Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for July 14th, 2020. After a lot of sifting around for news, I wasn’t able to come up with anything worth reporting at the time of writing. On top of that, I’m still not quite finished with CrossCode yet and am not ready to write that review as a result. So we’ll just have to settle for summaries of the quartet of new releases that hit the eShop today along with the usual list of incoming and outgoing sales. I hope it will suffice to entertain you on this Tuesday morning and/or afternoon. Let’s check everything out!
New Releases
Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town ($49.99)
SwitchArcade Highlight!
One of the most beloved installments in the Harvest Moon series gets a lovely remake under the Story of Seasons banner in this new release. Start your new farming life in Mineral Town, where you’re tasked with taking over your late grandfather’s farm and making it flourish once more. Take care of crops and livestock, mingle with the townspeople, go fishing, and… well, you don’t really need me to explain this in too much detail, right? It’s Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons. There are some new faces and lots of new elements in this remake to go with the massive makeover in the presentation. Whether you’ve got fond memories of the original Friends of Mineral Town or just want a new slow-life game to dig into, you’ll find this game more than worth your time.
Neon Abyss ($19.99)
SwitchArcade Highlight!
It’s another side-scrolling run-and-gun roguelite with twin-stick aiming, but luckily for Neon Abyss, we don’t have so many of these yet as to make me completely sick of them. Anyway, this follows the usual pattern. Explore procedurally-generated dungeons, blast away enemies, earn perks, and see if you can actually make it all the way through at some point. There are a few fun little mini-games in here to break up the action and add a bit of levity to the proceedings. I doubt this game will convince anyone who dislikes the genre, but if you enjoy this sort of affair, you’ll find Neon Abyss to be a genuine blast. It’s just very well-put together all around.
Pangeon ($9.99)
The second of three roguelite games we’re looking at today, Pangeon‘s take on the idea draws on classic first-person dungeon crawlers. It sounds cool, but it’s unfortunately not all that good. There are less than ten levels to explore and around ten weapons to use, and in spite of the randomized elements you’ll find yourself running out of novel situations fairly quickly. Too short, too easy, and far too thin in general. It feels like there’s a seed of something better here, but that’s all it is. For ten bucks, it’s just not enough. Might be worth a go when it inevitably goes on sale for under a dollar, though.
void tRrLM(); //Void Terrarium ($24.99)
Okay, I promise my keyboard isn’t broken. That’s the real title. Anyway, this is another one of those smaller games from Nippon Ichi Software, and like most of the others in this vein it’s a real mix of good and not-so-good. You play as a robot in a world infested with dangerous fungi who discovers a human girl in a scrapyard and needs to take care of her. As it’s dangerous to expose her to the current environment, she lives in a terrarium. It’s up to you to find what she needs to survive. You do that by venturing into dungeons, battling enemies, and finding plenty of loot. There are a lot of interesting things going on storywise here, and the art is quality. Sadly, the gameplay part of the game is a rather weak Japanese-style roguelike bolted onto a virtual pet simulator. I’ll have a review of this one soon if you need more details.
Sales
(North American eShop, US Prices)
Not the biggest list today, but there sure are a lot of gems in there. Raiden V is a great shoot-em-up, and an easy recommendation at a sub-$10 price point. Chameleon is an enjoyable puzzle game, and both Severed and the Guacamelee! games are good investments any day of the week. If you want to grab an obscure NES game for your library, F-117A Stealth Fighter is only a few bucks. Is it good? Well, not really. But it’s weird that it exists! And for some of you, I know that’s enough. By contrast, the outbox is huge and full of games that are almost perpetually on sale. If I had to make a token recommendation, it would be Biolab Wars. It’s a decent run-and-gun in the vein of Contra and is worth the fifty whole cents it’s going for.
Select New Games on Sale
Raiden V: Director’s Cut ($8.99 from $29.99 until 7/27)
Bubsy: Paws on Fire! ($4.99 from $24.99 until 7/27)
Monkey King: Master of Clouds ($1.99 from $4.99 until 7/27)
Chameleon ($1.99 from $4.99 until 7/27)
F-117A Stealth Fighter ($2.49 from $4.99 until 7/27)
Severed ($5.99 from $14.99 until 7/19)
Guacamelee! Super Turbo ($5.99 from $14.99 until 7/19)
Guacamelee! 2 ($7.99 from $19.99 until 7/19)
Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs ($3.99 from $9.99 until 7/19)
At Sundown: Shots in the Dark ($1.99 from $19.99 until 7/27)
Sushi Time! ($0.49 from $4.99 until 8/3)
Sales Ending Tomorrow, Wednesday, July 15th
39 Days to Mars ($10.04 from $14.99 until 7/15)
Adventure Time: Pirates ($15.99 from $39.99 until 7/15)
Agony ($1.99 from $19.99 until 7/15)
Animal Rivals ($0.39 from $3.99 until 7/15)
Animated Jigsaws Collection ($9.99 from $24.99 until 7/15)
Bad Dream: Coma ($0.99 from $9.99 until 7/15)
Bad Dream: Fever ($0.99 from $9.99 until 7/15)
Bedtime Blues ($0.99 from $9.99 until 7/15)
Ben 10 ($7.99 from $19.99 until 7/15)
Biolab Wars ($0.49 from $1.99 until 7/15)
Black Jack ($1.99 from $9.99 until 7/15)
Bowling ($1.99 from $9.99 until 7/15)
Card Game Bundle Vol. 1 ($3.59 from $23.99 until 7/15)
Chicken Range ($2.99 from $9.99 until 7/15)
Clock Simulator ($0.39 from $3.99 until 7/15)
Contraptions ($2.99 from $9.99 until 7/15)
Cooking Simulator ($13.39 from $19.99 until 7/15)
Crash Dummy ($2.99 from $9.99 until 7/15)
Crayola Scoot ($4.49 from $29.99 until 7/15)
Cube Creator X ($9.99 from $19.99 until 7/15)
Dark Veer ($0.49 from $4.99 until 7/15)
Diggerman ($0.49 from $4.99 until 7/15)
Dreamworks Dragons ($15.99 from $39.99 until 7/15)
Dungeons & Aliens ($0.39 from $3.99 until 7/15)
Estiman ($0.19 from $1.99 until 7/15)
Final Light, The Prison ($0.69 from $6.99 until 7/15)
Fishing Universe Simulator ($0.99 from $9.99 until 7/15)
Flashback ($0.99 from $19.99 until 7/15)
Fly O’Clock ($0.19 from $1.99 until 7/15)
Frederic ($0.59 from $5.99 until 7/15)
Frederic 2 ($0.49 from $4.99 until 7/15)
Garfield Kart Furious Racing ($11.99 from $29.99 until 7/15)
Gigantosaurus The Game ($29.99 from $39.99 until 7/15)
Glaive: Brick Breaker ($0.99 from $9.99 until 7/15)
Goetia ($0.99 from $9.99 until 7/15)
Grab Lab ($0.49 from $4.99 until 7/15)
Grave Keeper ($0.99 from $9.99 until 7/15)
Gunpowder on the Teeth ($0.49 from $4.99 until 7/15)
Hard West ($1.99 from $19.99 until 7/15)
Hollow ($1.99 from $19.99 until 7/15)
Horizon Shift ’81 ($2.99 from $9.99 until 7/15)
Hotel Transylvania 3 ($11.99 from $29.99 until 7/15)
Hyperide ($0.19 from $1.99 until 7/15)
Hyperide: Vector Raid ($0.19 from $1.99 until 7/15)
Ice Age Scrat’s Adventure ($26.79 from $39.99 until 7/15)
IHUGU ($0.39 from $3.99 until 7/15)
Indie Darling Bundle Vol 2 ($5.24 from $34.99 until 7/15)
Indie Puzzle Bundle Vol 1 ($5.99 from $39.99 until 7/15)
Jumanji: The Video Game ($26.79 from $39.99 until 7/15)
Lode Runner Legacy ($5.99 from $11.99 until 7/15)
Merchants of Kaidan ($0.99 from $9.99 until 7/15)
Millie ($0.49 from $4.99 until 7/15)
Moto Racer 4 ($4.99 from $14.99 until 7/15)
Mr Blaster ($0.19 from $1.99 until 7/15)
My Brother Rabbit ($1.49 from $14.99 until 7/15)
Nerdook Bundle Vol. 1 ($4.49 from $29.99 until 7/15)
Nice Slice ($0.49 from $1.99 until 7/15)
No Thing ($0.19 from $1.99 until 7/15)
NoReload Heroes ($0.99 from $9.99 until 7/15)
Omen Exito: Plague ($0.99 from $9.99 until 7/15)
OmoTomO ($2.49 from $9.99 until 7/15)
PAW Patrol: On a Roll! ($19.99 from $39.99 until 7/15)
Persian Nights ($1.49 from $14.99 until 7/15)
Phantaruk ($0.49 from $4.99 until 7/15)
Phantom Doctrine ($1.99 from $19.99 until 7/15)
Poly Puzzle ($2.49 from $4.99 until 7/15)
Q-YO Blaster ($0.99 from $9.99 until 7/15)
Qbik ($0.49 from $4.99 until 7/15)
R-Type Dimensions EX ($7.49 from $14.99 until 7/15)
Race with Ryan ($26.79 from $39.99 until 7/15)
Realpolitiks ($2.49 from $24.99 until 7/15)
Risky Rescue ($0.49 from $4.99 until 7/15)
Roll’d ($0.49 from $1.99 until 7/15)
Roulette ($1.99 from $9.99 until 7/15)
Shut Eye ($0.39 from $3.99 until 7/15)
Sinless ($2.49 from $9.99 until 7/15)
Slain/Valfaris Bundle ($13.99 from $39.99 until 7/15)
Sparkle 3 Genesis ($0.49 from $4.99 until 7/15)
Sparkle 4 Tales ($2.49 from $9.99 until 7/15)
Sparkle Zero ($0.49 from $4.99 until 7/15)
Star Story: Horizon Escape ($0.99 from $9.99 until 7/15)
Startide ($0.99 from $9.99 until 7/15)
Sudoku 4 Relax Winter Snow ($3.75 from $5.00 until 7/15)
Surfingers ($0.49 from $4.99 until 7/15)
Tap Skaters ($0.49 from $4.99 until 7/15)
Teddy the Wanderer: Kayaking ($0.99 from $9.99 until 7/15)
Teddy the Wanderer: Mountain Hike ($0.99 from $9.99 until 7/15)
Tennis Open 2020 ($4.99 from $9.99 until 7/15)
Terrorhythm TRRT ($0.99 from $9.99 until 7/15)
The Childs Sight ($0.49 from $4.99 until 7/15)
The Mahjong Huntress ($0.49 from $4.99 until 7/15)
Thief Simulator ($1.99 from $19.99 until 7/15)
Timberman VS ($0.19 from $1.99 until 7/15)
Tiny Hands Adventure ($0.79 from $7.99 until 7/15)
Tower of Babel ($0.59 from $5.99 until 7/15)
UglyDolls: Imperfect Adventure ($5.99 from $39.99 until 7/15)
Ultimate Ski Jumping 2020 ($4.99 from $9.99 until 7/15)
Vegas Party ($6.59 from $21.99 until 7/15)
Violett ($0.99 from $9.99 until 7/15)
Wide Ocean Big Jacket ($3.99 from $7.99 until 7/15)
Xtreme Club Racing ($0.98 from $9.89 until 7/15)
Zombillie ($0.49 from $4.99 until 7/15)
That’s all for today, friends. Tomorrow has a couple of new releases on the schedule that we’ll be taking a look at, and I know there will be at least one bit of news to check out. We’ll also have whatever sales come along, of course, and perhaps I’ll at last be ready to give my final thoughts on CrossCode. I hope you all have a superb Tuesday, and as always, thanks for reading!
