embr ($3.99 from $19.99 until 7/4)
Just Die Already ($2.99 form $14.99 until 7/4)
Sifu ($15.99 from $39.99 until 7/4)
Hell Pie ($7.49 from $24.99 until 7/4)
Arkanoid Eternal Battle ($2.99 from $19.99 until 7/4)
The House of the Dead Remake ($6.24 from $24.99 until 7/4)
Watch ($3.59 from $5.99 until 7/4)
Alfred Hitchcock Vertigo ($3.99 from $19.99 until 7/4)

Gigapocalypse ($1.99 from $9.99 until 7/4)
The Quest for Excalibur Puy du Fou ($5.99 from $29.99 until 7/4)
Gibbon: Beyond the Trees ($7.49 from $14.99 until 7/4)
Horse Tales: Emerald Valley Ranch ($13.99 from $39.99 until 7/4)
Silver Chains ($1.99 from $24.99 until 7/4)
My Universe: Cooking Star Restaurant ($1.99 from $29.99 until 7/4)
Zombie’s Cool ($1.99 from $3.99 until 7/4)
Beholder: Complete Edition ($2.24 from $14.99 until 7/4)
Velocity 2X ($2.99 from $19.99 until 7/4)
Phantom Doctrine ($2.99 from $19.99 until 7/4)
Q-Yo Blaster ($2.49 from $9.99 until 7/4)
Thief Simulator ($2.99 from $19.99 until 7/4)
For The King ($4.99 from $24.99 until 7/4)
Motorsport Manager ($2.99 from $14.99 until 7/4)
Hard West ($2.99 from $19.99 until 7/4)
Truberbrook ($1.99 from $29.99 until 7/4)

Pumped BMX Pro ($2.24 from $14.99 until 7/4)
When Ski Lifts Go Wrong ($2.24 from $14.99 until 7/4)
Ancestors Legacy ($9.99 from $39.99 until 7/4)
Cooking Simulator ($2.99 from $19.99 until 7/4)
Highrise Heroes: Word Challenge ($1.99 from $7.99 until 7/4)
Panzer Dragoon Remake ($2.49 from $24.99 until 7/4)
Hue ($2.49 from $9.99 until 7/4)
Bomber Crew ($2.99 from $19.99 until 7/4)
American Fugitive ($2.99 from $19.99 until 7/4)
The Swindle ($2.24 from $14.99 until 7/4)
Runbow ($2.99 from $14.99 until 7/4)
Human: Fall Flat ($5.99 from $19.99 until 7/4)
DragonFangZ: TR&DoT ($9.99 from $24.99 until 7/4)
Slime-san: Superslime Edition ($2.39 from $11.99 until 7/4)
Syberia ($1.99 from $12.99 until 7/4)
Adventure Field Remake ($3.24 from $4.99 until 7/5)
Frowntown ($8.44 from $12.99 until 7/5)
100 Demon Fantasia ($6.49 from $9.99 until 7/5)

Sales Ending This Weekend (Including Monday)

CLeM ($3.99 from $15.99 until 6/15)
Game Dev Tycoon ($7.49 from $14.99 until 6/15)
Owlboy ($9.99 from $24.99 until 6/15)
Advance Wars 1 + 2 Reboot Camp ($41.99 from $59.99 until 6/17)
Aeterna Noctis ($11.99 from $29.99 until 6/17)
Animal Crossing: New Horizons ($41.99 from $59.99 until 6/17)
Arcadia: Colony ($9.98 from $14.99 until 6/17)
Astral Chain ($41.99 from $59.99 until 6/17)
Bayonetta 3 ($41.99 from $59.99 until 6/17)
Bayonetta Origins ($41.99 from $59.99 until 6/17)
Bravely Default II ($41.99 from $59.99 until 6/17)
Chasm ($6.99 from $19.99 until 6/17)
Cirrus Business ($3.49 from $6.99 until 6/17)
Clone Drone in the Danger Zone ($7.99 from $19.99 until 6/17)
Daemon X Machina ($41.99 from $59.99 until 6/17)

Dark Souls Remastered ($19.99 from $39.99 until 6/17)
DC Super Hero Girls: Teen Power ($41.99 from $59.99 until 6/17)
Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze ($39.99 from $59.99 until 6/17)
Dragon Quest Builders ($34.99 from $49.99 until 6/17)
Dragon Quest Builders 2 ($34.99 from $49.99 until 6/17)
Dragon Quest XI S: DE ($34.99 from $49.99 until 6/17)
Fashion Dreamer ($34.99 from $49.99 until 6/17)
Figment 1 + Figment 2 ($7.99 from $39.99 until 6/17)
Fire Emblem Engage ($41.99 from $59.99 until 6/17)
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity ($41.99 from $59.99 until 6/17)
Kirby & the Forgotten Land ($41.99 from $59.99 until 6/17)
Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening ($41.99 from $59.99 until 6/17)
Live A Live ($34.99 from $49.99 until 6/17)
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 ($41.99 from $59.99 until 6/17)
New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe ($39.99 from $59.99 until 6/17)

No More Heroes 3 ($24.99 from $49.99 until 6/17)
Splatoon 3 ($41.99 from $59.99 until 6/17)
Summum Aeterna ($11.99 from $19.99 until 6/17)
Super Adventure Hand ($9.74 from $12.99 until 6/17)
Super Mario Odyssey ($39.99 from $59.99 until 6/17)
Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido ($34.99 from $49.99 until 6/17)
Tokyo Mirage Sessions ($41.99 from $59.99 until 6/17)
Triangle Strategy ($41.99 from $59.99 until 6/17)
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 ($41.99 from $59.99 until 6/17)
Xenoblade Chronicles DE ($41.99 from $59.99 until 6/17)

That’s all for today and this week, friends. We’ll be back next week with more new games, more sales, more reviews, and I have a sneaky suspicion there might be a lot of news as well. My hospital visit today went as well as it could, so I’m afraid you’ll all have to put up with me a bit longer. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and as always, thanks for reading!

The most obvious thing in this update is that like in the one before it, new puzzles can be purchased. One new puzzle pack, filled to the brim with thirty-six lovely 3D objects to chisel out, awaits. You’ll have to drop $0.99 for the pleasure, but that’s like three cents a puzzle. That’s a wild value, if you ask me. Three cents can’t even get you a gummi bear anymore. Not even one of those super-small ones that is barely big enough to crest two teeth.

The other elements of this new version are found in the UI, and they are there for all to enjoy without paying more. The top and bottom hints on the puzzle cubes will now rotate based on the orientation you’re viewing them at, which should make things a lot more readable at a glance. In addition you can now choose a puzzle by double-tapping on it. You can still use the old method of choosing it and then hitting the Go button if you like. The choices are a-plenty in these woods.

Finally, a bug was fixed. Oh no, that’s way too short for one paragraph. Um. It was a rendering issue, apparently. Parents didn’t raise him right, and he went bad. Started displaying text incorrectly in the pause menu. There was nothing they could do. He had to be taken down.  Let this be a lesson to all other bugs out there: you won’t win. Don’t try to be a cowboy about it. And that’s a paragraph!

Well, that’s about enough of my nonsense. PiKuBo! Fun game. New puzzle pack DLC with thirty-six levels to play. Sensible UI adjustments. Bug taken out back and escorted off the property. Not much more to say than that, so I’ll just be on my way. Shaun… out!

This OTA update hits a wide array of targets, but if it seems to have one deck in particular in mind, it’s the Hela Discard deck that has been running rampant for a while now. The first of the changes sees Hela’s ability weakened. Now when she brings back discarded cards, they’ll take a -2 Power penalty. Frankly, a small setback for this card. Black Knight’s Ebony Blade loses its aspect that prevents its Power from being reduced, too. And perhaps slightly related but more of a general change, Red Hulk goes from 6-Cost 9-Power with a +4 gain from his ability to 6-Cost 10-Power with a +3 gain from his ability. He’s now in Shang-Chi strike range and has less potential Power. Ouch.

The next kind of deck that is being tweaked here is the Lockdown type. Professor X is a staple of these decks, given he is the Lockdown king. Or, he was. Charles gains a point of power, now a 5-Cost 2-Power card instead of a 5-Cost 1-Power card, but the nerf to his ability is considerable. Instead of a full Lockdown on a location, his ability now offers a loophole for moving cards in and out of the spot. I… think this ruins Chuck? There were already good tools for countering him, so I don’t know that this was really necessary.

Following closely behind, Cannonball is taking a mild hit. He loses a point of power, going from 5-Cost 8-Power to 5-Cost 7-Power. His ability remains unchanged for now. This is another one that I question the need for, as Cannonball’s main use was as a chaser for Professor X and those days are now finished. In other move news, Stegron gets a buff and his ability is now more predictable. He goes from 4-Cost 6-Power to 4-Cost 7-Power, and his ability now specifically moves an enemy card one location to the right. This is probably going to work in his favor, but we’ll see how it shakes out.

A few more buffs round things out. Gilgamesh is the current Season Pass card, but you wouldn’t know it from playing the game. I’ve barely seen him show up at all, and I guess I’m not the only one as he is moving from 5-Cost 7-Power to 5-Cost 9-Power with no changes to his ability. Shanna and Captain America also enjoy some stat buffs. Shanna goes from 3-Cost 2-Power to 3-Cost 4-Power, and Cap goes from 3-Cost 2-Power to 3-Cost 3-Power. No changes to either character’s ability.

So what does this all add up to? My prediction is that Hela Discard decks will keep right on marching, with perhaps the addition of Luke Cage to remove the power penalty to Hela’s resurrections and potential losses for the Ebony Blade. Professor X is in big trouble now, while Cannonball and Red Hulk will likely maintain their popularity even slightly weakened. The Gilgamesh buff is absolutely needed, and I think it’s okay to give Stegron, Shanna, and Captain America a little extra power and see what happens.

It’s one of those balance updates where you can understand most of the changes, but it’s going to really sting for people who have built their strategy around Professor X. And just from a narrative standpoint, I feel like the new implementation of Charles’ ability doesn’t really capture his power. Well, what can you do? What do you think of this update? Let us know in the comments below!

Select New Releases

Astrune Academy ($14.99)

This is where we are at during these lazy days waiting for the next video presentation: headlining a Thursday with a KEMCO/EXE-CREATE RPG. This one is about magical girls at a magic academy. Perhaps they’ll save the world along the way? That seems quite likely, given the usual pattern. Anyway, the usual provisos are in place. You can get this at around half the price on mobile if you don’t mind playing there, but I think there’s value in the button controls here so you do you.

Arcade Archives Vs Star Luster ($7.99)

So, you know Atari’s Star Raiders? The cool space action/adventure game created by Doug Neubauer for Atari’s 8-bit computers and then ported to various other platforms? Imagine that, but on the Nintendo Entertainment System, but then ported to the arcade. Look, Star Luster is fine. It’s a fun game, even if Namco did a terrible job of hiding its source of inspiration here. But there aren’t many differences between this and the version you can find in the frequently deeply-discounted Namco Museum Archives, so I recommend buying that instead.

EGGCONSOLE Sorcerian PC-8801mkIISR ($6.49)

We’re just jumping all over the Dragon Slayer series now, aren’t we? We got the second game, the fourth game, and now the fifth game. Sorcerian is a very well-regarded game in Japan, but it has rarely been localized for the Western market. And unfortunately, that is the case here as well. This isn’t a game drenched in text, but the quest descriptions are completely in Japanese and are probably necessary to comprehend to actually get anywhere. I’ll review this one as I always do, but I’d tread cautiously if you can’t understand Japanese.

Willy’s Wonderland – The Game ($4.99)

Hmm. QUByte sometimes makes games that are more fun than they appear to be, and I hope that is the case here. It’s a beat-em-up that is clearly inspired by Five Nights at Freddy’s, tasking you with punching the heck out of rampant animatronics. There are two different characters to use, and you can play with a friend via local multiplayer. I’ll stick to my old reliables, but I can easily imagine some taking the cheap punt on this. Let us know how that goes for you if you do.

Monolith ($14.99)

Tessa Carter is a space explorer trapped in a dangerous world. You have to help her escape in this point-and-click style adventure game. You get some nice looking visuals, and a sassy robot sidekick. What more do you need? These is the team behind the Secret Files and Lost Horizon series of adventure games, so if you liked those then I think you’ve got a solid chance of being happy with this one too.

Path to Purge ($14.99)

A roguelite shooter that is inexplicably selling on Switch for three times the price it’s going for on Steam. Okay as a cheap bit of fun, but at this price it’s a no way, Jose.

Sales

(North American eShop, US Prices)

Certainly a better selection than yesterday, with games like Dungeon of the Endless, Furi, and Wingspan trying to grab a few of your dollars. The outbox is housing a few shooters among other things. Nothing super-interesting there, but you might as well check it after going through the new stuff.

Select New Sales

Arcadia: Colony ($9.98 from $14.99 until 6/17)
Furi ($7.99 from $19.99 until 6/25)
Haven ($9.99 from $24.99 until 6/25)
Squids Odyssey ($2.24 from $14.99 until 6/25)
Dungeon of the Endless ($3.99 from $19.99 until 6/26)
The Sorrowvirus ($3.74 from $14.99 until 6/28)
Burrow of the Fallen Bear ($6.99 from $19.99 until 6/28)
Until the Last Plane ($3.49 from $9.99 until 6/28)
Alpha Particle ($3.99 from $9.99 until 6/28)
Diorama Dungeoncrawl ($3.99 from $9.99 until 6/28)
Mugen Souls Double Pack ($45.49 from $69.99 until 6/28)
Recursion ($2.39 from $7.99 until 7/1)
Veritas ($3.59 from $11.99 until 7/1)
A Short Tale ($1.99 from $5.99 until 7/1)
Ferris Mueller’s Day Off ($1.99 from $5.99 until 7/1)

Station 117 ($2.09 from $6.99 until 7/1)
Incoherence ($2.09 from $6.99 until 7/1)
Forever Lost: Episode 1 ($1.99 from $4.99 until 7/1)
Drift Legacy ($1.99 from $19.99 until 7/1)
Wingspan ($9.99 from $19.99 until 7/3)
STAB STAB STAB! ($2.99 from $9.99 until 7/3)
Immortal Planet ($4.49 from $14.99 until 7/3)
Cook, Serve, Delicious! 2!! ($2.00 from $12.99 until 7/3)
Thea: The Awakening ($5.39 from $17.99 until 7/3)
Fight Club ($4.49 from $14.99 until 7/3)
Die for Valhalla! ($3.59 from $11.99 until 7/3)
Steamburg ($1.99 from $4.99 until 7/3)
The Smurfs 2 ($19.99 from $39.99 until 7/4)
Survivor Castaway Island ($14.99 from $29.99 until 7/4)

Sales Ending Tomorrow, June 14th

Bot Gaiden ($5.99 from $14.99 until 6/14)
BroodStar ($3.30 from $11.00 until 6/14)
Dreamcutter ($9.89 from $14.99 until 6/14)
Dungeonoid 2 Awakening ($5.84 from $8.99 until 6/14)
GyroBlade ($3.74 from $4.99 until 6/14)
Horizon Chase 2 ($19.99 from $24.99 until 6/14)
Moero Crystal H ($19.99 from $39.99 until 6/14)
Omen of Sorrow ($9.99 from $19.99 until 6/14)
Rainbow Skies ($9.99 from $19.99 until 6/14)
Seaside Driving ($2.49 from $4.99 until 6/14)
Super Woden GP ($5.99 from $11.99 until 6/14)
Sword & Fairy Inn 2 ($12.99 from $19.99 until 6/14)
TP Bullet ($3.99 from $4.99 until 6/14)
Wings of Bluestar ($5.99 from $14.99 until 6/14)

That’s all for today, friends. We’ll be back tomorrow with the remaining releases of the week, which are actually considerably more interesting than what we saw today. Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance and Monster Hunter Stories are leading the charge, and there’s an assortment of other stuff in the mix as well. We’ll also have whatever new sales roll in during the course of the day, plus any interesting news that pops up. I have to go to the fancy hospital for some scary tests, but as long nothing goes too badly I should be home with plenty of time to do the article. I hope you all have a thrilling Thursday, and as always, thanks for reading!

Super Mario Galaxy ($Godspeed)

Let’s get it out of the way right away. Super Mario Galaxy, as part of Super Mario 3D All-Stars, brought one of the best Wii games to the Switch in excellent fashion. It’s an incredible game, and it’s amazing just how little of a facelift it takes to make it look like a modern game. The controls didn’t perfectly map as you might like, but they’re good enough to get the job done. Alas, Nintendo has delisted this in both digital and physical form, so you’ll have to get one of the ten million physical copies that are out there somewhere in the world if you want to play it.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD ($59.99)

Skyward Sword is an odd link in the Legend of Zelda chain. While we couldn’t see it at the time it first came out, it’s an important step towards what we got in Breath of the Wild. That doesn’t help wallpaper over its many flaws, but in knowing where things eventually went it’s at least easier to understand some of its quirks. This Switch version does its best to improve the game without making too many dramatic changes, and if nothing else being able to control the sword with the second stick instead of using motion controls helps. It’s as good a Skyward Sword as we’re going to get, and that’s not nothing.

Kirby’s Return to Dreamland Deluxe ($59.99)

A pretty extensive overhaul of a great Wii game that many slept on, Kirby’s Return to Dreamland Deluxe adds some interesting new stuff to an already solid game to create an adventure no Kirby fan can resist. Kirby has had a handful of games on the Switch, and they’ve run the gamut from the tepid (Star Allies) to the terrific (Forgotten Land), but Return to Dreamland Deluxe ensures that we have at least one high-quality side-scroller featuring the pink puff to enjoy.

No More Heroes ($19.99)

See also: No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle. In the lead-up to the release of the over-the-top third installment in the No More Heroes series, both of the previous games got ported to the Switch. The games are both a lot of fun, but if you had to pick one I’d say the original is where it’s at. It introduces the ever-charming Travis Touchdown and what it lacks in polish it makes up for in sheer enthusiasm. Just a good silly time, and I’m happy it got a rerelease on the Switch.

Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition ($59.99)

Some of these games got more improvements than others in their journey to the Switch, but Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition is probably the biggest glow-up of them all. A full-on remake of the first game in the series, done up to the standards of Xenoblade 2, this allows us to not only play the whole main trilogy on one platform, it actually strengthens the link between them in almost all respects. Arguably the best game of the three, and a fully uncompromised experience on the Switch.

Chocobo’s Mystery Dungeon EVERY BUDDY! ($39.99)

Here’s another excellent conversion, and again it’s a game that I felt flew under the radar for many. Sadly, it seems to have done the same on Switch. If you’re looking for a slightly lower-pressure roguelike on the Switch with plenty of Final Fantasy fanservice and a mind-blowing soundtrack, check out Chocobo’s Mystery Dungeon EVERY BUDDY!. It’s even yelling its new subtitle to try to get you to notice it. Don’t you want to be its BUDDY? Take it from someone who already is among the EVERY BUDDYs, it’s a club worth joining.

Another Code: Recollection ($59.99)

Okay, this is a bit of a cheat. Half of this game is a DS game ported to the Switch, but the other half is a Wii game. Two games in one, really. But are they good games? Well, I won’t pretend they’re masterpieces that you should run out and play right away, but the puzzles are clever and the stories are engaging enough. There’s a very particular vibe to the Another Code games, and while the original developer is long gone, the team that handled this remake did that aspect justice. Perhaps the most unlikely of all of these games to get a port.

A Boy and His Blob ($14.99)

A Boy and His Blob is one of those ideas that is so good that it’s a shame it isn’t revisited more often. The multipurpose Blob as a puzzle-solving tool is great in a mechanical sense but also works to drive the character work and narrative. WayForward’s take on the concept is softer and kinder in many ways than the quirky original, and it’s well-worth playing if you want some good vibes from a puzzle platformer. It takes to the Switch well, too.

De Blob 2 ($29.99)

If I had a nickel for every game involving a blob on this list, I’d have ten cents. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice. Overused memes aside, De Blob 2 is a very good game. I feel like a lot of people haven’t played it, and I get it. Looking at it, it almost seems to be one of the million throwaway platformers that era produced. But it’s actually quite fresh and fun with its color-mixing mechanics, and I think anyone who enjoys a good platformer will have a great time here.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed ($19.99)

What list can’t benefit from the presence of a Star Wars game? When bringing The Force Unleashed to the Switch, Aspyr probably had to make the choice of which version would be best. Some weren’t pleased that it went with the Wii version as the basis for the port, but I think it carries itself well enough. Odds are reasonably good that any given reader has played this game in some form or another, but if you haven’t, it’s certainly worth going back to. It’s a fun game with a nice Star Wars feel.

And… 5 Wii Games We’d Like to See on Switch

Super Mario Galaxy 2

There are people who prefer this to Super Mario Galaxy. Sometimes I’m one of them. Given how great the first game is, that speaks loud volumes. While at its core this is just more Super Mario Galaxy, the team’s experience in making that game is clearly on display here with some wildly creative stage designs and a nice difficulty curve. And it has Yoshi! Who doesn’t like to see Yoshi show up in a Mario game? This is the only home console 3D Mario game that you can’t play on the Switch, and it would be great to see that changed.

Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars

It’s my list, and I can make unreasonable demands if I want to. Yes, Marvel Vs. Capcom is by and large a better series with more globally appealing characters, but Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom has a lot of its own unique charms and it feels criminal that it was landlocked to a single console. The roster is really fun, with the likes of Mega Man Volnutt, Yatterman-1, Casshan, Frank West, and Zero providing a variety of playstyles and cool animations. I’ll take a port or, better still, an expanded follow-up.

Excitebots: Trick Racing

One of the more enjoyable launch titles for the Wii was the unassuming racer Excite Truck, and it’s a game I certainly got a lot of satisfaction from. I ended up sleeping on its follow-up, Excitebots: Trick Racing, when it came out. I wasn’t the only one, it seems. The game apparently massively underperformed, putting an end to this short side-trip for the Excite franchise. I picked it up a few years after for a very low price, and my earlier mistake was apparent. This game is an absolute blast, and it deserves another chance.

The Last Story

Apart from the first of these picks, there is a theme to what I’m including. This is another game that got overlooked due to the part of the console’s lifespan it released in. An ignoble end for what is to date the last console game worked on by Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, to be sure. The Last Story isn’t Final Fantasy, but it’s an enjoyable role-playing adventure with a lot of cool ideas. Xenoblade took off under similar circumstances, and I think this one has a good chance of doing so too if given the opportunity.

Trauma Team

Atlus: it used to make a lot of things that weren’t related to Persona or Shin Megami Tensei! One of those things was this series of games based on and around hospitals. Trauma Team is a mix of visual novel-style scenes and a variety of minigames focused around specific aspects of medical diagnosis and treatment. Each of the game’s chapters stars its own character, and they all come together in the thrilling finale. This would be a tricky port due to its reliance on the special controls the Wii offered, but I have to believe there is some way to do it.

And that’s the list, friends. Are there any Nintendo Wii games you enjoy on the Switch? Any you would like to see? Feel free to sound off down in the comments and let us know what you’re thinking! It’s always interesting to hear the opinions of others on this kind of thing, especially for a console with so many unconventional titles as the Wii. Thanks for reading!

Select New Releases

Lesson Learned ($9.99)

It’s a tower defense game set across six different time periods, all done up in a cartoony style. Play alone or with a friend in local multiplayer. That really isn’t enough to fill out a description, is it? But there isn’t much else to say about it. Looking around at what little feedback I can see about this on the internet, it seems like it has a lot of resource gathering, making it more of a mash-up of tower defense and parts of Don’t Starve. Well, do with it what you will.

Roxy Raccoon’s Pinball Panic ($9.99)

I feel like it’s always a struggle to an extent for games like this to find a place among the Pinball FX and Zaccaria Pinballs of the Switch library, but I suppose it’s worth a shot. This is a mission-based pinball game, one with twenty-eight tables to play. There are also thirty mini-games in case you get tired of the story mode, and unlockable cosmetics you can affix to the titular trash panda. It certainly has the volume, so if you’re interested by the idea of a slightly more video game-ish take on pinball, this might be worth looking into.

Sales

(North American eShop, US Prices)

Phew, that’s… not helping me extend this article, is it? Four sales in the inbox worth caring about, and while I will never look down on a deal for Cook, Serve, Delicious!, it’s not exactly a bold selection to consider. And then over in the outbox… also not a whole lot. Paranormasight, Regency Solitaire, and even the Double Dragon & Kunio-kun Retro Brawler Bundle are all worth thinking about, but we’ve seen them on sale before and we’ll see them again. Have a look over both “lists" and see for yourself, I suppose.

Select New Sales

Tiny Troopers Joint Ops XL ($2.07 from $12.99 until 6/26)
The Last Worker ($7.99 from $19.99 until 6/26)
Close to the Sun ($4.99 from $24.99 until 6/26)
Cook, Serve, Delicious! ($5.19 from $12.99 until 7/2)

Sales Expiring Tomorrow, June 13th

Double Dragon/Kunio-kun: Brawler Bundle ($19.99 from $39.99 until 6/13)
Ginsha ($12.81 from $17.80 until 6/13)
Hero’s Hour ($12.05 from $17.99 until 6/13)
Paranormasight ($11.99 from $19.99 until 6/13)
Planet of Lana ($15.99 from $19.99 until 6/13)
Regency Solitaire ($2.99 from $11.99 until 6/13)
River City Saga: Three Kindgoms ($20.99 from $29.99 until 6/13)

That’s all for today, friends. Tomorrow is Thursday, so things should be a little bit busier around here. Several new releases, at the bare minimum. Perhaps some news. Likely some sales. Should be a good time. I’m feeling a bit under the weather, but I’m holding together. I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday, and as always, thanks for reading!

Reviews & Mini-Views

Rocket Knight Adventures: Re-Sparked ($29.99)

I will admit, I haven’t been overly impressed with the Carbon Engine releases from Limited Run Games. The emulation has sometimes had some odd issues. The standard suite of features and options hasn’t been particularly extensive. The generic UI has been applied too frequently, making releases feel like they’ve fallen off the assembly line. For all the talking up of the Carbon Engine from LRG’s camp, most releases using it have felt decidedly middle-of-the-road and workmanlike, more Ratalaika than M2.

That had me a bit concerned for Rocket Knight Adventures: Re-Sparked. I can’t say I terribly mind if Felix the Cat or Bill & Ted get thrown in generic hot dog wrappers, but a Rocket Knight Adventures collection deserves better than that. Previous Konami collections on Switch have been handled by the likes of M2, Hamster, and Digital Eclipse. The best of the best, in other words, and it was hard not to be a little disappointed when I found out this set was going to be a Carbon Engine release.

Well, I’ll give Limited Run some credit here. It feels like this collection has had a little more oomph put behind it. Instead of the same old menu, we’ve got a nice custom job here complete with an animated opening. From here we can fire up any of the three included games: Rocket Knight Adventures (SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive), Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2 (SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive), and Sparkster (Super NES). There’s a Museum section with scans of the boxes, manuals, and ads for the games, plus some design documents and videos. There’s also a music player where you can listen to any of the tunes from the three games. Each game also features a special Boss Rush mode you can select in lieu of playing normally; a cute little extra.

In-game, the options are the norm for Carbon Engine. There’s a rewind feature that thankfully works a bit better than the one seen in some previous releases. You can save your game at any time, though each game only offers one save state. You can turn on a CRT filter if you like, and a number of screen size and ratio selections are on offer. There are several borders to choose from to fill out the rest of the display utilizing various pieces of Rocket Knight art. The Super NES game allows you to turn on a Boost Mode, and I’m presuming that reduces slowdown. It doesn’t tell you what it does, so I can only guess. And that’s it! Not bad, really only missing control remapping.

As far as I’ve been able to tell, the emulation is fine here. If there are any issues, I didn’t notice them. So that’s nice. That leaves us with the games, and what a marvelous trio they are. The first game, Rocket Knight Adventures, is the best of the lot. It’s a tough game, but the play controls are great, the rocket pack proves to be a fun gimmick, and the presentation is outstanding. Konami was a fountain of creativity in this era, and Rocket Knight Adventures demonstrates that perfectly.

Likely with the desire to sell more than two copies in Japan, Konami decided to put the sequel to Rocket Knight on both the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive and the Super NES. So, this is the same game twice, right? Maybe more colors on the Super NES, less cropping on the Mega Drive? No, those wild folks at Konami went and made two distinct games, each one taking advantage of its respective platform. And they’re both really good, though I do prefer the Super NES one to the Mega Drive one by a possum’s nose. Really though, they’re both solid action games and are plenty of fun. Three great games in one set, and they’re all different from each other.

Outside of including the middling 2010 Rocket Knight and adding in more save states, I can’t really think of many ways Rocket Knight Adventures: Re-Sparked could be better. If you know and love the games, you can pick up this set without fear and relive your happy memories. If you’ve never played them before, I think the three high-quality games in this set represent a solid value for fans of 2D platformers. I’m glad this turned out okay, both for fans of Sparkster and those who are about to become one.

SwitchArcade Score: 4.5/5

Select New Releases

Rocket Knight Adventures: Re-Sparked ($29.99)

Rocket Knight Adventures is one of those Genesis/Mega Drive games that comes up often in those “Hidden Gems" lists you see all over the place. And for good reason! It’s a very good action platformer with some unique mechanics and all the polish and charm you would expect for a Konami game of the era. This release, coming by way of Limited Run Games and its Carbon Engine, includes that game and its two distinct follow-ups, Sparkster for the Super NES and Sparkster for the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive. There are a few extras here, but nothing too over the top. Still, if you’ve been meaning to play these great games this is certainly a way to do that.

Sales

(North American eShop, US Prices)

A few big sales kicked off today. Spike Chunsoft is doing a summer sale, and that means lots of cool visual novels, adventure games, and roguelikes for cheap. Limited Run Games is also doing a sale, with new low prices on the Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection, Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore, and… er, Plumbers Don’t Wear Ties. It also seems as though 505 Games is doing a sale, and that means if you really want to subject yourself to the Switch version of Eiyuden: Hundred Heroes, you can do it slightly cheaper. Have a look through both lists and see what you think!

Select New Sales

Super Adventure Hand ($9.74 from $12.99 until 6/17)
Chasm ($6.99 from $19.99 until 6/17)
Frogsong ($11.24 from $14.99 until 6/18)
Deathwish Enforcers ($16.09 from $22.99 until 6/19)
Save Me Mr Tako: Definitive ($10.49 from $14.99 until 6/19)
Cthulhu Saves Christmas ($6.99 from $9.99 until 6/19)
This Way Madness Lies ($6.99 from $9.99 until 6/19)
Saturday Morning RPG ($2.49 from $9.99 until 6/19)
Cosmic Star Heroine ($10.49 from $14.99 until 6/19)
Night Trap 25th Anniversary ($3.74 from $14.99 until 6/19)
Double Switch 25th Anniversary ($3.74 from $14.99 until 6/19)
Corpse Killer 25th Anniversary ($3.74 from $14.99 until 6/19)
Plumbers Don’t Wear Ties: Definitive ($13.99 from $19.99 until 6/19)
Arzette: Jewel of Faramore ($13.99 from $19.99 until 6/19)
Jurassic Park Games Collection ($20.99 from $29.99 until 6/19)
Pictooi ($2.49 from $9.99 until 6/19)

The House in Fata Morgana ($27.99 from $39.99 until 6/19)
Shiren the Wanderer: Tower of Fortune ($5.99 from $19.99 until 6/24)
Katana Kami: Way of the Samurai Story ($5.99 from $29.99 until 6/24)
Yu-No: A Girl Who Chants Love ($14.99 from $49.99 until 6/24)
Master Detective Archives: Rain Code ($41.99 from $59.99 until 6/24)
AI: The Somnium Files ($7.99 from $39.99 until 6/24)
AI: The Somnium Files nirvanA Initiative ($23.99 from $59.99 until 6/24)
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc ($5.24 from $14.99 until 6/24)
Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair ($5.24 from $14.99 until 6/24)
Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony ($10.49 from $29.99 until 6/24)
Danganronpa S: Ultimate Summer Camp ($6.99 from $19.99 until 6/24)
Terraria ($14.99 from $29.99 until 6/24)
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night ($11.99 from $39.99 until 6/24)
PixelJunk Monsters 2 ($2.24 from $14.99 until 6/24)
PixelJunk Monsters 2 Deluxe ($3.29 from $21.99 until 6/24)

Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty ($9.99 from $29.99 until 6/24)
Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee ($9.99 from $29.99 until 6/24)
Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath ($9.99 from $29.99 until 6/24)
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons ($2.99 from $14.99 until 6/24)
Chaos;Head Noah ($12.49 from $24.99 until 6/24)
Chaos;Child ($12.49 from $24.99 until 6/24)
Chaos;Head Noah/Chaos;Child Pack ($24.99 from $49.99 until 6/24)
Steins;Gate Elite ($11.99 from $59.99 until 6/24)
Steins;Gate 0 ($5.99 from $29.99 until 6/24)
Steins;Gate My Darling’s Embrace ($11.99 from $29.99 until 6/24)
Robotics;Notes Elite ($10.49 from $34.99 until 6/24)
Robotics;Notes DaSH ($10.49 from $34.99 until 6/24)
Anonymous;Code ($29.99 from $59.99 until 6/24)
Made in Abyss: Binary Star FiD ($17.99 from $59.99 until 6/24)
Horace ($5.99 from $14.99 until 6/24)

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes ($37.49 from $49.99 until 6/24)
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes Deluxe ($59.99 from $79.99 until 6/24)
Indivisible ($7.49 from $29.99 until 6/24)
Serial Cleaners ($7.49 from $24.99 until 6/24)
LEGO Builder’s Journey ($4.99 from $19.99 until 6/24)
Grow: Song of the Evertree ($12.49 from $24.99 until 6/24)
Banner of the Maid ($3.39 from $16.99 until 6/24)
Journey to the Savage Planet ($8.99 from $29.99 until 6/24)
ABZU ($4.99 from $19.99 until 6/24)
Gimmick Special Edition ($7.49 from $14.99 until 6/24)
Madshot ($1.99 from $19.99 until 6/24)
Rain on Your Parade ($9.74 from $14.99 until 6/24)
Hammerhelm ($7.49 from $14.99 until 6/24)
The Isle Tide Hotel ($12.99 from $19.99 until 6/24)
What the Golf? ($9.99 from $19.99 until 6/24)

Ghostrunner ($8.99 from $29.99 until 6/24)
Fitness Boxing Fist of the North Star ($34.99 from $49.99 until 6/24)
Ten Dates ($10.39 from $15.99 until 6/24)
Sushi Bar Express ($8.54 from $29.99 until 6/24)
Drawn to Life: Two Realms ($3.49 from $9.99 until 6/24)
Wildfrost ($13.99 from $19.99 until 6/24)
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cloud Version ($14.99 from $59.99 until 6/25)
The Long Dark ($17.49 from $34.99 until 6/25)
Slime Rancher Plortable ($9.99 from $24.99 until 6/25)
Project Highrise AE ($7.99 from $39.99 until 7/1)

Sales Ending Tomorrow, June 12th

All-Star Fruit Racing ($1.99 from $19.99 until 6/12)
Batora: Lost Haven ($9.99 from $24.99 until 6/12)
Blasphemous 1 + 2 Bundle ($26.99 from $44.99 until 6/12)
Bravery and Greed ($7.99 from $19.99 until 6/12)
Crown Trick ($4.99 from $19.99 until 6/12)
Going Under ($4.99 from $19.99 until 6/12)
Killer Frequency ($12.49 from $24.99 until 6/12)
Moving Out 1 + 2 Bundle ($22.49 from $44.99 until 6/12)
Pix the Cat ($1.99 from $9.99 until 6/12)
The Knight Witch ($6.79 from $19.99 until 6/12)
The Serpent Rogue ($1.99 from $19.99 until 6/12)
Thymesia Cloud Version ($11.99 from $29.99 until 6/12)
Xenon Racer ($1.99 from $14.99 until 6/12)
Yooka-Laylee & the Impossible Lair ($2.99 from $29.99 until 6/12)

That’s all for today, friends. We’ll be back tomorrow with more new releases, sales, and whatever else rolls in over the course of the day. Has anyone else been combing through the Game Boy Mega Man games that were just added to Nintendo Switch Online? I own the cartridges, I own the games on the Nintendo 3DS, and yet here I am playing them again. Comfort food, I suppose. I hope you all have a terrific Tuesday and, as always, thanks for reading!

Note that most of these decks are the best of the best at this point in time. They assume you have access to a full range of cards. I’ll once again be including the five strongest Marvel Snap decks of the moment, and I’ll throw in a couple more decks that don’t need things that are too hard to get and are just sort of fun to play with. You know, a little variety and all of that.

The Exiles have skipped on to the next dimension, but their presence has certainly been felt. Blink and Sasquatch have settled in well, Nocturne seems to be getting some play, and Sage and Namora are popping up here and there. In terms of balance changes, there have been some slight changes to how Move actions resolve, and that has altered a few strategies. Thanos also got some adjustments that seem to have put him back in play after a few weeks of struggling. It’s too early to tell how the full Eternals season will land, but we’ll have to let things settle in there. Well, let’s look at the current hot decks.

Ravonna Lockdown

Included Cards: Kitty Pryde, Nebula, Angela, Thena, White Widow, Jeff, Ravonna Renslayer, Green Goblin, Sage, Hope Summers, Professor X, Cannonball

Lockdown is super-hot right now, and it has proven to surprisingly be the deck type where Ravonna Renslayer finally found her place. This deck has some of the usual Lockdown tools – Nebula, White Widow, and Professor X – plus some useful punishers for opponents foolish enough to dance to your tune, like Green Goblin and Cannonball. Ravonna’s spot in this deck is to make just about every card in it cheaper to play. If you happen to have picked up Thena from the latest season, you can easily activate her power boost while powering up Kitty and handling any other business you need to.

Spam I Am

Included Cards: Nebula, Titania, White Widow, Jeff, Ravonna Renslayer, Green Goblin, Magik, Debrii, Professor X, Cannonball, Doctor Octopus, Red Hulk

Almost no changes to the Spam deck this month, as it continues to be the best it is at what it does. The only change is dropping Daredevil in favor of Magik, giving you the ability to get rid of an inconvenient location while also extending the game, which should be to your spamming benefit. Really, your goal with this deck is two-fold. First, throw junk at your opponent using cards like Debrii, Goblin, and White Widow. Second, use cards like Nebula, Professor X, and Doctor Octopus to control the locations your opponent will play at. Your opponent might run short on places to play before the game ends, which allows you to make your big play to close things out. That could be a beefed-up Red Hulk, or Cannonball, or even just moving Jeff. Just hope that you don’t run into a Destroy deck, as they have little patience for this kind of nonsense.

Odin’s Doom

Included Cards: Nebula, Nightcrawler, White Widow, Jeff, Ironheart, Nocturne, Wong, Iron Lad, White Tiger, Namora, Doctor Doom, Odin

This deck is almost… nostalgic? Sure, there are some new cards here like Nocturne, White Widow, and Namora, but at the end of the day this is just a good old-fashioned On Reveal deck. You’ve got your Wongers/Odin/White Tiger combo that lets you shoot powerful tigers everywhere if need be, Nightcrawler and Jeff to give you some wiggle room, and Doctor Doom for an alternative fabulous finish that no opponent loves. Use Nebula, White Widow, and your movable cards to control your opponent’s placements and make sure Wong can do his thing unfettered. Just watch out for Cosmo, because he can completely ruin your day.

Hela & Corvus

Included Cards: Black Knight, Blade, Corvus Glaive, Lady Sif, Jubilee, Black Cat, Blink, Hela, Red Hulk, Magneto, The Infinaut, Death

Once again Hela is here representing Discard, which is just barely staying in the top tier at this point. This is a very standard Hela deck, so the idea is to discard your big guns and use Hela to bring them back in. Corvus helps you get there earlier, and Blink and Jubilee serve as a nice one-two combo for pulling a beefy cards. If you’ve been playing Snap for a while, you know how this works. I’ve been playing this deck a fair bit this last month, and it’s rather solid with its last-turn potential.

Lucky Loki

Included Cards: Kitty Pryde, Quinjet, Snowguard, Angela, Thena, Jeff, Elsa Bloodstone, Red Guardian, Agent Coulson, Nocturne, Shang-Chi, Loki

Loki decks are really challenging to play, as you have to be familiar enough with the game to know what to do with your opponent’s cards when you get them. This particular variation runs like most of them. Spend the early game playing what you can, building up cards in play and messing with your opponent where possible. Drop Loki on turn four and do your best with what your opponent gives you. There are stronger decks, but this one holds its own very well and keeps things fresh even for veteran players.

And now, a couple of fun decks for those still climbing up the collection ladder or who simply want to try something different.

Sasquatch Bounce

Included Cards: Kitty Pryde, The Hood, Bast, Iceman, Nico Minoru, Angela, Beast, Falcon, Mysterio, Bishop, Hit Monkey, Sasquatch

I got lucky and pulled Sasquatch from a cache, so I decided to make a fun little Bounce deck based around him. Really, it’s a very normal Bounce deck except Sasquatch adds a big hitter that doesn’t require any build-up. Use your cheap cards to build up Angela and Bishop, call them back with Beast and Falcon to do it again, and make a huge final turn play with Hit Monkey. Play Sasquatch when and where it’s convenient for you, but you should be able to have him out as early as turn 4 with energy to spare.

Budget Onslaught

Included Cards: Ant-Man, Elektra, Iceman, Nightcrawler, Armor, Mister Fantastic, Cosmo, Kazar, Namor, Blue Marvel, Klaw, Onslaught

And a little refresher on a nice deck to use when you’re just building your collection. It’s relatively easy to play, and your ultimate focus is to use Kazar, Blue Marvel, and Onslaught to beef up your other cards. Klaw can give you a nice boost of power at one location, and Cosmo provides a bit of insurance. Use Armor to protect your 1-Cost cards from potential Killmonger attacks and you’re generally good to go.

And that’s it for this month’s deck guide. We’ll return with another one of these in July to see where things stand after the Eternals season has fully played out and a month’s worth of balance changes have done their thing. It’s going to be interesting to see what these new cards bring to the table, but I suspect (as usual) that the biggest swings will come from whatever balance changes Second Dinner makes. Will chaos continue to reign? Only time will tell! Happy Snapping!

Reviews & Mini-Views

Rider’s Spirits ($5.99)

I find it interesting that we’ve hit the point where companies are digging around the large pile of previously unlocalized classic games to see what can be released. Sometimes it’s a big win, like finally getting Famicom Detective Club and Live A Live outside of Japan. Sometimes, however, it’s Rider’s Spirits. This is a Super Famicom game that is clearly inspired by Super Mario Kart, and suffice it to say it falls a bit short of its ambitions in that regard. This isn’t to say it’s a bad game, mind you. It’s serviceable. There would have been worse things you could have brought home from the rental shop back in the day. But it’s not very good, either. If I had to pick a word to describe it, I suppose I would go with “forgettable". Not hard to see why it didn’t get a global release at the time, to be sure.

Anyway, this is a Mode 7 bike racing game that aims for a cute style with its presentation. You can play alone or with one other player via local multiplayer, but no matter which way you play you’ll be doing so on a split screen. Single player offers three modes: GP, Time Trial, and Endurance. The first is the main mode of the game, where you compete against other racers in one of the game’s cups. Each consists of five tracks, and your performance will determine your overall standings at the end. The Time Trial mode allows you to race on a single course to try to set your best time. The Endurance mode allows you to pick how many minutes you’d like to race on a single course, with the aim to clear as many laps as possible.

The two-player mode also offers GP and Endurance modes, and they work the same way. Apart from those, you also get a Battle Race mode where you race against the other player on a single track, and a Chicken Race mode where you engage in one of those “who will blink first" runs. In terms of modes and tracks, Rider’s Spirits does what it needs to. Oh, and regardless of mode there are eight different characters to choose from, so it has done its homework in that regard as well. None of them have the personality that Mario, Crash, or Sonic do, but it’s hard to blame the game for that.

What you can blame the game for is its uninspired track design and rather dull racing action. The manic energy of Super Mario Kart is nowhere to be found here, with weapons in particular having a reduced role in the game. There aren’t as many fun gimmicks in the courses, and it’s a very slow game overall. If you really love Mode 7 racers, you’ll probably enjoy it well enough to play through the GP mode once and poke around the other modes, but that’s about it. Ratalaika has thrown the game in the usual wrapper with the usual options, with scans of the original box and manual serving as the main extras. You can also play the game in its original Japanese version or in a newly localized version.

Rider’s Spirits is one of those retro re-releases that feels like filler. It’s not very good, it’s not very bad, and there isn’t much of interest to it beyond the fact that we haven’t seen it localized before. If you’ve got a special hankering for a 16-bit racer that you haven’t played before, then you might enjoy this well enough to make it worth the pick-up. Most people will be better served running through Super Mario Kart one more time, however.

SwitchArcade Score: 3/5

Select New Releases

Kamaeru: A Frog Refuge ($19.99)

Similar to the likes of Neko Atsume or Usagi Shima, Kamaeru sees you building a refuge in an effort to attract new and interesting frogs. You can take pictures of them once they arrive, and you can even breed them to create new kinds of frogs. The art is cute, and that’s half the job for a game like this. There are also some NPCs to interact with, which is something you don’t typically see in games like this. Given we don’t have either of the aforementioned games on Switch, this might scratch the itch for you.

Sales

(North American eShop, US Prices)

A few stragglers for the big sale rolled in after we last checked in. The excellent Paranormasight, the intriguing Promenade, and the enjoyable Citizen Sleeper have some good deals to consider among others. Over in the outbox, not much going on. Do you have No Man’s Sky yet? If not, here’s your last chance until the next sale.

Select New Sales

Paranormasight ($11.99 from $19.99 until 6/13)
BroodStar ($3.30 from $11.00 until 6/14)
Penny’s Big Breakaway ($19.79 from $29.99 until 6/18)
Mystery Lover ($7.49 from $9.99 until 6/21)
Promenade ($12.49 from $24.99 until 6/22)
Citizen Sleeper ($9.99 from $19.99 until 6/23)
Aery: Cyber City ($4.99 from $9.99 until 6/24)
Paper Dash: City Hustle ($4.99 from $9.99 until 6/24)
Whisker Waters ($14.99 from $24.99 until 6/26)
Ginnung ($2.24 from $5.00 until 6/28)
Freak Crossing ($2.49 from $4.99 until 6/28)
Inertia 2 ($2.85 from $4.39 until 6/28)
Cozy Hamlets ($4.23 from $5.29 until 6/28)
Empires Shall Fall ($9.74 from $12.99 until 6/28)
Make It! Ikayaki ($1.99 from $3.00 until 6/28)
Euphoria ($3.74 from $14.99 until 6/28)
Rider’s Spirits ($4.79 from $5.99 until 6/28)
Yonder: Cloud Catcher Chronicles ($5.99 from $29.99 until 6/29)
Railbound ($2.59 from $12.99 until 6/30)

Sales Ending Tomorrow, June 11th

Adventures of Chris ($2.99 from $14.99 until 6/11)
Another Sight ($3.99 from $39.99 until 6/11)
Barn Finders ($5.49 from $19.99 until 6/11)
Bite the Bullet ($2.99 from $14.99 until 6/11)
Blue Fire ($4.99 from $19.99 until 6/11)
Celeste ($4.99 from $19.99 until 6/11)
Kickback Slug: Cosmic Courier ($4.07 from $11.99 until 6/11)
Lila’s Sky Ark ($2.99 from $14.99 until 6/11)
Monster Truck Championship RH Edition ($4.99 from $49.99 until 6/11)
Nira ($1.99 from $9.99 until 6/11)
No Man’s Sky ($29.99 from $59.99 until 6/11)
REZ PLZ ($2.99 from $14.99 until 6/11)
RiMS Racing ($9.99 from $49.99 until 6/11)
Rogue Lords ($2.49 from $24.99 until 6/11)
The Last Campfire ($1.99 from $14.99 until 6/11)
TowerFall ($4.99 from $19.99 until 6/11)
Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion ($3.74 from $14.99 until 6/11)
V-Rally 4 Ultimate Edition ($6.99 from $69.99 until 6/11)
WRC Collection (8, 9, & 10) ($9.99 from $99.99 until 6/11)
Zorro: The Chronicles ($3.49 from $34.99 until 6/11)

That’s all for today, friends. We’ll be back tomorrow with more new releases, more sales, at least one review, and if anything special happens, perhaps some news. I’ve got a lot of medical issues to tend to this week, but I’m hoping to hold the schedule anyway. Wish me luck with all of that, especially the medical stuff. I hope you all have a magnificent Monday, and as always, thanks for reading!

Marvel Contest of Champions, Free Two new Champions join the fight in this update, and both demonstrate how deep this roster has become over time. Northstar is of course part of everyone’s favorite Canadian superhero team, Alpha Flight, and has a solid array of super powers that make him a great fit for a game like this. The other new character is Arcade, best known for 1992’s masterpiece game Spider-Man and the X-Men in Arcade’s Revenge. He’s the one who was getting the revenge. You wouldn’t normally think of him as a hands-on fighter, but if you underestimate a man who calls his theme park Murderworld, you’re probably going to have a bad day. New events and quests come with them, giving you plenty to do if this game is your jam.

MARVEL SNAP, Free You know it’s one of those weeks when I feature more than one Marvel game, but this is how it is today. Marvel Snap‘s latest season kicked off, based on the Eternals of all things. A handful of new cards joining the game along with two new locations, and the update also packs in some new features and balance adjustments with it. So yes, if you’ve been jonesing to add some of the Eternals to your deck of choice, that’s now a thing you can do.

Tiny Tower: Tap Idle Evolution, Free Tiny Tower tends to flit from one event to the next these days to keep the players tapping, and instead of going for a specific holiday-themed shindig this time around, the developers have opted to do an ice cream thing. Collect ingredients by completing missions, craft treats, and get prizes. Spend a lot of money and you’ll get even more prizes! That’s this game now, but it’s been this way long enough that no one really cares.

Genshin Impact, Free I suppose I have to give out the coveted UMMSotW award to something this week, and I’ll do it right now just to get it done. Genshin Impact‘s latest update, An Everlasting Dream Intertwined, is now available. There are three new characters, a new gameplay element in the form of the Imaginarium Theater, some new events and stories, three new weapons, and the now-expected addition of new cards to the Genius Invokation TCG. Really a typical update for this game, but it’s wild to think just how much this offers for free at this point in time.

NBA 2K24 Arcade Edition, You know, I would laugh if one of these GOAT updates just went ahead and added a goat to the game. Like, the barnyard animal. I think it would be funny, and I’m told I have an excellent sense of humor. Anyway, this update adds eight GOATs and zero goats. You get Derrick Rose, Trae Young, James Worthy, Clyde Drexler, Kevin Garnett, Ben Wallace, Damian Lillard, and Kevin Durant. Also, some bug fixes. Cool to see the rosters of legendary players filling out, but seriously, think about the goat thing. Maybe an April Fool’s joke next year?

stitch., A little stitch update for those enjoying this chill puzzler, especially people who have been digging the recently-added Play Together mode. You play the Ruby Hood story together with someone, and it’s perfect if you’ve got a younger child you want to try it with. There are some new Hoops, and a new Aquarium category to delve into. Also included in this update: the Replay Legends Leaderboard, and the new Daily Shikaku Reward Hoop and achievement. A nice update, really.

Mini Motorways, Oh, I should have saved the coveted prize for this. Well, too late now. You get a spiffy new map in this update, taking you all the way to lovely Vancouver. The Canadian one. With that comes new achievements, daily challenges, weekly challenges, and city challenges. There are some bug fixes and improvements, as you would expect. The UI also got a few little tweaks, which is always appreciated even in games where the UI is already 10/10. If you have Apple Arcade, give this game a go. If you don’t… well, I don’t know. I’ll let you solve that problem as your homework for this week.

Jetpack Joyride 2, Jetpack Joyride 2‘s updates are always a bit interesting to me, because it’s like seeing the version of Jetpack Joyride from an alternate universe where it didn’t monetize a perfectly good game into… well, we all know how it is. So what do we get here? A couple of new events, for starters. The Pixel Invasion and Hunting of the Lost Skulls events will give you something to mess around with for a bit, and you even get a cool new power-up in the form of the Toxic Breath. A couple of new arcade modes mirror the themes of the events, and some bug fixes and performance enhancements round things out.

The Simsâ„¢ FreePlay, Free I hope you’ve played plenty of Yakuza 0 to warm up, because the latest update to The Sims FreePlay has you building and decorating your own cabaret club. Baka mitai. The Pride Month and Juneteenth packs are back, and you can claim them to add some new hairstyles and decorations to your collection. Some improvements have also been made to the UI, freshening it up and making it more intuitive.

Royal Match, Free Here’s our obligatory free-to-play matching puzzle game update for the week, and it’s Royal Match because we’re at that point in the article where I realize my dinner is getting cold. You get one hundred new levels to play, and brings a new area into the game. The Water Park. Yes, I can fully see how King Robert is going to get himself hurt there. Doesn’t even take much imagination. And I don’t even care. I hope he dies. He’s an incompetent monarch, and I sure didn’t vote for him.

That about wraps it up for last week’s significant updates. I’m sure I’ve missed some, though, so please feel free to comment below and let everyone know if you think something should be mentioned. As usual, major updates will likely get their own news stories throughout this week, and I’ll be back next Monday to summarize and fill in the blanks. Have a great week!

News

Mega Man’s Game Boy Adventures Join Nintendo Switch Online Today

Mega Drive? No, Mega Man! Nintendo dropped a batch of retro games out of the blue again today, and this time it’s really blue. But blue in black and white. Sigh, this is already getting complicated. Let’s get to the point: Mega Man in Dr. Wily’s Revenge, Mega Man II, Mega Man III, Mega Man IV, and Mega Man V have been added to the Game Boy NSO app. The first four games kind of loosely adapt pieces from the NES titles, but the fifth game is fully original and it is spectacular. If you have not played it before, you should. Just update your app and you’re good to go.

Reviews & Mini-Views

Hauntii ($19.99)

I had been looking forward to playing Hauntii ever since I saw it in a Day of the Devs showcase last year. Fast forward to today, Hauntii is available on Switch, PC, and other consoles, and it lived up to all my expectations when it comes to the game itself, but the Switch version is unfortunately not in the best shape right now.

Hauntii is a gorgeous game with striking visuals that combines a few genres to be something special. It brings together puzzles, some platforming, twin-stick shooters, and more that are all complemented by the aesthetic that shines on the Switch’s screen in handheld mode. The twin-stick shooter mechanics aren’t in the way you’d expect though. They are slower here, but still satisfying. Just don’t expect some challenging bullet hell game here, you’re here for the gorgeous world, puzzles, narrative, and music here.

The structure and checkpointing in Hauntii make it quite accessible for pick up and play, but I’m amazed by the creativity showcased in its visuals and interactions. The animation work and music are superb.

Usually, games like this tend to be on the shorter side, but I ended up playing Hauntii for over 9 hours on Switch. It unfortunately has jitter or stutter while getting into new areas, some frame pacing issues, and longer than expected load times. Some of these things give me motion sickness, and I’ve had to pause my play sessions to come back after some time and resume playing. I hope these can be addressed in updates. If you have the option to play Hauntii on Xbox Series X through Game Pass, it is much better there.

Hauntii is an amazing game that needs some more work on Nintendo Switch. The technical issues hold it back, but it is still worth your time and money. I recommend playing it on another platform if you have that option though. If you are ok with some performance issues, it feels right at home on Switch in handheld mode. -Mikhail Madnani

SwitchArcade Score: 3.5/5

MEGATON MUSASHI W: WIRED ($59.99)

MEGATON MUSASHI W: WIRED releasing in the West last month has been quite a journey for Level-5 fans. If you’ve been following the series, MEGATON MUSASHI debuted in Japan as a mech action RPG on Switch and PS4, got loads of content updates, a free-to-play follow-up, more updates, and eventually all of that comes together to give us MEGATON MUSASHI W: WIRED, a multiplatform international release across Switch, PS5, PS4, and Steam with cross platform progression and online play support.

MEGATON MUSASHI W: WIRED‘s new international release feels like a culmination of everything before, and it ships with a plethora of quality content across all of its modes. It also helps that this is a fantastic mech action RPG with a surprising amount of the signature Level-5 charm.

Last week, I posted some impressions of how Level-5’s newest release, MEGATON MUSASHI W: WIRED, feels on Steam Deck. On Switch, MEGATON MUSASHI W: WIRED runs a lot better than I expected. It isn’t as good as Steam Deck, but this isn’t a situation where I’d be telling you to buy a game on another platform. If you want to play MEGATON MUSASHI W: WIRED on Switch, you can go ahead. It joins Daemon X Machina as my favorite mech game on Switch, and I’m even more excited to see how Gundam Breaker 4 ends up this year.

The core gameplay loop is excellent as you aim for better loot, progress the story, work towards improving your own Rogue (mech), and more. I was constantly surprised at how many mechanics it introduced during the main story, let alone everything available outside that. Even if you just want to play the main story and not bother with anything else, MEGATON MUSASHI W: WIRED is worth your time.

So I mentioned how MEGATON MUSASHI W: WIRED benefited from being the third version/entry that we see as our first release in the West, but the downside is some free to play elements are still present like login bonuses or battle pass stuff. I hate battle passes in every single game, so I was disappointed to see them here even if the rewards aren’t anything meaningful. There is also a lot of paid DLC, but none of it is essential. If you really want to get some DLC, the deluxe pack is decent value, but note that you will need it on all platforms you play on, otherwise the cosmetics will not work on another platform when you sync your save.

As for online, MEGATON MUSASHI W: WIRED is a solo game for its story, but you can play with others across platforms in the non story missions. In my testing, it works great on both Switch and Steam Deck over wifi, though I stuck to wired and docked when playing with my friends in another country to ensure there were no stability issues. Keep in mind that you will need to link an Epic account to play online across platforms and sync your save.

Visually, the watercooler description I’d give MEGATON MUSASHI W: WIRED is “what if Level-5 meets Gundam Breaker“. That might sound jarring and vague, but that’s all I could think about. The character designs, animation work, and story feel like the best of Level-5, while the combat and customization remind me of Gundam Breaker. This combination works out very well, and I really wish it had a nice retail release in the West, because the game more than deserves it.

On the audio side, MEGATON MUSASHI W: WIRED has an excellent soundtrack and superb voice acting across the board. The sheer amount of voiced dialogue is incredible, and not something you usually see for games like this. My only complaint with the music is that some areas felt like they could’ve done with more music.

In future updates, I’d love it if the developers could add a touchscreen option to progress dialog on Switch. I used the touchscreen on Steam Deck quite a bit during the story sections. Other than that, the Switch version is basically everything I wanted and more. It even has good HD Rumble in combat.

MEGATON MUSASHI W: WIRED feels unreal in a good way. Not only is it one of Level-5’s best games in years, but it is a fantastic mech action game packed with tons of quality content. The fact that it even has cross platform save letting me take my progress across Switch and Steam Deck only sweetens the deal. I hope it gets a demo so that more folks can try and see why it is so good before committing to the full priced purchase though. -Mikhail Madnani

SwitchArcade Score: 4.5/5

Select New Releases

Sociable Soccer 24 ($24.99)

The latest soccer game from Jon Hare, the creator of Sensible Soccer, sports a FIFPRO license married to the fast and accessible sports action this creator is known for, and it’s a fine blend. It has a cross-platform online league system, and also supports local two-player gameplay. The game is absolutely jam-packed with stuff to mess around with and enjoy, so if you’re looking for an alternative to EA Sports’ take on the beautiful game I think you’ll be happy with what’s on offer here.

Airhead ($19.99)

It’s time for another Metroidvania-style game. This time the gimmick is that you have a head that is constantly deflating, and you have to periodically refill it as you explore the world. There are some solid puzzles in here, which is always nice to see. I don’t think it’s going to convince anyone who is tired of this genre, but if you’re still hungry this will provide a meal.

Rider’s Spirits ($5.99)

Super Mario Kart pretty much kicked off a whole genre of its own, and even as early as 1994 you saw games trying to ride in its wake. Rider’s Spirits is one such game, and up until now this Super Famicom title has only been available in Japan. When you play it, you’ll probably understand why. Well, it’s nice to see the ol’ Mode 7 doing its thing if nothing else. I’ll have a review of this soon where I go into what works and doesn’t work in it, so look forward to that.

Sales

(North American eShop, US Prices)

The Big Video Game News Month sale has officially kicked off, and this time Nintendo is calling the Super Turbo Champion Edition EX Gold Plus Alpha Sale or some such nonsense. Anyway, lots of sales. More than 1500, in fact. I’m doing a separate article with what I think are the absolute best of the bunch, but I’m not shirking on my chores here. All of the first party sales, and select sales from major third parties and indies are included here. Have a gander! But remember, there are tons more games on sale besides these. Check your wishlists and the eShop for further details.

Select New Sales

First Party Games

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 ($41.99 from $59.99 until 6/17)
Xenoblade Chronicles DE ($41.99 from $59.99 until 6/17)
Fire Emblem Engage ($41.99 from $59.99 until 6/17)
Tokyo Mirage Sessions ($41.99 from $59.99 until 6/17)
Kirby & the Forgotten Land ($41.99 from $59.99 until 6/17)
Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening ($41.99 from $59.99 until 6/17)
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity ($41.99 from $59.99 until 6/17)
Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze ($39.99 from $59.99 until 6/17)
Super Mario Odyssey ($39.99 from $59.99 until 6/17)
New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe ($39.99 from $59.99 until 6/17)
Animal Crossing: New Horizons ($41.99 from $59.99 until 6/17)
Splatoon 3 ($41.99 from $59.99 until 6/17)
Advance Wars 1 + 2 Reboot Camp ($41.99 from $59.99 until 6/17)
Bayonetta 3 ($41.99 from $59.99 until 6/17)
Bayonetta Origins ($41.99 from $59.99 until 6/17)
Astral Chain ($41.99 from $59.99 until 6/17)
Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido ($34.99 from $49.99 until 6/17)
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 ($41.99 from $59.99 until 6/17)
DC Super Hero Girls: Teen Power ($41.99 from $59.99 until 6/17)

“Big Third Party" Titles

Dragon Quest XI S: DE ($34.99 from $49.99 until 6/17)
Dragon Quest Builders ($34.99 from $49.99 until 6/17)
Dragon Quest Builders 2 ($34.99 from $49.99 until 6/17)
Live A Live ($34.99 from $49.99 until 6/17)
Triangle Strategy ($41.99 from $59.99 until 6/17)
Bravely Default II ($41.99 from $59.99 until 6/17)
Fashion Dreamer ($34.99 from $49.99 until 6/17)
Daemon X Machina ($41.99 from $59.99 until 6/17)
Dark Souls Remastered ($19.99 from $39.99 until 6/17)
No More Heroes 3 ($24.99 from $49.99 until 6/17)
Tomb Raider I – III Remastered ($22.49 from $29.99 until 6/20)
The Lara Croft Collection ($19.99 from $24.99 until 6/20)
Persona 5 Strikers ($17.99 from $59.99 until 6/20)
Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning ($15.99 from $39.99 until 6/20)

Alien: Isolation ($14.99 from $19.99 until 6/20)
Disney Classic Games: Aladdin & Lion King ($6.99 from $19.99 until 6/20)
Jack Jeanne ($34.99 from $49.99 until 6/20)
The Wonderful 101 Remastered ($17.99 from $39.99 until 6/20)
Streets of Rage 4 ($11.24 from $24.99 until 6/20)
TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge ($16.74 from $24.99 until 6/20)
TMNT: Cowabunga Collection ($19.99 from $39.99 until 6/20)
Dragon Ball FighterZ: FighterZ Edition ($14.39 from $89.99 until 6/20)
LEGO 2K Drive ($9.89 from $29.99 until 6/20)
Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration ($27.99 from $39.99 until 6/20)
Quantum Recharged ($5.49 from $9.99 until 6/20)
Berzerk Recharged ($5.99 from $9.99 until 6/20)
Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope ($19.79 from $59.99 until 6/20)
Tempest 4000 ($9.99 from $19.99 until 6/20)
SpongeBob SquarePants: Bikini Bottom ($11.99 from $29.99 until 6/20)
Immortals Fenyx Rising ($7.99 from $39.99 until 6/20)
Hatsune Miku: Project DiVA Mega Mix ($19.69 from $39.39 until 6/20)
We Love Katamari Reroll ($7.49 from $29.99 until 6/20)
Assassin’s Creed: Ezio Collection ($15.99 from $39.99 until 6/20)
Samba de Amigo: Party Central ($15.99 from $39.99 until 6/20)

Sonic Origins Plus ($19.99 from $39.99 until 6/20)
Sonic Frontiers ($20.99 from $59.99 until 6/20)
Unicorn Overlord Monarch Edition ($52.49 from $69.99 until 6/20)
Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium Bundle ($15.99 form $39.99 until 6/20)
WRC Generations ($7.99 from $39.99 until 6/20)
Spirit Hunter: Death Mark II ($34.99 from $49.99 until 6/20)
Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition ($9.99 from $49.99 until 6/20)
Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen ($4.99 from $29.99 until 6/20)
Return to Monkey Island ($12.49 from $24.99 until 6/20)
Alan Wake Remastered ($14.99 from $29.99 until 6/20)
Contra: Operation Galuga ($31.99 from $39.99 until 6/20)
Apollo Justice: AA Trilogy ($39.99 from $49.99 until 6/21)
Mushihimesama ($9.99 from $19.99 until 6/27)
Espgaluda II ($9.99 from $19.99 until 6/27)
DoDonPachi Resurrection ($9.99 from $19.99 until 6/27)

Indies

1000xRESIST ($17.99 from $19.99 until 6/20)
Balatro ($13.49 from $14.99 until 6/20)
COCOON ($14.99 from $24.99 until 6/20)
Outer Wilds ($14.99 from $24.99 until 6/20)
Rogue Legacy 2 ($14.74 from $24.99 until 6/20)
Sea of Stars ($26.24 from $34.99 until 6/20)
Rose & Camellia Collection ($14.99 from $19.99 until 6/20)
Risen ($20.99 from $29.99 until 6/20)
The Case of the Golden Idol ($10.79 from $17.99 until 6/20)
Trek to Yomi ($6.99 from $19.99 until 6/20)
Tunic ($14.99 from $29.99 until 6/20)
Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap ($5.99 from $19.99 until 6/20)
Bugsnax ($8.74 from $24.99 until 6/20)
Night in the Woods ($9.99 from $19.99 until 6/20)
moon ($13.29 from $18.99 until 6/20)

Crossing Souls ($1.99 from $14.99 until 6/20)
Goat Simulator: The GOATY ($5.99 from $29.99 until 6/20)
Aggelos ($3.74 from $14.99 until 6/20)
Nexomon Extinction ($8.99 from $19.99 until 6/20)
Gargoyles Remastered ($10.49 from $14.99 until 6/20)
Slay the Spire ($8.49 from $24.99 until 6/20)
Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark ($7.49 from $29.99 until 6/20)
Blazing Chrome ($5.77 from $16.99 until 6/20)
Kentucky Route Zero TV Edition ($9.99 from $24.99 until 6/20)
Huntdown ($3.99 from $19.99 until 6/20)
Doki Doki Literature Club Plus ($11.24 from $14.99 until 6/20)
Bustafellows ($5.99 from $39.99 until 6/20)
Axiom Verge 2 ($7.99 from $19.99 until 6/20)
Disco Elysium: The Final Cut ($11.99 from $39.99 until 6/20)
Death’s Gambit: Afterlife ($10.99 from $19.99 until 6/20)

Ion Fury ($6.24 from $24.99 until 6/20)
TEVI ($26.24 from $34.99 until 6/20)
The Sushi Spinnery ($4.62 from $14.00 until 6/26)
Forest Golf Planner ($6.00 from $12.00 until 6/26)
Rabi-Ribi ($13.99 from $19.99 until 6/27)
The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa ($8.99 from $14.99 until 6/27)
Dead Cells ($12.49 from $24.99 until 6/27)
20XX ($5.39 from $17.99 until 6/27)
30XX ($13.99 from $19.99 until 6/27)
Berserk Boy ($15.00 from $20.00 until 6/27)

Sales Ending This Weekend

High Noon Revolver ($1.99 from $2.99 until 6/8)
Rune Factory 3 Special ($19.99 from $39.99 until 6/8)
Rune Factory 4 Special ($14.99 from $29.99 until 6/8)
Rune Factory 5 ($19.99 from $39.99 until 6/8)
Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life ($19.99 from $39.99 until 6/8)
Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town ($15.99 from $39.99 until 6/8)
Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town ($19.99 from $39.99 until 6/8)
Asterix & Obelix XXL: Romastered ($5.99 from $19.99 until 6/9)
Asterix & Obelix XXXL: TRFH ($11.99 from $39.99 until 6/9)
Equestrian Training ($5.99 from $19.99 until 6/9)
Mega Party: A Tootuff Adventure ($1.99 from $14.99 until 6/9)
My Universe: Doctors & Nurses ($5.99 from $29.99 until 6/9)
My Universe: My Baby ($1.99 from $24.99 until 6/9)
My Universe: Pet Clinic Cats & Dogs ($1.99 from $24.99 until 6/9)
My Universe: School Teacher ($4.99 from $24.99 until 6/9)
Risky Chronicles & the Curse of Destiny ($4.99 from $9.99 until 6/9)
Who Wants to be a Millionaire: New Edition ($10.49 from $34.99 until 6/9)
XIII ($5.99 from $19.99 until 6/9)

That’s all for today and this week, friends. We’ll be back next week with more new releases, more sales, more reviews, and probably a fair bit of news. I’ve got quite a weekend of work ahead of me thanks to some commitments I made. Well, nothing to it but through it. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and as always, thanks for reading!

Kirby and the Forgotten Land ($41.99 from $59.99)

I can genuinely say that I haven’t had such a good time playing a game from start to finish as I did with Kirby and the Forgotten Land in quite some time. It put a grin on my face from the start, and it kept me happily engaged to the very last drop. Then I pulled my son in and we played through everything again in multiplayer. It’s one of the better Kirby games, and deserves a place of honor among the upper canon of Nintendo Switch titles.

Balatro ($13.49 from $14.99)

This game might seem benign, but once it gets its claws into you it will not let you go for quite some time. That’s why I’m putting it here despite its discount being a modest one. It really is a game that I think almost everyone should try out, weaving roguelite mechanics into a devilishly accessible card game. Balatro will keep you engaged for quite some time, and that’s both its greatest selling point and my biggest warning about it.

Jack Jeanne ($34.99 from $49.99)

Jack Jeanne tells the story of Kisa, a young woman who dreams of being an actor. She’s been invited to attend one of the most prestigious drama schools around, but there are a couple of catches. She must be chosen as the lead in the final performance of the year, and she must conceal her gender. Both of those things are easier said than done thanks to her talented and very hunky classmates. She has to compete against them for parts, but what happens if love blooms on the battlefield? One of the better visual novels of the last few years, and one worth owning for anyone who enjoys a good story.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 ($41.99 from $59.99)

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is the best game in the series yet, and despite a few issues like burying the player in tutorials and some story bits that could have been handled better, the game is a real treat for RPG fans. There’s more to do and more reasons to do it, and whether you’re coming off one or both of the previous games or jumping in fresh, you’ll find a suitably epic adventure waiting for you. A fine capper to an excellent trilogy of RPGs.

1000xRESIST ($17.99 from $19.99)

If you have even the smallest shred of love in your soul for story-based games, play 1000xRESIST. Some of the best games of this sort feel like getting a fine dinner in a fancy restaurant. This one is like getting the whole damned menu brought to your table, plus a slice of fruit cake because there’s always room for dessert. An absolute masterpiece, and I am grateful that I got to experience it. And now you can experience it too, with an extra couple bucks in your pocket for good measure. Hekki grace.

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy ($39.99 from $49.99)

While a bit rockier of a road than the original Ace Attorney trilogy, Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy nevertheless does its best to improvise as it goes along, much in the manner of its titular character. The included games are up and down, depending on your tastes, but fans of Ace Attorney should have a good time with all of them. Capcom’s given the games a real shine-up for this set, and it’s good to see that even the more controversial games in the franchise won’t be forgotten. Worth adding to your court records at this price, to be sure.

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze ($39.99 from $59.99)

It’s wild to me that for all the attention Donkey Kong Country Returns garnered, its sequel seems perpetually overlooked. Sure, it made sense on the Wii U. Not much was able to get out of the shadow of its market failure. But this should have been a slam dunk on the Switch, and instead I’m here recommending it several years later because I know a lot of people didn’t pick it up. It’s good 2D platforming eats, I promise. Hopefully this sale will entice a few more people to Donkey Kong’s banana stand.

Berserk Boy ($15.00 from $20.00)

Clearly inspired by the Mega Man games, but the way the Berserk Boy dashes around the screen smashing up the enemies is a mechanic that is incredibly fun to sink your teeth into. Your character has the ability to change into four different powered-up forms, each with their own abilities to make use of. Oh, and it has a Tee Lopes soundtrack. Hopefully that helps you with your purchasing decision. Just a superb homaage to Capcom’s action classics all-around, and if you enjoy the Mega Man X era of that franchise in particular, you’ll want to give this a go.

Daemon x Machina ($41.99 from $59.99)

I’m including this one here on the word of our pal Mikhail, the resident giant robot expert of TouchArcade. When he reviewed it a million years ago, he called it one of the best mech action games in years. Perhaps tastes could change, but in his recent review of Megaton Musashi, he once again asserted his love of Daemon x Machina. If a game can keep Mikhail contented for half a decade, surely it’s worth considering at a discounted price? Well, that’s the pitch.

Advance Wars 1 + 2: Re-Boot Camp ($41.99 from $59.99)

Advance Wars 1+2 Re-Boot Camp is one of those remakes that maybe does too much in some ways while doing too little in others, but the quality of the original games shines through brightly. I have some mild issues with the visuals and technical performance, but what is great about these games, the tactical gameplay, can’t really be hindered by that kind of thing. What isn’t in question is that you get an awful lot of game here, since it includes both of the Game Boy Advance titles in full. If you enjoy turn-based strategy, this is a great pick-up at a nice price.

Tunic ($14.99 from $29.99)

If you enjoy action-adventures and don’t mind a game that isn’t big on going easy on the player, you should give Tunic a look. It’s gorgeous, clever, challenging, and simply a joy to pick away at. While it is quite difficult by default, there is an impressive number of options for those who want to tailor the game to their preferences. This Switch port, while obviously not quite up to the versions on other platforms from a technical standpoint, is very good and more than capable of delivering the experience to players. Not for everyone due to how opaque it can be at times, but those who get into it will find it to be very special indeed.

Sonic Frontiers ($20.99 from $59.99)

At least for me, Sonic Frontiers is a lot more than the sum of its parts. This game has a lot of rough edges and things that on paper shouldn’t work, but it completely sucked me in anyway. Its flaws mean that I can understand anyone who bounces off of it, but I think even for those who don’t get into it the way I did, you have to at least respect the effort here. It tries something very new for the series, and if this is how good the first attempt at this style went, I can’t wait to see what comes next. What a weird thing to feel about 3D Sonic.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons ($41.99 from $59.99)

Sure, by and large this game’s time has passed. The moment moved on. But that doesn’t make it any less enjoyable to get into today if you’re new to it. New Horizons probably could have been bigger and more expansive, and there’s an argument to be had that Nintendo perhaps moved on from it too soon. Taken for what it is, however, it’s an incredibly relaxing and compelling game for those looking to hide somewhere less stressful than the real world for a little while. Why not book a little time on the island?

COCOON ($14.99 from $24.99)

The best adventure games are often the ones that keep surprising you with novel puzzles to solve and problems to overcome, and Cocoon does a fantastic job of that. Your world-hopping powers are used simply enough at the outset, but before long you’ll be untangling some absurd knots with your expanding skill set. It’s all wrapped up in a gorgeous presentation, which certainly doesn’t hurt matters. You’re best off going into this one without anything spoiled, but if you enjoy adventure games or figuring out puzzles, you’ll likely have a blast with this.

Bravely Default II ($41.99 from $59.99)

The JRPG genre is in a different place than it was back in 2012, and it doesn’t need a savior or disruption the way it did at that time. It’s sufficient for Bravely Default II to be the incredibly safe sequel that it is, stretching its legs a little and further exploring the immensely clever gameplay mechanics established in previous games. Bravely Default II is truly a JRPG fan’s JRPG, and while I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t hoping it would smash my expectations the way the first game did, I’d be similarly dishonest if I were to say that I didn’t enjoy every minute of it. A worthy adventure.

And those are our picks from the Mega Extreme Fun Sale on the Nintendo Switch eShop. There are plenty more great games on sale right now, so make sure to check your wishlists and dig into the publisher pages on the eShop just to be sure you aren’t missing anything. If you have any sales you’d like to share, please hit those comments below. Thanks for reading!

Select New Releases

Fading Afternoon ($19.99)

From yeo, the developer behind The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa and Arrest of a Stone Buddha, Fading Afternoon is the story of a middle-aged yakuza named Maruyama who has just been released from prison. What will he do next? That’s up to you. There are multiple endings here, and the one you receive will depend on your actions during the course of the game. There’s a decent-sized city to explore and a handful of mini-games to mess around with. As with this developer’s previous games, you can also look forward to some solid beat-em-up action. I really liked yeo’s previous games, so I’ll definitely be giving this a look.

Seven Days ($34.99)

Okay, I’ll admit that a visual novel wherein all the heroines are dead is a novel set-up. Through various circumstances, our rather average protagonist ends up needing to resolve the lingering issues of the spirits of seven women. Ghosts can only live in the human world for forty-nine days, and a quick bit of math tells us that means each woman gets seven days’ worth of attention. Apart from the unusual premise, this looks like a fairly ordinary romantic visual novel. Maybe it’s for you, maybe it isn’t.

Arcade Archives Rug Rats ($7.99)

A 1982 Nichibutsu joint, and if you know that company name you know we’re in for a quirky one. This is a cleaning game, which in this case means cleaning up all the baddies using your little vacuum cleaner character. Roll enemies up in the carpets and pick up bonus items to earn extra points. You get both the Japanese and Overseas versions of the game here, and they’re actually quite different. Not the greatest of games, but it’s an unusual one that you probably haven’t played before. Isn’t that half the fun of the Arcade Archives line?

Garage: Bad Dream Adventure ($24.99)

This is a cleaned-up version of a messed-up 1999 PC game, but it still looks more or less like a 1999 PC game. You’re trapped in your own psyche and need to find your way out. The creator of this game is a surrealist artist, and he certainly flexes that with the bizarre sights and sounds you’ll come across. The mechanics are a bit hard to nail down, but you’ll be solving puzzles and exploring around, as one does in an adventure game. There’s quite a bit of disturbing stuff in this game, but I’m led to believe some of you are intrigued by that kind of thing. So, you know. Here you go.

HighScore Anomaly Underground ($3.99)

Well, these are getting to be a whole thing now. It’s another one of those games where you have to look for what’s out of place. If you don’t find it, you’ll be sent back to the beginning. If you do, or correctly ascertain that there is no anomaly, then you move up a level. Not a very long game, and not a very involved one either. Four bucks can buy some good snacks, even in this time of inflation. Choose wisely.

Euphoria ($14.99)

A first person puzzle game with a horror-mystery theme. Solve murder cases by examining the scenes, and maybe even recover your identity along the way. Not the fanciest of dining, but it might appeal to some out there. Steam reviews seem more positive than negative, though there are definitely a few people who didn’t care for it. Maybe if you loved Portal and are hungry for some other games of the same vague genre? I leave it in your skilled hands to investigate further, if you’re interested.

The Smurfs – Village Party ($39.99)

Want a party game to play with the family and don’t care for Mario’s antics? Do you love The Smurfs? Then you might be the right person for this new release from Microids. Frankly speaking, this publisher has messed up so many times with its licensed titles at this point that I would hesitate to trust anything from them. I want to say it’s hard to mess up a party game, but they did just that with the Inspector Gadget IP. Well, you get fifty mini-games in here plus a number of playable Smurfs. I leave it up to you if you want to risk getting smurfed out of your money or not.

Rainbow Diamonds ($9.99)

This appears to be today’s five-dollar Switch platformer, but uh oh, it’s ten dollars. Oh well. Forty levels set across four worlds, and that’s really all there is to say about it. Very indistinct.

Sales

(North American eShop, US Prices)

Quite the menagerie of titles in the inbox today. Some games worth considering include Shoot 1UP DX, Fearmonium, Garlic, and the ever-recommended Donut Dodo. Not too much in that outbox worth worrying about today, so have a careful look through the new sales and keep in mind that the Keighley summer thing is coming soon. There will be a lot of sales incoming in the next couple of weeks.

Select New Sales

Game Type DX ($2.99 from $5.99 until 6/19)
Shapeshooter ($1.99 from $3.99 until 6/19)
Weapon of Choice DX ($2.99 from $5.99 until 6/19)
Shoot 1UP DX ($2.99 from $5.99 until 6/19)
Pig Eat Ball ($7.49 from $14.99 until 6/19)
Unlife ($6.59 from $10.99 until 6/20)
Fearmonium ($7.79 from $12.99 until 6/20)
Zomborg ($2.49 from $4.99 until 6/20)
Runnyk ($2.49 from $4.99 until 6/20)
Bob the Elementalist ($2.49 from $4.99 until 6/20)
Amabilly ($2.49 from $4.99 until 6/20)
Castle Morihisa ($2.24 from $14.99 until 6/20)
NeonPowerUp! ($2.49 from $4.99 until 6/20)
Murder Is Game Over ($2.49 from $4.99 until 6/20)

Garlic ($7.49 from $14.99 until 6/20)
Pirates on Target ($2.49 from $4.99 until 6/20)
Mochi Mochi Boy ($1.99 from $4.99 until 6/20)
Loot Hero DX ($1.99 from $4.99 until 6/20)
Adventures of Ben: Rabbit Run ($11.24 from $24.99 until 6/20)
Gates of the Mind ($6.74 from $14.99 until 6/20)
Adventure Bar Story ($15.99 from $19.99 until 6/20)
Neko Secret Homecoming ($3.99 from $9.99 until 6/21)
Pretty Girls 2048 Strike ($3.49 from $6.99 until 6/21)
Seven Pirates H ($23.99 from $39.99 until 6/21)
Ravva and the Phantom Library ($4.99 from $9.99 until 6/21)
Turret Rampage ($2.99 from $4.99 until 6/21)
RedRaptor ($2.49 from $4.99 until 6/21)
Thunder Kid II: Null Mission ($1.99 from $7.99 until 6/21)
Q.U.B.E. 10th Anniversary ($2.79 from $19.99 until 6/21)

Barbie DreamHouse Adventures ($19.99 from $39.99 until 6/21)
Mail Mole ($5.99 from $14.99 until 6/24)
Fresh Start ($7.99 from $19.99 until 6/26)
Ponpu ($2.24 from $14.99 until 6/26)
Spells & Secrets ($14.99 from $29.99 until 6/26)
Spirit of the North ($3.74 from $24.99 until 6/26)
Vaporum ($3.74 from $24.99 until 6/26)
Monster Harvest ($2.99 from $19.99 until 6/26)
Stranded Sails EotCI ($3.74 from $24.99 until 6/26)
Aragami 2 ($9.99 from $39.99 until 6/26)
Slaycation Paradise ($2.99 from $19.99 until 6/26)
Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX ($2.99 from $19.99 until 6/26)
Sparklite ($3.74 from $24.99 until 6/26)
Morbid: The Seven Acolytes ($2.49 from $24.99 until 6/26)

Alphadia I & II ($14.99 from $19.99 until 6/27)
Revenant Saga ($6.49 from $12.99 until 6/27)
Revenant Dogma ($6.49 from $12.99 until 6/27)
Illusion of L’Phalcia ($6.49 from $12.99 until 6/27)
Gale of Windoria ($8.24 from $14.99 until 6/27)
Amibition Record ($8.24 from $14.99 until 6/27)
Jinshin ($11.24 from $14.99 until 6/27)
Galacticon ($2.99 from $4.99 until 6/27)
Donut Dodo ($2.99 from $4.99 until 6/27)
Attack of the Karens ($2.99 from $4.99 until 6/27)

Sales Ending Tomorrow, June 7th

Bish Bash Bots ($14.99 from $19.99 until 6/7)
Crimson Spires ($5.99 form $19.99 until 6/7)
Greed: The Mad Scientist ($7.99 from $15.99 until 6/7)
Outbreak The Fedora Files WLN ($15.99 from $19.99 until 6/7)
Oxytone ($3.99 from $7.99 until 6/7)
Pan’orama ($7.99 from $19.99 until 6/7)
Planet Cube: Edge ($5.99 from $14.99 until 6/7)
Rainbow Moon ($11.99 from $14.99 until 6/7)
Sunny Cafe ($11.99 from $14.99 until 6/7)

That’s all for today, friends. We’ll be back tomorrow with the remaining releases of the week, plus whatever sales and major news items roll in over the course of the day. I am incredibly sleepy today. I fell asleep twice writing this article. I need to take a nap later, or maybe get one good night’s sleep. I hope you all have a thrilling Thursday, and as always, thanks for reading!

Select New Releases

Democracy 4: Console Edition ($26.99)

You know, it’s not hard to look around at the state of the world these days and think that one could do better than the people in charge. Well, here’s your chance to test that theory. You take the role of a president or prime minister and have to manage a democratic country all while trying to maintain enough popularity to get re-elected. This is a rather well-liked game over on Steam, but this Switch version obviously won’t have the benefit of the robust modding community the computer version has around it. Will people still get into the vanilla experience? Probably.

Ghost Teen Escape from Limbo ($4.99)

Here’s our five-dollar Switch platformer entry for today, in case you were searching for one. This has fifty stages to play through, and the main gimmick is that you have ghost powers you can use to float and pass through obstacles. Might be what you’re after today. It’s like how every now and then I get a craving for a cinnamon bun.

Sales

(North American eShop, US Prices)

Some sales on WB Games, including a new low price for Mortal Kombat 1. Freedom Planet 2 has a nice little discount, and Activision is also running a bunch of sales. The outbox is probably more pressing. The third wave of Arcade Archives 10th anniversary sales is wrapping up, and I will say the usual thing about them being highly unlikely to go on sale again any time soon if at all. The sale on the Shantae games is also coming to a close, alongside a number of other indie games. Check both lists!

Select New Sales

Freedom Planet 2 ($19.99 from $24.99 until 6/18)
Batman Arkham Trilogy ($35.99 from $59.99 until 6/18)
Mortal Kombat 1 ($27.99 from $69.99 until 6/18)
Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled ($13.99 from $39.99 until 6/20)
Crash Bandicoot 4 ($19.99 from $39.99 until 6/20)
Diablo II: Resurrected ($13.19 from $39.99 until 6/20)
Diablo III: Eternal Collection ($19.79 from $59.99 until 6/20)
Boardwalk Arcade 2 ($19.99 from $29.99 until 6/23)
Retro Machina ($2.79 from $19.99 until 6/25)
Broken Lines ($3.49 from $24.99 until 6/25)
Alchemist Adventure ($2.79 from $19.99 until 6/25)
Chasm: The Rift ($6.99 from $19.99 until 6/25)

Sales Ending Tomorrow, June 6th

ACA NEOGEO Baseball Stars Professional ($3.99 from $7.99 until 6/6)
ACA NEOGEO Cyber-Lip ($3.99 from $7.99 until 6/6)
ACA NEOGEO Metal Slug 5 ($3.99 from $7.99 until 6/6)
ACA NEOGEO Ninja Combat ($3.99 from $7.99 until 6/6)
ACA NEOGEO Samurai Shodown V ($3.99 from $7.99 until 6/6)
Apex Heroines ($14.99 from $24.99 until 6/6)
Arcade Archives Baraduke ($5.59 from $7.99 until 6/6)
Arcade Archives New Rally-X ($5.59 from $7.99 until 6/6)
Arcade Archives Pac-Mania ($5.59 from $7.99 until 6/6)
Arcade Archives Tank Force ($5.59 from $7.99 until 6/6)
Arcade Archives Xevious ($5.59 from $7.99 until 6/6)
Atelier Marie Remake ($29.99 from $49.99 until 6/6)
Atelier Marie Remake Deluxe Edition ($41.99 from $69.99 until 6/6)
Atelier Marie Remake Deluxe Upgrade DLC ($13.19 from $21.99 until 6/6)

Battle Axe ($7.49 from $29.99 until 6/6)
Cattails: Wildwood Story ($9.99 from $19.99 until 6/6)
Chrome Wolf ($8.99 from $14.99 until 6/6)
Claire: Extended Cut ($4.49 from $14.99 until 6/6)
Final Vendetta ($9.98 from $24.95 until 6/6)
God of Light Remastered ($2.49 from $4.99 until 6/6)
Matsukeke Burst ($3.75 from $4.69 until 6/6)
Nelke & the Legendary Alchemists ($19.79 from $59.99 until 6/6)
OLLLO ($6.40 from $8.00 until 6/6)
One Last Breath ($15.29 from $17.99 until 6/6)
Onigo Hunter ($8.99 from $14.99 until 6/6)
Pronty ($7.49 from $14.99 until 6/6)
Shantae ($4.99 from $9.99 until 6/6)
Shantae & the Pirate’s Curse ($9.99 from $19.99 until 6/6)
Shantae & the Seven Sirens ($14.99 from $29.99 until 6/6)
Shantae: Half-Genie Hero UE ($14.99 from $29.99 until 6/6)
Shantae: Risky’s Revenge ($4.99 from $9.99 until 6/6)
Sherlock Holmes The Awakened DE ($14.99 from $49.99 until 6/6)
SmileBASIC 4 ($9.99 from $24.99 until 6/6)
Super Shadow Break Showdown ($5.84 from $12.99 until 6/6)
The Adv. of Elena Temple Definitive ($1.99 from $3.99 until 6/6)
The Battle for Hokkaido’s Delicious Foods ($3.59 from $8.99 until 6/6)
Time Trap: Hidden Objects ($11.24 from $14.99 until 6/6)
Whitestone ($5.99 from $19.99 until 6/6)
Yodanji ($2.49 from $4.99 until 6/6)

That’s all for today, friends. I know, it’s a short one. Tomorrow is Thursday, so we’ll have a whole bunch of new games to look at. Beyond that, we’ll have whatever sales and major news items roll in during the course of the day. I haven’t been feeling well this week, but I think I’m finally on the mend. I hope you all have a fantastic Wednesday, and as always, thanks for reading!

Okay, look. I’m being a bit sassy. If you don’t read comics, you probably only know the Eternals from the less-than-successful movie from a few years back. The original comics were a lot better, and that’s probably more of a reason for Marvel Snap to do this season based on the property. Titled The Celestials’ Finest, it is chockful of stuff. As usual, you can watch Ben Brode do his thing explaining it if you have the time and inclination to do so. If not, Shaun’s got you covered.

This is one of those events that runs for five weeks, so we have six new characters to deal with. First up is our Season Pass card, Gilgamesh. He’s 5-Cost 7-Power, and he has an On Reveal ability that gives him +1 Power for each of your other cards you have in play with increased Power. Oh, he’ll be a fun one to pair with the likes of Blue Marvel, won’t he?

Next up, Thena. She’s 2-Cost 1-Power, and she’ll gain +3 Power after each turn where you place exactly two cards. Not more or less. Two. Plan carefully. Chasing her is Sersi, a 5-Cost 7-Power card with an On Reveal ability that transforms your other cards at the location into random cards that cost one more, provided that’s possible. Chaotic but potentially potent.

Makkari is the next one, a 3-Cost 3-Power card who after the turn will run from your hand to a random location, provided that is possible.  Phastos is another 3-Cost 3-Power card, with an On Reveal ability that gives each of the remaining cards in your deck either -1 Cost or +2 Power. Sounds like a good partner for Gilgamesh. Finally, Arishem. The big dude is a 7-Cost 7-Power card and if you pack him in your deck, you’ll get +1 Max Energy at the start of the game. You’ll also get twelve random cards shuffled into your deck. More chaos!

Beyond that, there are two new locations. The World Forge will replace one of the other locations each turn, because we need more chaos. Eternals’ Ark floods the other locations after turn 5. Oh boy. These are both going to be a pain in the neck, but maybe a fun pain in the neck.

This new season coincides with an update, so let’s quickly look at that stuff too. We have a bunch of Series drops, which is always nice to see. Howard the Duck, Silver Samurai, Mirage, Echo, and Martyr are now Series 3 cards. Jean Grey, Selene, Hercules, Nebula, Silk, The Living Tribunal, and Gladiator are now Series 4. That should make them easier to get your hands on!

Balance changes, mostly aimed at Thanos. The Sanctuary II location has been completely disabled, for starters. Let’s quickly go through the Stone changes. The Mind Stone now draws two Stones from your deck, not two 1-Cost cards. The Reality Stone no longer draws a card as part of its ability. The Soul Stone swaps out its Ongoing -1 Power enemy card debuff for an On Reveal ability that draws a card and an Ongoing effect that makes it so Thanos can’t be discarded or destroyed.

The Space Stone no longer lets you move a card. Instead, it has an On Reveal ability that draws a card, and an Ongoing ability that makes it so nothing can stop you from playing or moving Thanos. The Time Stone now gives Thanos -1 Cost full-stop instead of just the next turn. I don’t know if all of this makes Thanos stronger or weaker, but there you go.

Okay, that was a lot but I think we hit all the major points. Lots of changes to Marvel Snap today! What do you think of the new cards? How about the changes to the Infinity Stones? Let us know in the comments below, and do look forward to this month’s updated deck building guide in the next day or two!

Reviews & Mini-Views

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door ($59.99)

Gee, what’s with all these remakes of games that just came out a little while ago? What’s that? Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is twenty years old? No, that can’t be. That would make me… oh dear. Alright, let’s push through this existential crisis and get to the matter of this remake. Remaster? I can’t keep track of how the industry wants to use these words anymore. This new release of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.

So this is the one, isn’t it? The ex that many longtime Nintendo fans just can’t get over. Indeed, the younger readers out there might know this game best as the one that everyone talks about when they’re complaining about the latest Paper Mario game. Is it really that good? Well, yes. Mario’s been lucky enough to star in a handful of top-shelf RPGs in his time, but The Thousand-Year Door might just be the best. It has a fun story, great characters, excellent writing, a wild amount of variety in its scenarios, a nigh-perfect battle system, and a lot of interesting places to explore. All of that is wrapped up in a superb presentation that has only gotten better here on the Switch, and when you toss in the new quality-of-life features like quick partner swapping and improved fast travel, you’ve got a must-have game for all fans of Mario and/or RPGs.

If by some chance you have never played this game, let this be your excuse to do so. It’s really great, I promise. It has creativity and personality to burn, and while I won’t get on-board with bashing the games that came after it (they’re all fine, even Sticker Star), there is certainly something special about this game. It perfectly straddles the line between being decidedly and refreshingly unlike the usual Mario fare and being so Mario-ish that you can’t help but love it. The Switch has a lot of great RPGs so I won’t go as far out on the branch as to say this is the best on the platform, but it’s definitely among them. Play it. You’ll have a good time.

Those who have played the game before in its GameCube form have a harder choice, I suppose. Beyond the glow-up in the presentation and the new quality-of-life features, there are a few new things here. Some new badges. Some new mini-games. Some new… other stuff. It’s not nothing, but I don’t know if it’s enough to tell someone to drop the cash on a full-priced release of a game they’ve already largely experienced. If you love the game enough to play it again, then I would say this is a version that is very much worth playing. I daresay that even with its extra frames per second, the GameCube original doesn’t stand much of a chance against this new version.

Whether you’re new to the game or are simply relishing a return trip to Rogueport, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is a fantastic way to experience one of Mario’s grandest and strangest adventures. Even as someone who has enjoyed the quirky charms of the last few Paper Mario games, I must admit that replaying the game via this version has made me pine for a new game with a similar sensibility to it. I don’t know if we’ll ever see that or not, but for now this superb remake more than satisfies.

SwitchArcade Score: 4.5/5

The Quintessential Quintuplets Double Pack ($59.99)

It’s always a little weird to play visual novel-style games based on an existing property. They either have to tuck the story somewhere in the canon where it won’t matter, or tell an alternate universe story. Either way, they’re shackled by the IP. But sometimes that isn’t a bad thing, because if there was ever a manga/anime where people might appreciate an alternate universe story, it’s The Quintessential Quintuplets. This was a story built to have fans at each other’s throats from the start, and the author had to be fully aware that around 80% of the readers would be disappointed no matter what the ending turned out to be.

A quick summary might be in order to bring you up to speed in case you’re not in the know. The Quintessential Quintuplets is a romantic comedy series about a straightlaced guy named Futaro Uesugi who, in serious need of money to pay his family’s bills and fund his future academic ambitions, takes a job tutoring the daughters of his father’s wealthy friend. He is surprised to find that there are five daughters, and they are quintuplets. Each of them is troublesome in her own way for our protagonist, but we the readers know from page one that one of them will end up his bride. Since they all have the same face, we don’t know which. And thus the story begins, with teases aplenty about which one will be in the bride’s position. I won’t spoil the ending in case you feel like reading/watching it, and frankly if you’re going to play these games you should do just that first.

We get two games in this pack. One of them, Five Memories Spent With You, is a fairly normal visual novel. It picks up from the decisive moment of the story, allowing the player to choose which of the five sisters Futaro chooses. You can go with the canon pick or any of the other girls, and if you complete all of their routes you’ll get a special extra route where you can have your cake and eat it too. As the story plays out, you’ll make choices here and there. Picking the right thing will earn you Futaro Points, and the ending you receive depends on whether or not you reached a certain threshold of Futaro Points. If nothing else, it’s a fun way to see how things could have played out if another girl had won. The main story follows the characters as they go on an Okinawa vacation to celebrate their graduation. It assumes you know everyone already and basically the story that led here, so I wouldn’t recommend it to a newcomer.

The other game in this bundle, Memories of a Quintessential Summer, is a bit more interesting. There’s a management element to this game that gives the gameplay a little more bite. The main cast ends up trapped on an island for two weeks and has to survive. That involves making choices to keep up supplies, stay on top of studies, and have some fun too. You can only take so many actions in a day, and you need to balance what you have each girl doing so she doesn’t fall into a funk or get too far behind on her studies. Here too there are multiple routes, and you can again unlock a special route where you take the whole bag home with you. This one is perhaps less dependent on one’s knowledge of the original story, but it will still benefit you to know the characters in advance.

As with most visual novels based on existing properties, The Quintessential Quintuplets Double Pack is aimed at the fans of the license. Those without pre-existing attachments are probably going to feel a bit lost here, and it’s hard to recommend the games to that sort of person as a result. That said, if you are a fan of this manga/anime, I think you’ll enjoy what’s on offer here. It’s all pretty modest in scope, but the characters are served well enough to satisfy. I think those who weren’t pleased with the canon ending of the series will find some additional joy here as you can choose a different path for our hapless hero. Not an especially ambitious or intriguing take on the genre, but good enough.

SwitchArcade Score: 3.5/5

Capes ($39.99)

I like super heroes. It is known. I also like turn-based tactical RPGs. It is known. And so it is perhaps not the most surprising thing that I really like Capes, which is a turn-based tactical RPG about super heroes. But it could have just as easily gone the other way, because my love for these things means that if anything is especially off about how it’s put together, I’m going to really notice it. I’m not going to say Capes is perfect in how it applies superheroes to this genre, but it doesn’t mess anything serious up either. You get a bunch of heroes with a bunch of cool powers, and those powers are implemented into the turn-based battle system really well. I like the way you can team characters up with each other to use their powers together.

It’s actually impressive how well everything clicks together. Some lessons were clearly taken from the more recent entries in the XCOM series, and that isn’t a bad place to look if you’re making a game of this sort. It’s certainly a rougher thing in many ways. The character models don’t look great, and the voice acting runs the gamut. The story isn’t very interesting, which is unfortunate given the interesting set-up. The city has basically been taken over by super-villains, who now run the place and do anything they can to keep new supers from rising up. This doesn’t seem to bother the average citizen, perhaps because the villains control the media and make it seem like the supers are the bad ones.

You take control of a team of young “capes" led by a grizzled old guy who seems to have revenge on his mind. While your team is very small to start with, you’ll build up your band as you go until you have a veritable league of super heroes to work with. Very cool! But the plot is so predictable, full of conveniences to support what the mechanics require, and delivered so clumsily that it quickly squanders that great premise. It’s not terrible or anything, but if you’re going to get into this game it’s going to be more for the gameplay than the narrative.

That gameplay is very good, though. Capes eschews the usual reliance on dice rolls and gives you full predictable results for your actions. Once you get a handle on how the CPU behaves, you can more or less figure out how things are going to unfold in any given mission. That doesn’t make completing them easy, of course. But without RNG messing with you, each mission is for better or worse a puzzle to solve. I don’t dislike that, as the variety of powers in play gives you a lot to chew on as it is. You’ll have to be ready to spend some time leveling up your heroes in side missions if you want to keep up with the difficulty, mind you. I enjoyed almost every battle in this game though, and that’s saying something.

If you’re into the idea of a superhero-flavored turn-based tactical RPG, I can happily report that Capes won’t let you down. It brings powers into combat in sensible ways, and goes the extra mile of making sure things like cooperation between heroes is represented properly too. There are aspects of it that could use more polish, and you can feel where the budget perhaps wasn’t up to the ambition, but the meat of the game delivers quite nicely.

SwitchArcade Score: 4/5

Select New Releases

Star Wars: Hunters (Free*)

Feels like this has been on the release calendar for absolute ages now, but it’s finally here. Zynga (oof) has a free-to-play (ouch) arena combat game based on Star Wars for up to eight players to enjoy via online multiplayer. I have no idea if this is going to be any good or not, but I’m not super hopeful. Luckily since it’s free-to-play we can all easily find out on our own how good it is or isn’t.

*Nothing is free in life, friends

Downward: Enhanced Edition ($9.99)

Oh, hey. It’s Downward. This came out on computers several years back, and it’s a fairly interesting first-person parkour game set in a foreboding yet gorgeous apocalyptic world. Pretty rough around the edges, but certainly not without its charms. It’s no Mirror’s Edge, but it’s decent enough.

Sales

(North American eShop, US Prices)

Not a whole lot going on sales-wise today, but Thalamus is doing another line-wide sale and WB Games has a few things on sale too. Kao the Kangaroo is at a new low price, and I think it’s just about where it needs to be to take a chance on it. Over in the outbox, the Minecraft anniversary sales are coming to a close. This is your last chance to get the games cheap, and in the case of the main game itself, you may never get another chance again. Check those lists and consider them carefully!

Select New Sales

TRON: Identity ($11.99 from $14.99 until 6/10)
Dead by Daylight ($11.99 from $29.99 until 6/20)
Rainbow Laser Disco Dungeon ($1.99 from $9.99 until 6/24)
Cardful Planning ($1.99 from $4.99 until 6/24)
Millie & Molly ($1.99 from $4.99 until 6/24)
Destructivator SE ($1.99 from $4.99 until 6/24)
10 Second Ninja X ($1.99 from $7.99 until 6/24)
The Solitaire Conspiracy ($2.39 from $11.99 until 6/24)
Thomas Was Alone ($1.99 from $9.99 until 6/24)
Bezier: Second Edition ($1.99 from $19.99 until 6/24)
Death Ray Manta SE ($1.99 from $10.00 until 6/24)
Lair of the Clockwork God ($3.99 from $19.99 until 6/24)
Cecconoid ($1.99 from $4.99 until 6/24)
Alien Death Mob ($1.99 from $4.99 until 6/24)
Lumo ($1.99 from $19.95 until 6/24)
Rogue Aces ($1.99 from $12.99 until 6/24)
Behold the Kickmen ($1.99 from $3.99 until 6/24)
Kao the Kangaroo ($8.99 from $29.99 until 6/24)
Tropico 6 ($24.99 from $49.99 until 6/24)
LEGO City Undercover ($5.99 from $29.99 until 6/24)
Mortal Kombat 11 ($8.99 from $59.99 until 6/24)
Mortal Kombat 11 Aftermath DLC ($3.99 from $39.99 until 6/24)

Sales Ending Tomorrow, June 5th

BIT.TRIP Runner ($1.99 from $4.99 until 6/5)
Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium, Assorted ($0.99 from $1.99 until 6/5)
Coffee Crisis ($1.99 from $9.99 until 6/5)
Desktop Baseball 2 ($3.99 from $9.80 until 6/5)
Make It! Taiyaki ($1.99 from $3.00 until 6/5)
Minecraft ($14.99 from $29.99 until 6/5)
Minecraft Deluxe Collection ($19.99 from $39.99 until 6/5)
Minecraft Dungeons ($9.99 from $19.99 until 6/5)
Minecraft Dungeons Ultimate Edition ($19.99 from $39.99 until 6/5)
Minecraft Legends ($19.99 from $39.99 until 6/5)
Minecraft Legends Deluxe Edition ($24.99 from $49.99 until 6/5)
Umurangi Generation SE ($17.49 from $24.99 until 6/5)

That’s all for today, friends. We’ll be back tomorrow with the usual Wednesday business. That means maybe a couple of new releases, some sales, and perhaps some news. No reviews this time, unless our pal Mikhail has been hiding something. I hope you all have a terrific Tuesday, and as always, thanks for reading!

Reviews & Mini-Views

Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord ($29.99)

It’s kind of impressive how relatively little you need to do to this forty-three year old game to make it work in the current year. That isn’t to downplay Digital Eclipse’s efforts with this remake, because they have done a stellar job updating what benefited from being updated while having the wisdom to leave alone what didn’t need it. It’s just that the core of Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord still feels really good. It’s really challenging, and not always in a good way, but I don’t think that style of difficulty is so out of place in the modern age. Its gameplay loop remains enjoyable, even if it’s a bit strict. Wizardry is as mysterious, cool, and compelling as it ever was.

But let’s talk about what Digital Eclipse has done for it, because it isn’t small. The presentation has gotten a massive overhaul, and that’s the first thing your eyes and ears will notice. The game communicates with the player more as well, with some helpful warnings and hints along with lore-building descriptions added in for good measure. There are a lot of useful new quality-of-life features that you can turn on or off as you like, though you shouldn’t expect any of them to make the game easy. Or even anything less than a cruel climb up a sheer cliff using only your teeth to hang on. Wizardry is not a game you can beat simply by being persistent. It is very beatable, but grinding alone isn’t going to save you.

You will have to grind quite a bit, though. The Wizardry loop involves going into the dungeon as far as you can safely manage and fighting enemies until you can level up. Then you go back to the town, do what you have to do, and head back in a little deeper to do the same. As you do this, you’ll hopefully build out your maps and start thinking about more optimal routes to cut down on the number of encounters you’ll have to deal with. Oh, and don’t forget to level up a back-up party to use as a rescue team when your main team inevitably gets ambushed and murdered by ninjas. You’ll have to retrieve those bodies and bring them back to revive them, after all.

That gets to one of the cool things about this remake of the game. It plays like the original game because at its core it is the original game, running the original code. You can see that original version playing out in a separate window if you like, and that’s quite fun to look at. I also want to highlight the new lore entries, because it really does add quite a bit to the game’s atmosphere. I wish Digital Eclipse had done a little more here in the vein of its documentary-style releases, but I understand that wasn’t really the goal here. It’s a way to play the original Wizardry on modern platforms with some sprinkles and a cherry on top, and in that capacity it does its job well.

Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord is an excellent remake, but not one to be taken lightly. In a change from Digital Eclipse’s usual documentary approach, this remake simply offers the original game with a fresh lick of paint and a few new optional features to make it more convenient (not easier!) to play. This is, at its heart, the same merciless dungeon crawling RPG it has always been. Whether that’s a challenge you want to tackle in the modern age is up to you, but there’s no better way to do so than through this fine effort.

SwitchArcade Score: 4.5/5

Umbraclaw ($24.99)

Inti-Creates has often experimented with the idea of putting the degree of difficulty in the players’ hands in ways outside of a simple setting in the options menu. Even going as far back as Mega Man Zero, the player is able to sacrifice Cyber Elves to make the game easier at the cost of penalties to the player’s grades. But what if players don’t care about grades? There are a lot of ways to go about that, but Umbraclaw has one suggestion: rip your heart into pieces.

In this game, you’re playing as a cute little kitty. Your owner loves you very much. There’s just one problem: you’re dead. Well, it happens. This doesn’t have to be the end, however. You’ve awakened in the Soulplane (no relation to the Soul Train, presumably), and if you can make your way through it you can apparently return to the world of the living and reunite with your owner. Another issue immediately arises, though. The Soulplane is a very dangerous place, and you’re a cat. Not a Super Cat. Just a cat-cat. You have no means of attacking enemies, and a single hit will end your afterlife.

Luckily, cats have nine lives. Each time you die, you’ll come back complete with a new ability gained through absorbing another animal’s soul. This will make the game easier, and as you work through your lives and collect more of these souls, considerably so. But the more souls you absorb, the more of your self you lose, and eventually you might not even remember your owner anymore. And of course, if you reach the end of those nine lives you’ll get a game over and have to start the stage over. Basically, you can make things easier on yourself if you don’t care about the little kitty never reuniting with her owner. Nice.

You have ways of dealing with this, however. Whenever you beat a boss, you can purge all of the Hope Shards you’ve collected to return to your basic kitty form. But do you need those Hope Shards for anything else? Well, yes. You can use them to buy upgrades, permanent ones that persist in a New Game+ and will make it far easier to get to the better ending. Ideally you don’t want to be blowing these just to go back to your kitty form. Umbraclaw is essentially built to be replayed at least a couple of times before you reach a happy end. You need to just throw aside the idea of reaching the best ending on your first run. Hoard those crystals and buy some permanent upgrades. Once you have enough of those under your belt, then you can try for a real run.

The problem is that Umbraclaw isn’t that much fun to replay back-to-back, and the bad ending really does feel like a punch to the gut. A bitter pill that must be swallowed for a better tomorrow. But then you have to play through the same game again, hoping that this time you’re powerful enough and have memorized enough to do it better. It feels like the game is wasting my time and motivating me to accept it through emotional blackmail. It drags down the rest of the game, which is pretty solid. The usual Inti-Creates stuff, you know? Solid controls, fun bosses, a good presentation. That’s all here and doing its thing, keeping Umbraclaw from being a total bummer.

I’ll certainly give Inti-Creates some credit here. Umbraclaw is trying some things outside of the developer’s usual wheelhouse, and they are interesting things. It almost gets there, but it ultimately feels caught between being some kind of roguelite and being a more linear action game. I also think the way the difficulty works here is a bit too manipulative in a way that doesn’t feel good. With all that said, Umbraclaw is still a nice-looking game that is very playable, and even if it fails trying something I will at least commend it for trying.

SwitchArcade Score: 3.5/5

Goliath Depot ($6.99)