Hello, gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for January 4th, 2019. Today we’ve got some scuttlebutt on a possible DLC character for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, some newly-announced release dates for games coming in January, a bunch of new releases, and a gigantic sale that will have your cash flow crying for mercy. Let’s save… by spending!
News
Datamining Gives Some Hints for Future ‘Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’ DLC
Okay, first of all, there may be SPOILERS here, so if you don’t want to know about possible upcoming characters, mosey on down to the next item. Seriously.
Anyway, some fuel has been added to the fire concerning the next DLC character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Nintendo made waves at The Game Awards by announcing Persona 5‘s Joker would be joining the fight, and speculation has been running wild about possible candidates to fill the other slots. One strong rumor that has been going the rounds is that the hero of Dragon Quest 3, Loto/Erdrick, would be the next one announced. Well, dataminers have found some info that could support that rumor. Buried in the latest files are parameters that could be upcoming characters. They’re code-named, so some due diligence has been done.
The code-names are as follows: ‘jack’, ‘brave’, and ‘packu’. The last one is definitely the Piranha Plant, known as ‘Pakkun Flower’ in Japan. The first is likely Joker, pointing either to Atlus mascot Jack Frost or following the playing card theme of his name. The middle one? Well, there are lots of translations of the word ‘brave’ in Japanese, but used in the sense of a person, as in ‘a brave’, it’s ‘yuusha‘. That word also means ‘hero’, and for pretty much any Japanese person who has any interest in games, it’s going to most strongly call up the image of the protagonist of Dragon Quest. This doesn’t necessarily point to Loto/Erdrick, but they are the most famous Dragon Quest hero design, so… yeah. Of course, this could all be totally wrong. That’s how rumors are.
‘JackQuest: Tale of the Sword’ Hits Switch on January 24th
Hey, are you looking for another Metroidvania game for your Switch? Okay, I understand if you’re good to go, but if you’re feeling like you’re hungry for another one around, say, January 24th-ish, have I got good news for you. JackQuest: Tale of the Sword will be making its way to various platforms this month, and that includes the Switch. It’s reasonably priced at $9.99, so that’s nice. Feel free to check out the trailer that Blowfish Studios has released to see if it looks interesting for you.
You Can Have ‘Everything’ on Your Switch Next Week
There are art games, and then there’s Mountain. I remember the first summer I worked for TouchArcade, this weird app from a filmmaker came out and made everyone really mad for a hot minute or two. Is Mountain a game? Is it a rip-off? Social commentary? Friends, I don’t know, but it seemed like everyone had a strong opinion on a lot of that. Everything, which is more or less a follow-up to Mountain from David OReilly, appears to have drawn a lot less commentary and ire. For what it’s worth, it does seem to have slightly more interactive elements while still retaining the beauty of its predecessor. Everything came out last year on other platforms, but if you want it on your Switch, just check the ol’ eShop next week, plunk down $14.99, and your wish will come true.
New Releases
Tetraminos ($9.99)
You know, I can’t quite put my finger on it, but this game really reminds me of another game. Lumines, maybe? Puyo Puyo? Dr. Mario? Well, whatever. Given how fiercely The Tetris Company guards their property and Nintendo’s close relationship with them, I’m a bit surprised to see this game made its way to the eShop at all. But here it is! If you don’t want to pay for proper Tetris on your Switch which I’ll admit is currently only available in Frankenstein’s Monster form via Puyo Puyo Tetris, you can get this. It’s not exactly the same, but gosh, it sure looks close.
Pang Adventures ($9.99)
SwitchArcade Recommended!
Pang Adventures is a new installment in the Pang/Buster Bros. series, originally created by Mitchell Corporation. Stand at the bottom of the screen alone or with a friend and use your spear-gun to pop bubbles into slightly smaller bubbles. Avoid dying. It’s harder than it seems. There are some power-ups that will help you, but there are also some weird stage gimmicks you need to be careful about. I enjoy these games well enough playing by myself, but grab a friend or family member for local two-player and you’ve got some zesty cheese, friends.
Gnomes Garden 2 ($4.99)
It’s like a free-to-play building game as seen on your mobile device, except it’s not free and it won’t badger you about buying extra boxes of gems or whatever. Also, it’s level-based, and there are more than 40 of them. I don’t know, this series has been around for a while and it’s obviously found an audience, so even though it’s not for me I’m not going to slag it. Collect resources, get your gnomes building things, use the stuff those things produce to create more things, and so on. It’s not that expensive and it’ll probably absorb a fair bit of free time if you get into it.
Brick Breaker ($9.99)
From the folks behind the highly-original Tetraminos comes Brick Breaker, another oddly familiar title. That said, people have been cloning Breakout since the dawn of time and even if Atari cared, I doubt they’re getting those horses back in the barn at this point. Heck, I’m pretty sure one of Nintendo’s earliest ventures into the home game space was a Breakout clone. This one has a four-player mode you can enjoy in local play. It’s very shiny and let’s be honest, it’s very hard to mess up a Breakout clone. Is it worth a tenspot? That’s up to you to decide.
Animus ($7.99)
A familiar name to mobile gamers, Animus is now available on Switch in an improved form. If you don’t know Animus, it’s more or less an indie take on Dark Souls. It’s not as substantial and truthfully not as good, but I think the price on this one is quite nice for what you get. I’d say it’s worth the extra money to grab Dark Souls first, but if you’re finished with that game, you might have some fun with this one. Just, you know, keep in mind that this is a game from a relatively new, small developer and not a full-budget release from a prolific veteran developer and one of the industry’s biggest publishers.
ACA NEOGEO Ragnagard ($7.99)
I already gave my opinion on this game when it was announced, but yeah, I’m not a fan of Ragnagard. The NEOGEO has a ton of fighters, and I won’t say there aren’t some hidden treasures buried under the King of Fighters and Fatal Fury games, but Ragnagard is just sort of bad. And unlike other not-so-hot NEOGEO fighters, this one is butt-ugly. They tried to do a faux-3D thing with pre-rendered sprites and it just looks awful. Even worse on today’s high-resolution displays. But Hamster has given it its usual care, so if you are a fan of Ragnagard, this is all you could ever hope for, I suppose.
Mad Age & This Guy ($4.99)
SwitchArcade Recommended!
So what you’ve got here is a mix of a box-pushing Sokoban puzzle game and Bomberman, all painted up with a cute Steampunk art-style. And hey, it’s pretty good! There’s no multiplayer, so it’s definitely more for the single-player Bomberman fans (all six of you), but it does that job well. You’ve got 54 levels across 3 worlds, which should give you several hours of head-scratching action. The graphics are cute, the music is nice, and it’s a very good value at the price. This is the kind of homage I like.
99Seconds ($2.99)
Can you stay alive for 99 seconds? That seems easy enough for most of us, right? Well, the poor hero of this game has things a little rougher. For our not-so-animated protagonist, 99 seconds can literally be a lifetime. Hang in there as pure chaos unfolds around you, marvel as the levels keep getting harder, join up with some friends to see who is the most terrible at this kind of game. It does what it needs to do, and it does it cheaply. I’m not really sold on the look of 99Seconds, but from a gameplay perspective, it’s clear which parts of the screen you should or shouldn’t be occupying, which is the important thing. If you like these kinds of dodge-em-up games, you don’t have a lot to lose here.
Fitness Boxing ($49.99)
I suppose you could call this the torch-bearer for the Wii Fit games, though it’s a lot more narrow in its scope. Grab your Joycons and punch, punch, punch your way to a slimmer waist. There are 20 licensed tunes, albeit instrumental versions of such, and you’ll unlock them as you achieve your targets. You can also unlock new trainers and outfits for them, so there’s a nice little drip-feed thing going on here. Since it’s just relying on the Joycons, it’s up to you to move your body the way the game wants you to. You can play the game just fine sitting on the sofa, but you won’t get the beach bod you crave with that lack of hustle. Does it work? I don’t know, but if you can’t have a good time air-punching to an instrumental version of Aqua’s Cartoon Heroes, I literally do not know how to please you.
Sales
Wowza, just when you thought you were safe, here comes a New Year’s sale. And it’s a doozy! There are so many great games on discount here, I don’t know what to recommend. Octopath Traveler? Mario Kart 8 Deluxe? Valkyria Chronicles 4? Splatoon 2? I don’t know, you can probably spot a few things on here that you already had your eye on, so go wild. Make sure you pick up Iconoclasts if you don’t already have it, though. I think that’s the first time it’s been on sale, and it’s simply great.
New Games on Sale
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe ($41.99 from $59.99 until 1/10)
Sid Meier’s Civilization 6 ($44.99 from $59.99 until 1/10)
Starlink Battle for Atlas ($29.99 from $59.99 until 1/10)
Splatoon 2 ($41.99 from $59.99 until 1/10)
Wizard of Legend ($12.79 from $14.99 until 1/10)
Mega Man Legacy Collection ($11.24 from $14.99 until 1/10)
Octopath Traveler ($41.99 from $59.99 until 1/10)
LEGO DC Super-Villains ($29.99 from $59.99 until 1/10)
Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle Gold Edition ($26.39 from $79.99 until 1/10)
Golf Story ($9.89 from $14.99 until 1/10)
ARMS ($41.99 from $59.99 until 1/10)
The Gardens Between ($12.99 from $19.99 until 1/10)
Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King ($10.49 from $14.99 until 1/10)
Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition ($41.99 from $59.99 until 1/10)
Flat Heroes ($6.49 from $9.99 until 1/10)
Iconoclasts ($14.99 from $19.99 until 1/10)
Capcom Beat ‘Em Up Bundle ($15.99 from $19.99 until 1/10)
Horizon Chase Turbo ($17.99 from $19.99 until 1/10)
Carcassone ($15.99 from $19.99 until 1/10)
Just Shapes & Beats ($14.99 from $19.99 until 1/10)
Puyo Puyo Tetris ($20.99 from $29.99 until 1/10)
Final Fantasy XV Pocket Edition HD ($19.49 from $29.99 until 1/10)
The Jackbox Party Pack 5 ($20.99 from $29.99 until 1/10)
Wandersong ($15.99 from $19.99 until 1/10)
Pode ($17.49 from $24.99 until 1/10)
Flinthook ($10.49 from $14.99 until 1/10)
Dust: An Elysian Tail ($10.49 from $14.99 until 1/10)
LEGO Harry Potter Collection ($24.99 from $49.99 until 1/10)
The Jackbox Party Pack ($13.74 from $24.99 until 1/10)
Carnival Games ($25.99 from $39.99 until 1/10)
Namco Museum ($14.99 from $29.99 until 1/10)
Spelunker Party! ($14.99 from $29.99 until 1/10)
Sonic Mania ($14.99 from $19.99 until 1/10)
Semispheres ($4.99 from $9.99 until 1/10)
Quest of Dungeons ($5.39 from $8.99 until 1/17)
Sonic Forces ($19.99 from $39.99 until 1/10)
Heroes of the Monkey Tavern ($4.99 from $9.99 until 1/16)
Shadow Bug ($3.59 from $8.99 until 1/17)
Shining Resonance Refrain ($24.99 from $49.99 until 1/10)
SEGA AGES Sonic the Hedgehog ($5.99 from $7.99 until 1/10)
SEGA AGES Lightening Force ($5.99 from $7.99 until 1/10)
Valkyria Chronicles 4 ($29.99 from $59.99 until 1/10)
Valkyria Chronicles ($14.99 from $19.99 until 1/10)
Crimson Keep ($9.99 from $19.99 until 1/17)
HoPiKo ($6.99 from $9.99 until 1/17)
Everything ($11.99 from $14.99 until 1/10)
Caveblazers ($11.99 from $14.99 until 1/17)
Stellar Interface ($11.69 from $12.99 until 1/11)
DYING: Reborn ($7.99 from $9.99 until 1/17)
At Sundown: Shots in the Dark ($15.99 from $19.99 until 1/22)
Doodle God: Evolution ($4.89 from $6.99 until 1/23)
Sales Ending Tomorrow, Saturday, January 5th
Burnstar ($9.99 from $19.99 until 1/5)
Enigmatis 2: The Mists of Ravenwood ($7.49 from $14.99 until 1/5)
My Brother Rabbit ($10.99 from $14.99 until 1/5)
Nightmares from the Deep 2 ($7.49 from $14.99 until 1/5)
Noir Chronicles: City of Crime ($11.99 from $14.99 until 1/5)
Persian Nights: Sands of Wonder ($10.99 from $14.99 until 1/5)
Soulblight ($11.99 from $14.99 until 1/5)
Tangrams Deluxe ($4.49 from $4.99 until 1/5)
Yuso ($3.99 from $7.99 until 1/5)
Phew, that… that was a list. Anyway, that’ll wrap it up for today’s SwitchArcade Round-Up. Good luck making some hard decisions on those sales, and have a good weekend. What will next week bring? More… more stuff to spend money on, I suppose! Let’s look forward to it together. As always, thanks for reading!
