Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for April 22nd, 2021. There are a lot of new games today. Like… more than twenty-five. That’s what this article is all about, with a little time for the incoming and outgoing sales at the end. No time for the news, though if you need something to celebrate Capcom has announced The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles for release on Switch and other platforms on July 27th. Those are some super-cool games and I’m glad they’re finally getting a Western release. On with today’s show!
New Releases
Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion ($14.99)
SwitchArcade Highlight!
It’s always risky to base a game on a meme. For starters, such things tend to be ephemeral. In the time it takes to make a game, memes tend to become ancient history. But even if the meme is fresh, trying to get the tone right without being annoying or inauthentic can be a challenge. Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion is inspired by the Yoshi meme, and I’m happy to say that it’s only so in the loosest sense. A corrupt mayor has nailed poor Turnip Boy for not paying his taxes properly, so he sets out on a quest to get out of hot water. And rip up everything he can find that has anything to do with taxes. He really just keeps doing the tax evasion, friends. This is an extremely wacky top-down action-adventure, and I rather like it. Except for its vile mapping of ‘confirm’ to the ‘B’ button, anyway. I’ll have a review of this one next week.
Shantae ($9.99)
SwitchArcade Highlight!
The original Shantae arrives on Switch in this excellent rendition of the Game Boy Color game. For those counting at home, this means every single Shantae game is now playable on your Switch. Neat. Better still, this includes both the standard version of the game and the Game Boy Advance-enhanced version, which adjusted the color palette and added an extra transformation. You get save states, multiple display options, improvements to the controls, and even a little art gallery. I think this is easily the least of Shantae’s adventures, but it packs in a lot of charm for the level of hardware it was working with. It’s always nice to see a vintage game get this high-quality level of treatment, too.
Atelier Mysterious Trilogy Deluxe Pack ($89.99)
Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book DX ($39.99)
Atelier Firis: The Alchemist and the Mysterious Journey DX ($39.99)
Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings DX ($39.99)
SwitchArcade Highlight!
Bringing the total number of mainline Atelier games on the Switch to a cool twelve, the Atelier Mysterious Trilogy includes deluxe versions of Atelier Sophie, Atelier Firis, and Atelier Lydie & Suelle. The last game on that list was released on the Switch a few years ago in somewhat rough form, but this new DX version makes a lot of improvements over that port and is handily a better experience. By this point, you probably know what the Atelier games are all about. In case you don’t, these games are crafting-heavy JRPGs with cute characters and generally fluffy stories. While the Mysterious Trilogy usually isn’t considered the best of the bunch, the three games that it comprises have a lot to like about them. I’ll have a review of this entire trilogy soon, friends.
Arcade Archives A-Jax ($7.99)
Some of Konami’s shoot-em-ups are among the most famous, important works in the history of the genre. A-Jax is not one of those. Known as Typhoon in some regions, this 1987 title seems like it’s an ordinary vertical shoot-em-up until you hit one of its 3D stages. Not a bad little game, but it’s nothing to run down the street shouting at the top of your voice about. Even worse, this game is already included on the Konami Arcade Classics Anniversary Collection with a bunch of other games for a bit more than twice this price. This individual release has a few more options than that one, but unless you love A-Jax but somehow have no interest in Gradius, Gradius II, Life Force, TwinBee, and Thunder Cross, it’s really hard think of a scenario where you’d want to buy this.
Road Fury ($8.99)
This is an endless shoot-em-up where you play as a car instead of a spaceship or plane. Your car will automatically fire its weapons, so you just need to concentrate on maneuvering around other vehicles and scooping up coins and what-have-you. You can use the coins to upgrade your car at pit stops, and it’s pretty much the usual endless runner selection of power-ups plus some added firepower and shields. You start with just one car, but there are two other cars you can unlock. I don’t think I’d bother downloading this for free, let alone pay nine bucks for it. Maybe you feel differently.
Escaping a Kid’s Room ~The Adventures of Nyanzou & Kumakichi: Escape Game Series~ ($4.90)
Well, that’s a stupidly lengthy title. This comes from the same developer as those escape room games with that cheeky ghost that came out a while back. It’s meant to be a little easier than those games, but it’s really about the same level of difficulty. Two fairies named Nyanzou and Kumakichi are locked in a kid’s room by a certain mischievous ghost, and you need to help them get out. I’ve played through this one on mobile, where it’s free with ad support. It’s okay. The frankly horrid localization makes for some unintentional laughs, and the puzzles are fine. I’d just play it on your mobile device if I were you, but five bucks isn’t exactly egregious for what it offers.
Asdivine Cross ($14.99)
I reviewed this game once upon a time in its mobile form. Five years ago, almost. I was pretty tired of the formula then, and this one is about as formulaic as Kemco/EXE-Create joints come. A half decade of further derivative releases hasn’t really improved my opinion of Asdivine Cross. It’s not terrible or anything. It functions like the bare-bones JRPG experience that it aims to be. But there are better Kemco games and even better Asdivine games, and that’s just talking about the mobile version. Nearly doubling the price and putting it on bigger screens that don’t do its visuals any favors makes for an even harder game to recommend. I suppose if you want to see one of the earlier Asdivine entries in action, here it is.
Bamerang ($6.99)
Fewer multiplayer party games than usual today. Well, here’s one. It’s a sort of top-down arena fighting game where you try to bean each other with boomerangs. Up to four players can join in via local multiplayer, and you’ll need at least two to play. It’s at its best with three or more players, however. No single-player mode here, so if you don’t have anyone you can sit next to on the sofa, don’t bother buying this. There are more than 20 maps to do battle on, offering some added variety. The basic goal is that gold bits drop from the sky and you need to collect more of them than the other players. If you get hit by a boomerang, you’ll drop some of your pieces. Boomerang the other players, scoop up the gold, and avoid being boomeranged yourself. Easy-peasy. Not a bad game but it really needs online multiplayer. Some solo content would help as well.
World End Economica ~Complete~ ($29.99)
This is the full three-episode visual novel from Isuna Hasekura, the author of Spice and Wolf. In the far future, humans have colonized the Moon. Not everything is hunky-dory, though. Discrimination against humans born on the Moon is a major problem, and one of the first such examples is Haru. In spite of everything, he’s got a big dream. But big dreams require big money, and so he dives into the stock market to try to win a fortune. There are no choices to make here, just a story to digest at your leisure. Reception to the game among players has been fairly good, though the individual episodes have seen a more mixed set of appraisals. Still, with a talented professional author behind it and the usual Sekai Games quality behind the presentation, this may deliver for those who find the premise intriguing.
MotoGP 21 ($39.99)
This series has been getting better with each new installment, and this fourth Switch installment is the best one yet. You get MotoGP, Moto2, and Moto3 classes, more than 120 official riders, more than 20 tracks, and even a bunch of historic riders with their signature bikes. Improved AI and more customization has been added to the already solid core experience, with all the great modes making a return from last time around. I’m not sure if it’s a big enough improvement over last year to justify picking up if you’ve already got MotoGP 20, but as yearly sports things go it’s not too bad. Naturally, if you haven’t gotten into this series yet and want to, this is the way to go.
Effie ($19.99)
This 3D platformer game came out a couple of years ago on PlayStation 4 and on PC last year. The general reception to the game seems to be middling. Not bad, not great. You play as a character named Galand as he seeks to recover his youth from a witch who cursed him. His primary tool is a shield that he uses both as a weapon, a means of transportation, and to solve puzzles. The combat is a bit on the basic side, and the story perhaps isn’t as integrated as well as it could be, but if you like 3D platformers I don’t think you’ll come away terribly disappointed with Effie.
Smelter ($19.99)
They who Smelter, dealt ‘er. Sorry, I had to do it. I’m Canadian. This is a cool-looking 2D action game with a top-down strategy component. Hey, wait a minute. I know that combination! I won’t say the name because I don’t want to jinx it, but the very act of putting these two styles of game together raises my interest. I’m going to be digging into this one and giving you a proper review next week. For now all I can really say is that it seems incredibly promising. I’ll let you know soon whether it lives up to my expectations or not.
BraveMatch ($4.99)
Oh hey, one of these. Match up a bunch of tiles by drawing a line between them to attack enemies or defend against attacks. This game is handheld only, so I’d imagine you’ll be using your finger for that. Vaguely similar to Dungeon Raid, but not close enough for me to get excited. There are six different heroes, twenty different enemy types, and a bunch of stage backgrounds to battle in. Collect Mana and Gold and you’ll be able to unlock new skills, weapons, and armor. Might be a fun roll for five bucks, but my hands are too full at the moment to dedicate too much time to it.
Asobu Tights ($21.00)
It’s Bejeweled, but with anime girls in tights. It’s based off a web animation called Miru Tights, which you may be familiar with. Probably not, but I can’t see into all of your hearts. Yet. There are fifteen levels in the game, and as you play you’ll accumulate points. You can then use those points to unlock animations and illustrations. Twenty-one dollars for a fifteen-stage match-3 game. I don’t know, friends. I think you’d need to have a pretty serious tights fetish to justify that. If that’s you… well, don’t let me get in the way. Enjoy your Tights Bejeweled with aplomb.
Sakura Succubus ($9.99)
There are a lot of adult visual novels that still have a lot to offer even with their more salacious elements stripped out. Are Winged Cloud’s Sakura games among them? Hmm. If you want to put it to the test yourself, here’s a Switch port of Sakura Succubus with enough content stripped out to bring it down to a Teen rating. The protagonist is a boring, normal dude. Naturally he finds himself being fought over by three gorgeous women who should be able to swing a bag around and hit six better dudes than him. The price isn’t bad for this sort of thing, and it’s not as though the Sakura games have no merit beyond the sexual content. Well, that’s what it is. I’ll leave it to you to decide if that’s what you want.
Skyland Rush – Air Raid Attack ($6.99)
This is a port of a free-to-play mobile endless flier game that seems to be somewhat inspired by Jetpack Joyride. You fly through endless level chunks that are stitched together, collecting coins and trying not to die. I’m assuming the various IAPs in the mobile game aren’t included here, so if you want a version without any of the potential influence of such things I suppose seven bucks isn’t a horrendous price to pay. I really like the colorful, lush graphics. Not really the kind of thing I enjoy playing on my Switch, but if you feel differently you may want to give it a look. I’ll stick to playing on my iPhone, though.
Buildings Have Feelings Too! ($19.99)
Sentient buildings. That’s what’s on the menu in this game. You play as the Halfway Hotel in this unusual spin on the city building simulation. All of the buildings are alive, but they’ll be knocked down if you can’t make ends meet properly. Befriend buildings and move them to the best locations to make your city your own. It’s certainly a different take, and when it comes to a concept as familiar as this I think that’s a good thing. While I haven’t been able to take this one for a spin yet, I’m definitely going to. It looks neat, and if nothing else I’m sure it won’t bore me.
Picross S6 ($9.99)
You know, I need to get something off my chest here. I know Jupiter has done more for nurturing video game nonograms than just about any company out there, but recently? They’re falling behind. They’re falling behind hard. There are a lot of other Picross-style games on the Switch these days, and Jupiter’s no-frills approach just isn’t cutting it for me the way it used to. I mean, they haven’t even implemented touch controls yet. If you’re still up for another one of Jupiter’s Picross games, this one will offer up 485 puzzles spread across regular, Mega Picross, Clip Picross, Color Picross, and Extra. It’s a lot of game for the money, but so were the first five.
Infinite Adventures ($14.99)
Oh, look at that. A fancy ‘R’ in a circle after the name. The title is a registered trademark, and they want you to know it. Getting past that, this is a fairly solid turn-based dungeon crawler. Nothing too exciting, but not too bad either. There are lots of classes, races, and pieces of art to choose from to customize your team. You’ll take your party through the 24 floors of the poorly-named Infinite Labyrinth. Oh, but wait! Those floors are procedurally generated, so I guess it is infinite. Or rather, it offers enough possibilities so as to seem infinite to our tiny human brains. Infinite from a certain point of view, finite from another. At any rate, that procedural generation means that the dungeon floors aren’t quite as tightly designed as some other games of this sort. Still pretty good as these things go.
Mystic Fate ($9.99)
This is a voxel-based action-adventure game, and to be frank I don’t think it seems all that interesting. I’m not really a voxel person, though. Maybe you are a voxel person and this looks great to you. You play as a young hero named Aris who has special powers. She can control weapons made of metal, which in this case appears to be coins and swords. Battle through the Alchemist’s Dungeon and battle enemies as you attempt to recover the lost orbs that will bring peace to the land of Asfand. Well, do with it what you will.
Devil Slayer Raksasi ($14.99)
This is a top-down action roguelite that steps away from the usual route of shoot-em-up action in favor of a surprisingly rich melee combat system. The results are surprisingly satisfying, if you’re looking for something different that has a little bite to it. There are seven different characters to choose from, each with their own skills and weapons. Apparently there will be more content coming to the game in the future, but even what’s here is enough. Levels are procedurally generated, there are more than 150 different kinds of enemies to battle, and there are more than 200 relics you can use to customize your character. Basically, there’s quite a bit of meat on the bone. Some rough edges to be sure, but a cool game.
Touhou Hyouibana ~ Antinomy of Common Flowers. ($34.99)
Yes, there’s a period in the title. Your guess is as good as mine. Anyway, this is another game using the Touhou characters. It’s a bullet hell fighting game of sorts? The reviews on Steam are quite positive, which suggest it’s hitting the right notes with some people. You can play against other players online, and from what I can gather by my limited experience you are definitely going to want to bring in a friend. The CPU opponents get tiresome even more quickly than usual for a fighter. Touhou fans will probably want to roll through the story anyway just to get the character bits.
War of Stealth – Assassin ($14.98)
This is a top-down shooter with a focus on stealth, and in action it looks a lot like a discount wagon Metal Gear. I imagine it doesn’t play that well, however. The game description in the eShop isn’t terribly helpful here, as it was clearly written by someone without a firm grasp on English. It claims the game features “rude and rectilinear humor", and I have absolutely no idea what that might entail. According to that description, you can play the game stealthily or go in guns blazing as you battle… armed soldiers and zombies? Ah yes, that classic combination. I’m not throwing fifteen bucks at this to find out more. If you do, feel free to tell your tale in the comments.
Sales
(North American eShop, US Prices)
A few interesting things in the sales that have popped up at the time of writing, with Rayark’s games like VOEZ and Implosion leading the charge. Also in the list: five-dollar Bubsy! Relatively cheap Tropico 6! Very cheap but finally appropriately-priced Drawn to Life: Two Realms! Not much to worry about in the teeny-tiny outbox, so if nothing is hitting your fancy feel free to save some pennies for tomorrow. A little bird told me there’s a big sale coming.
Select New Games on Sale
Drawn to Life: Two Realms ($1.99 from $9.99 until 4/28)
Palindrome Syndrome: Escape Room ($7.99 from $9.99 until 4/29)
Super Glitch Dash ($6.99 from $9.99 until 4/29)
Cyber Protocol ($1.99 from $9.99 until 4/29)
Nirvana Pilot Yume ($1.99 from $4.99 until 4/29)
OMG Police: Car Chase TV ($1.99 from $4.99 until 4/29)
Clumsy Rush ($1.99 from $4.99 until 4/29)
Art Sqool ($4.54 from $12.99 until 4/29)
MO: Astray ($7.49 from $14.99 until 5/3)
DEEMO ($14.99 from $29.99 until 5/3)
DEEMO -Reborn- ($17.50 from $25.00 until 5/3)
VOEZ ($12.50 from $25.00 until 5/3)
Cytus Alpha ($24.99 from $49.99 until 5/3)
Implosion ($5.99 from $11.99 until 5/3)
Tropico 6 ($34.99 from $49.99 until 5/3)
The Lion’s Song ($5.99 from $9.99 until 5/3)
Among Pipes ($3.99 from $7.99 until 5/3)
Gangsta Paradise ($4.99 from $9.99 until 5/3)
The Flower Collectors ($11.99 from $19.99 until 5/3)
Football Drama ($8.99 from $9.99 until 5/6)
Under Leaves ($8.44 from $12.99 until 5/6)
Bubsy: Paws on Fire ($4.99 from $24.99 until 5/6)
Chameleon ($1.99 from $4.99 until 5/6)
F-117A Stealth Fighter ($1.99 from $4.99 until 5/6)
Shadow Bug ($6.29 from $8.99 until 5/6)
Monkey King: Master of Clouds ($1.99 from $4.99 until 5/6)
Dull Grey ($3.99 from $4.99 until 5/6)
The Unholy Society ($1.99 from $9.99 until 5/6)
Demon’s Rise: War for the Deep ($2.49 from $6.99 until 5/10)
Goonya Fighter ($11.59 from $14.49 until 5/11)
Tower of Babel ($1.99 from $5.99 until 5/11)
Breakfast Bar Tycoon ($1.99 from $4.99 until 5/11)
Archery Blast ($2.99 from $3.99 until 5/11)
Sky Ride ($1.99 from $6.99 until 5/11)
Flip Over Frog ($1.99 from $7.50 until 5/11)
Arcanoid Breakout ($2.99 from $4.99 until 5/11)
Final Light, The Prison ($1.99 from $6.99 until 5/12)
Bridge Constructor: Walking Dead ($6.99 from $9.99 until 5/12)
OctaFight ($2.99 from $5.99 until 5/12)
Slime-san ($3.59 from $11.99 until 5/12)
Xtreme Club Racing ($1.99 from $9.99 until 5/12)
Park Inc ($2.39 from $2.99 until 5/12)
Sushi Reversi ($9.99 from $13.99 until 5/13)
Break Dot ($3.99 from $4.99 until 5/13)
Madoris R ($4.00 from $5.00 until 5/13)
Exorder ($1.99 from $12.99 until 5/13)
Battojutsu ($3.99 from $4.99 until 5/13)
Refreshing Sideways Puzzle: GH ($16.79 from $27.99 until 5/13)
Sales Ending Tomorrow, Friday, April 23rd
Bridge Constructor Portal ($4.49 from $14.99 until 4/23)
Clay Skeet Shooting ($2.99 from $3.99 until 4/23)
Dragon Audit ($8.99 from $9.99 until 4/23)
Let’s Cook Together ($13.99 from $19.99 until 4/23)
One Line Coloring ($3.49 from $6.99 until 4/23)
Pancake Bar Tycoon ($2.49 from $4.99 until 4/23)
Super Treasure Arena ($1.99 from $9.99 until 4/23)
The Inner World ($2.39 from $11.99 until 4/23)
The Inner World: Last Wind Monk ($2.99 from $14.99 until 4/23)
The Skylia Prophecy ($5.59 from $6.99 until 4/23)
Them Bombs! ($9.79 from $13.99 until 4/23)
What the Dub?! ($6.99 from $7.99 until 4/23)
Windscape ($5.99 from $19.99 until 4/23)
That’s all for today, friends. I spy eight games on the schedule so far for tomorrow, and there will certainly be at least a few stumbling in the door just before class starts. We’ll have summaries of all of those games tomorrow along with the lists of new and expiring sales. I hope you all have a great Thursday, and as always, thanks for reading!
