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. I’m not going to lie to you, friends: there are some top-notch updates in this week’s article. Some real barn-burners, such that I actually had trouble picking the best one this time. 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!
Cat Quest II, There are a couple of really fantastic updates today that I’m having trouble choosing between for the coveted award. This is one of them. The Whole Mew World update to Cat Quest II adds the Mew Game mode that lets you play through the entire game with some special “meowdifiers". You can create some really fun challenges for yourself this way. The UI has been massively improved, with special attention paid to Inventory and Elements. Sprinting has been added, allowing you to get around the world faster, and Royal Arts add some devastating new attacks to the game. There are new enemies, a better difficulty curve, and a large number of little tweaks to the overall experience. Although the other contender is a strong one, I think I have to give this update the coveted UMMSotW award for this week.
Marvel Contest of Champions, Free I hope you’re ready for some Galactus-flavored content. The new Heralds of Galactus event sees you trying to please Galactus in exchange for a lot of great rewards. It includes an all-new ultra-tough Herald difficulty level for you veterans to smash up against. H.E.R.B.I.E. is on the search for Dragon Man, and your help is needed. But will you like what you find? The mysteries are starting to stack up, True Believers. Finally, in Back Issues, you’ll find Blood and Venom making its return, giving you another chance to dive into this symbiotic story with all-new challenges. Toss in a bunch of little improvements and balance adjustments, and that’s the lot.
Dr. Mario World, Free Nintendo’s update notes aren’t always the most useful, though that is sadly the case with a lot of big companies. Well, we do what we can with what we’ve got. I understand it, as in a world of auto-updates I imagine most players don’t even check the updates part of the App Store. Anyway, the big thing here is that there a new mode called Skill Summit. There are also some new packs and doctor referrals available to purchase, if that’s your thing. Other than that it seems to just be some bug fixes and minor tweaks, which is fine. This game seems to be legging out the way Nintendo was hoping, so it’ll probably be around for a while.
Fire Emblem Heroes, Free Of course, this is the real bread-winner in the mobile market for Nintendo. The events and new characters keep rolling in so regularly that it’s hard to stay on top of them unless you’re playing all the time. In terms of actual updates in the strictest sense, this new version adds in a few new weapon skills for Cecilia, Setsuna, and Legion. You can also now harvest tomatoes and spices in Aether Resort and use them to make some tasty new dishes in the Dining Hall. How could you have a Dining Hall without tomatoes and spices to begin with? Talk about hand-cuffing the chef.
Rules of Survival, Free Rules of Survival sometimes has some pretty big updates, such that it’s hard to summarize them in one short paragraph. This… is not one of those updates, I’m afraid. Instead, this one is all about fixing something from the last major update: the incredibly unbalanced Drone units. Adjustments include reduced Drone HP, increased sound prompt range, and reduced attack damage and firing rate. Drones, overpowered? Who’d have guessed that could happen? Well, they’re all fixed now, along with the bugs that were introduced with those fixes. But are the bugs that came with the bug fixes for the balance fixes fixed? A mystery for the ages.
Toy Blast, Free Sometimes I wonder what happened to Cookie Jam guy. He was always complaining when I put King games in these articles, asking why not Cookie Jam? So then I put in Cookie Jam and gave him a shout out and he thought I was making fun of him. Which, fair cop, I kind of was. And then he disappeared? I wonder if he is still reading. I regret that I don’t include Cookie Jam more. Every time I check it, it’s updated a couple of weeks ago. Instead you get Toy Blast. It has 50 more levels now. Some nonsense about a medieval blacksmith. Who knows? Anyway, in conclusion, I’m sorry I made Cookie Jam guy feel bad. I hope his adventures in life have gone well.
Butter Royale, Sure, let’s check in on another Apple Arcade game. Butter Royale. Well, some people really like it. And maybe those people will like it even more with the latest update, which brings new NOMs to the game. The Durian Launcher is a great way to send nature’s most disagreeable edible at your foes, while the Piercing Pancakes don’t sound very natural at all. Power-ups have been added to the game in the form of Shocko-latte Gravy Dip and the Aloe Mist. You now individually reset Quests, a function so specific it must have been a player request. Also involving Quests, some are now marked as Hard and will reward you appropriately. You can see your progress on Quests on the minimap screen as of this version, as well.
Star Traders: Frontiers, $6.99 Lots of stuff in the latest update to Star Traders, as usual. The main highlight is a new story vignette called Spirit of Cadyona, which sees you involved in a galaxy-wide hunt for a legendary battlecruiser from the Exodus era. There are lots of ship components to unlock, a new high-powered Contact type, some new talents, and more. This update also fixes a bunch of bugs and makes a number of improvements. The wild thing is that there was another update a couple of days before that, adding in new Scout Bridge 5 variants and adjusting a number of elements for balance purposes. Lots of goodies to check out, in other words.
Asphalt 8: Airborne, Free Oddly it feels like Asphalt 8 is getting more updates than Asphalt 9 recently. Though it could be that Asphalt 9 loads more of its upcoming events in with each update and doesn’t need to push them as often. I don’t know. What I do know is this: Asphalt 8 updated. Said update brings in summer events, where you can win the Mazzanti Evantra and Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport. This version also brings in a new event calendar so you can see what’s coming up in the future. Some UI tweaks round things out.
Levelhead - Platformer Maker, $6.99 And here is the other game I was considering for the coveted award this week. It really was a hard choice, because this update is spectacular. You can tell because it has a name: The Void. It adds a new power-up called the Shade, a new switch called the Input Switch, more enemies, and lots of demonic-themed colors, music, decor, and more. The Input Switch in particular opens up a lot of new possibilities for level-building, and I can’t wait to see what people do with it. This is a great little game and frankly the best of its class on mobile, so if you haven’t tried it yet, let this update be your reason.
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!
