Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for March 28th, 2019. An absolutely stupid amount of new games came out today, and we’ve got summaries of all of them. Because of that, I really only picked up on the most important news item of the day, but I’ve also got the usual list of sales for you as well. Let’s put on our little inflatable duck inner tubes and jump on in!
News
‘Cyber Shadow’ Coming Soon to Switch from Yacht Club Games and Mechanical Head Studios
To be honest, I wasn’t going to do any news stories today because of how many new releases I needed to write up, but I’ll be darned if I’m not going to mention this hot-looking new title from developer Mechanical Head Studios and publisher Yacht Club Games. According to the developer, his inspirations were the Mario games, Contra, the NES Batman, and of course, Ninja Gaiden. And you can see all of that in the trailer. This game looks absolutely incredible and I can’t wait to play it. The release date is not yet announced, but the price will apparently be $14.99.
New Releases
Airfield Mania ($5.99)
This is actually a pretty fun game, if a little simple. You pick one of three stages that have different airfield layouts and try to direct the incoming traffic to a safe landing. Airplanes to proper color-coded runways, helicopters to helipads, and so on. It’s quite chill at first but it gets very hectic as time goes on, so the challenge is really to see how far you can go before a collision puts an end to your brief career. But I’m not sure I can wholeheartedly recommend it here. The game was originally on mobile, and it relies heavily on touch screen controls to draw the paths of the aircraft. Not a problem when you’re playing undocked, but if you like to play Switch on the TV, it’s pretty bad. I also find its simple style suits playing on my iPhone more than my Switch, but that’s a subjective thing. Go with your gut.
Warparty ($24.99)
SwitchArcade Highlight!
Okay, try to stay calm. This is a real-time strategy game with DINOSAUR ARMIES. Geez. It’s like, if someone was peering in my head trying to find my ideal RTS theme, about half of the concept would be DINOSAUR ARMIES. Sure, the other part about Spider-Man, Kraven, and Ka-Zar each leading their own factions in the Savage Land isn’t here, but DINOSAUR ARMIES. This is in most respects a pretty traditional RTS in spite of its unusual theme. Pick one of three factions, gather resources, build structures, build units to attack your enemies, and try to crush those fools. The only bummer is that the game is single-player only at the moment. I know the PC version has a multiplayer mode but I’m not sure if that’s in the cards here. Even so, as a traditional single-player RTS experience on the Switch, it’s not exactly running into much competition. I’ll be doing a proper review later because, well, DINOSAUR ARMIES.
UNI ($7.99)
I’m not sure if releasing a mini-game party thing on a Nintendo platform is a good idea or a bad one. Does Mario Party increase the field of people who enjoy party games, or does it suck all of the oxygen out of the room because its fans don’t really seek out anything else? I don’t have an answer, but the makers of UNI will probably have some useful data soon. This is a party game with 30 different mini-games designed for two players and only two players. If you don’t have someone to play with, there’s not much to do here. If you have more than one person to play with, people will have to sit out. I mean, for the price, I guess it’s alright if you have the right number of people. But I can’t imagine any scenario where you aren’t better off just paying out the extra for Mario Party.
Undead’s Building ($5.99)
So, I’ve played a lot of zombie games. A lot. Comes with the whole mobile game reviewer territory, you understand. And as such, it’s really hard to come up with a zombie game idea that I haven’t seen before. Well, congratulations to developer Double Drive, because I have never seen anything quite like Undead’s Building before. Basically, zombies have infested an apartment building and are bothering the residents. You are the building’s elevator operator, and you need to save people by monitoring the security footage for each floor and carefully opening and closing the doors. Let the people in, keep the zombies out. Rescue enough people and you’ll move on to the next stage. Rescue more to get a better grade. There’s a wacky sense of humor pervading the whole thing that helps paint over the slightly repetitive gameplay. There aren’t many stages so it doesn’t last terribly long, but it’s amusing and not all that pricey.
The World Next Door ($14.99)
This is a bit of an oddball game and I can’t decide if I like it a lot or just kind of like it. Basically, you’ve got a branching narrative adventure about a magical creature high school combined with action scenes that use match-3 as a core mechanic. The art during the visual novel-like bits is pretty good, the writing is enjoyable enough, and the gameplay in the puzzle sections is decent enough if not the most exciting stuff around. It exists on that line where I’d say if you think it looks interesting, you’ll probably like it. Another helpful bit of analysis from Shaun, if I do say so myself.
Snow Battle Princess Sayuki ($15.00)
Although it ended up being a bit different than I expected, this game immediately gave me Pocky & Rocky vibes, and that is not a bad way to get introduced. It’s a top-down action shooter where you control a snow princess named Sayuki on her quest to break the curse placed on her loved one. The game’s theme relies heavily on Japanese folklore, which makes for a nice bit of variety across the eight different stages. A second player can also join in. The game is fairly fun, but it’s just a little too far on the short side for my liking. If you can get it during the introductory sale that ends today, it’s probably worth it even with the relatively light amount of content.
She Remembered Caterpillars ($11.99)
SwitchArcade Highlight!
This is a pretty enjoyable logic puzzle game with an interesting narrative woven into it. You’ve got these little mushroom-type things that come in different colors, and then some caterpillar-looking things that bridge gaps, form arches, and such. Your mushroom-type things can merge together to create a new color, and then break apart again whenever. Basically, you need to guide the mushroom-type things to a goal square somewhere in the stage, but their movements are hindered based on their color. So you have to sort out who goes where and when, who should merge with who at which point, and so on until you can get each of them where they need to go. After you finish the level, you get a little snippet of a story that seems entirely unrelated to the game at the beginning but slowly starts to fit a little more as time goes on. I’ll probably do a full review of this one in a day or two, but I rather like it.
SEGA AGES Gain Ground ($7.99)
SwitchArcade Highlight!
I love it when re-releases bring games to light that were often overlooked at the time of their original release, and SEGA AGES Gain Ground is a very good example of that. Simply put, this is an odd game that didn’t fit neatly into any category back in the 1990s and certainly doesn’t fit now. It comes off like an action game, but strategy is just as important if not more, an odd situation for an arcade game. You start off with a handful of distinct units with their own skills and try to add to your squad by rescuing characters as you go. Lose a character and they’re gone, potentially taking some vital abilities with them. Each stage calls for a slightly different approach and the ability to execute on those plans, making for a tense, enjoyable game that has a feel all its own. Like other SEGA AGES releases, this is an amazing port with great extra features that make the game a lot easier to play. Definitely worth your time and money.
SEGA AGES Alex Kidd in Miracle World ($7.99)
This is undoubtedly the finest version of Alex Kidd in Miracle World ever released, but it doesn’t quite have the same amount or variety of extra features as some of the other games in the SEGA AGES line. The two best new features are the implementation of an FM Unit soundtrack and the ability to rewind your gameplay. The former makes the game’s compositions sound even better, while the latter makes a rather irritating game a lot more manageable. I’m still not a big fan of this game at all, but if you are? This is absolutely a must-have.
Lyrica ($19.99)
SwitchArcade Highlight!
Arguably the finest rhythm game based on Chinese poetry available on the Switch, Lyrica offers up 57 musical pieces that cover a wide variety of genres. Tap to the beat, read the interesting story, and you may even learn something along the way. Maybe not. I don’t know. But if you’ve enjoyed other rhythm games on the Switch, you might want to check this one out as well. This game comes from RNOVA Studio, and they clearly know their stuff when it comes to rhythm games. Anyway, you probably know if this is your sort of thing or not. All you’re here to find out is if they biffed it up somehow. They did not. Buy without worry.
Istanbul: Digital Edition ($19.99)
SwitchArcade Highlight!
While I know not everyone is entirely jazzed about the idea of playing board games on their game machines, provided you are open to the idea, you really should pick up Istanbul. This is an amazing board game that is just ridiculously fun to play with other people, and the digital version is probably the most economical way to access it. You play as a merchant working their way through a bazaar. You have four assistants that you’ll need to use to take just about any action, but if you leave them behind you won’t be able to use them again until you pick them up. I’m probably not selling it very well, but if you like strategic board games, you’ll really dig this one, I’m sure.
Inferno Climber: Reborn ($13.99)
This is a pretty tough action-RPG and if it weren’t utterly played out and cliche to do so, I’d compare it to “that" series because it is very obviously inspired by it. Anyway, you pick a character and your job is to scour hell to find five Purgatory Stones so that you can get out of Dodge. If you die, you have to start again with a different character. If you have the resources and can get to where the body fell, you can resurrect that character, but that kind of system doesn’t always work well and, yeah, it really doesn’t here. I’m sure someone, somewhere could properly get into this game, but that person is not me. Not a fan of this at all.
GOKEN ($9.99)
And here’s another one that does absolutely nothing for me. This is a top-down action-RPG with a somewhat seamless open world to explore. The combat is really clunky and not much fun at all, and the enemy variety is definitely lacking. You’ve got plenty of good choices on this genre on Switch; GOKEN should be somewhere near the bottom of the list even for the staunchest fan of the genre.
GODS Remastered ($19.99)
Three words: The Bitmap Brothers. Are you quivering with pleasure? If so, then you should probably go ahead and buy Gods Remastered. It’s a really nicely updated version of the original game that fully respects the source while making some tiny improvements just about anyone could agree on. It also has a full 3D-style set of graphics, but I can’t in good conscience recommend using them at any time. Scratching your head at those three words? Then you’ll probably want to move along. It took a while for Western game developers to really get a good handle on action/platformers and the steps they took along the way are awfully hard to go back to regardless of how acclaimed they were at the time. Gods Remastered is a game that will likely please many of its old fans, but probably won’t be making any new ones.
Fun! Fun! Animal Park ($29.99)
Well, I’m a bit flabbergasted here to be honest. How is this not the only party game for two players with 30 mini-games released on the Switch today? This is probably the better of the two, but does it justify its price? I feel like the answer is in that screenshot. But you know, check what I said about UNI a little earlier in this article and most of it applies here. This is obviously a bit higher budget but I’m still not convinced you wouldn’t be better off just buying Mario Party or, if you’ve already done that, playing Mario Party again.
Croixleur Sigma ($19.99)
This one’s been out before on other platforms, so there’s a good chance you’re already familiar with it. It’s a colorful, cute hack-and-slash game featuring girls who dress up in cat ears and stuff like that. While it certainly can get repetitive after a while, especially if you’re not taking advantage of the two-player support, there’s something about this game that keeps me coming back anyway. I’ll be doing a proper review of this one sometime in the next few articles, so be sure to watch for that.
Cel Damage HD ($9.99)
I can’t believe this game is still kicking around. If you had asked me back in 2001 to list the top 20 games that would still be getting re-released in 2019, there’s exactly zero chance I ever would have thought of Cel Damage. It’s a mediocre vehicular combat game whose main claim to fame was its then-flashy use of cel-shaded graphics. It’s not terrible or anything, and I appreciate that the price is pretty reasonable, but I just don’t know why anyone would still want to buy something like this even with all of the improvements made in the HD version. But if you like Cel Damage, this certainly is Cel Damage on your Switch, at a very low cost to boot.
Sales
It’s a little quiet today so far, with just a few new sales including some nice deals on the Trine games. The outgoing list is pretty small too, with a couple of sports sims and a few games that will probably be back on sale again within a couple of weeks. Not much to say here, really. Grab New Star Manager or Motorsport Manager if those sports strike your fancy, but otherwise it might be best to hold tight and see what pops up as the day goes on.
New Games on Sale
Trine Enchanted Edition ($10.49 from $14.99 until 4/11)
Trine 2: Complete Story ($11.89 from $16.99 until 4/11)
Perception ($6.79 from $19.99 until 4/16)
Yet Another Zombie Defense HD ($4.49 from $4.99 until 4/16)
Istanbul Digital Edition ($15.99 from $19.99 until 4/5)
Sales Ending Tomorrow, Friday, March 29th
Mitsurugi Kamui Hikae ($7.14 from $11.90 until 3/29)
Motorsport Manager for Nintendo Switch ($11.99 from $14.99 until 3/29)
New Star Manager ($9.99 from $19.99 until 3/29)
The Bridge ($2.69 from $9.99 until 3/29)
Tumblestone ($4.04 from $14.99 until 3/29)
And that will do it for today. So how about it, friends? Which games are you picking up today? Which games are you playing? Let me know down in the comments. I’ll be back tomorrow with the rest of the week’s new releases along with any news and sales that come up. If time permits, I might pull a review out of my queue, but we’ll see. As always, thanks for reading!
