Hello everyone, and welcome to the week! It’s time once again for our look back at the noteworthy updates of the last seven days. Sonic has a movie coming out, and if early word can be trusted (and it scarcely can be), the movie is… good? SEGA is naturally getting some of its games in on it. But there are lots of games with updates this week that don’t involve Baby Sonic at all. Hard to believe, I know, but let’s have a look at what I’ve found. Of course, you can keep an eye out for updates yourself using AppShopper or by participating in the TouchArcade forums. This weekly summary is just here to fill you in on the things you might have missed. Let’s go for it!
Horizon Chase, Free Horizon Chase is a lot bigger deal these days, but I remember when it was just a humble little iOS game that wowed us with its bright colors and excellent soundtrack. This version has not been forgotten, thankfully, and its latest update brings the game up to spec a bit. It now has support for the extra-wide screens of newer devices and has a lot of other nice little improvements and tweaks here and there. Apparently there will be more updates coming, so I hope to see this game in this feature again soon.
Speed Demons, Let’s take a peek inside the Apple Arcade again to check out a really huge update to one of the games in its library. Speed Demons is the latest from the awesome developer Radiangames, and this new version is an absolute doozy. There are two new chapters in the game with 13 new vehicles and more than 100 new events. You get 15 new environments, 3 normal and 12 tracks, and two new modes, Slalom and Hit And Run. Visually, there are some new effects and additions like rain, dust, and birds. Finally, the AI has been changed so that it steers in a more physics-based manner. Wow, that’s definitely worth a coveted UMMSotW award for sure.
Sonic Dash Endless Runner Game, Free Sonic! He’s got a movie hitting very soon, and that means a bunch of tie-ins. I’ve decided to pick Sonic Dash to highlight, because let’s be real, how often do I get to feature this game? It’s like a million years old and it’s still getting new content? Even with two sequels out? Yeah, that’s nifty. So what do you get here besides some cosmetic nods to the movie? Baby Sonic! Oh yes. The little not-cynical-at-all infant version of our hero is available in Sonic Dash provided you’re willing to do the legwork to unlock him. Collect a mere 500 tokens during this limited-time event and you’ll have the little guy ready to roll. Have fun?
Marvel Contest of Champions, Free It seems like it’s time once again for the Contest of Champions to turn its sights to the X-Men side of the Marvel Universe. It’s been interesting seeing how the various Marvel games have handled the relative dearth of new Marvel Cinematic Universe material to bounce off of, but I’ve been happy because it means we see things like Longshot and Mojo getting added to this fighter. There’s also some business in this update that I think is connected to Valentine’s Day, so be sure to dig into that.
Fire Emblem Heroes, Free Battle passes are the new hot thing in monetization, and with somewhat successful results in Mario Kart and Animal Crossing, it was only a matter of time before Nintendo brought one to its main mobile cheddar-generator. The reaction has not been great, but it will probably make tons of money because that’s the world we live in now. Anyway, spend about ten bucks a month and you can get some benefits that will probably be useful for the upper-tier level of players but a phenomenal waste of money for anyone else. Fun fact: six months’ worth of paying for this Feh Pass could get you a much better Fire Emblem game for your Switch instead! Four months’ worth can get you one of four better Fire Emblem games for your 3DS! The choice… is yours!
Toy Blast, Free Yay, obligatory free-to-play low-effort puzzle update entry! We’re going with Toy Blast this time. It has, as it always does, 50 new levels for you to play. It also has a text description that probably has nothing to do with the game itself. The toys are apparently enjoying a beautiful day at the sea under a warm sun. Where are these fools living? It feels to me like no matter where you are in the world right now, it’s either cold or rainy or both. Well, that’s Toy World for you. Match away at your leisure, I suppose.
Pocket Build, $0.99 Pocket Build and that bear from the moon have come through again with another excellent update for its long-running sim game. In this new version, you get single-height cliff edges, better camera rotation, some UI improvements, new unlockable items, some new modern props, and a whole mess of bug fixes and other little adjustments and enhancements. It’s always worth checking this game out when a new update hits, so make sure you fire it up and see what’s up.
TSM Game, Free Up until now, the Sims in The Sims Mobile have not known a sunset. How tragic is that? It’s one of nature’s most agreeable sights, a reprieve from the stresses and abject horror of life’s hard knocks. And these poor little digital creatures have been deprived of it. No longer, friends. No longer. A Day and Night cycle has been implemented in the game so that your Sims can rock and roll all night and, if they so choose, party every day. As always, there are various events going on this month as well, with the highlight being the 20th anniversary celebration of The Sims itself. Neato.
Merge Dragons!, Free And now for the crossover event everyone has been asking for: Merge Dragons! and Rick and Morty. I’m not kidding. This update covers three events, the Sweet Surprise event for Valentine’s Day, the Carnival event for, well, Carnival, and the Rick and Morty Mortyablo Deja Moo event for people with very high IQs. Each event has new dragons and items to collect, and I wish you all good luck trying to get them without spending a fortune. Seriously, though. Merge Dragons! and Rick and Morty? Whose wild idea was that? Is there any demographic overlap there at all?
Asphalt 9: Legends, Free This new version of Asphalt 9 Legends kicks off a brand new Grand Prix, the Grand Prix-For-All. It consists of a series of races where you’ll compete against a small group of players. To the winner goes a TechRules AT96, a nice prize if there ever was one. Aside from that, there are a couple of new rides in the form of the Lotus Evija and the Honda Civic Type-R. Hey, whatever it takes to keep everyone racing, right? Right.
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!
