Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for September 6th, 2021. In today’s article, we’ve got a few reviews of some new games. Sonic Colors: Ultimate hits the eShop tomorrow, but we’ve got our review ready for you already. We’ve also got a review of the recent Prinny Presents NIS Classics Volume 1, and a Mini-View of QUByte’s latest puzzler Puzzletronics. There are a couple of new releases to look at, though neither of them is terribly exciting. Finally, we’ve got the usual lists of new and outgoing sales for you to consider. Let’s dig in!
Reviews & Mini-Views
Sonic Colors: Ultimate ($39.99)
Some anniversaries are better than others, I suppose. Given the circumstances of the world right now, I don’t blame any company for not being able to cobble together as big of an anniversary celebration as they may have hoped to. The Legend of Zelda has to get by with the remake of Skyward Sword and a special Game & Watch later this year. Metroid is getting an original game and not much else. Kid Icarus is getting a rock. And Sonic the Hedgehog, one of the bigger brands in video gaming even now, gets this remake of Sonic Colors as its centerpiece.
While it isn’t the most obvious of choices of older games to bring back, I think it’s an inspired one. As 3D Sonic games go, Sonic Colors is one of the more well-liked ones. Up until now it has remained a Wii exclusive, and given its 2010 release date there is a good chance that even many Wii owners missed it the first time. Give it the HD treatment, put it out on a variety of platforms, and let a wider range of players enjoy the game. Throw in some new stuff, if you’re feeling frisky. And hey, that appears to have been the plan here.
By now, you may have seen some videos showing off a wide range of spectacular glitches from this Switch version of the game. Be aware that some of these bugs are potentially dangerous for those who are photosensitive. That said, I can only report my experiences with it while playing it. I had a couple of instances of Sonic’s character model disappearing temporarily. In one stage I somehow became unmoored from the proper 2D plane and got stuck. Rarely, the audio would cut in and out. None of this was frequent and nothing broke the game for me, but I once again affirm that this is only my experience.
What I can back up are the technical realities of this port. This is not a terrific Wii-to-Switch port, particularly in light of what we have seen from other such efforts. The framerate remains at 30 fps, with some drops during certain boss fights. It’s not horrible, but other platforms get 60 fps so that is something to keep in mind. Loading times before levels can be a tiny bit longer than you would hope. The sound mixing is horrible, with sound effects playing far louder than they should. Colors and lighting have been changed, and in general everything is darker and harder to see. The prerendered cutscenes have been upscaled but they don’t look great, with odd instances of stuttering when things are moving.
As for new additions, the graphics have been enhanced, the soundtrack has been remixed, there are some new customization items to unlock, new coins have been added to stages to unlock said items, a whole new wisp has been added, some parts of stages have been altered (mostly to accommodate that new wisp), some races against Metal Sonic have been added, and some changes have been made to how lives work. I like the new wisp, but I can take or leave the rest. The customization stuff in particular should have been cool, but in practice it’s largely a bunch of tacky looking gloves and shoes. Other than the resolution bump, I think most of the graphical changes made for a worse-looking game than the original.
When it comes down to it, a lot rests on the original game that served as the base for this Ultimate Edition. Sonic Colors is indeed better than many of the 3D Sonic games, but it largely achieves that by avoiding 3D sections as much as possible. A very large chunk of this game is built around 2D gameplay, and it’s certainly no Sonic Mania on that plane. It relies heavily on the interesting gimmicks that are provided by the Wisps, and some stages are almost like little puzzles you have to untangle. And when I say “little", I mean it. Some stages are under two minutes long. Others are quite a bit longer. It feels strange, but that’s how it is. Still, it’s a reasonably fun bop with some good humor, and if you want to fully complete the game you will have your work cut out for you.
I won’t dance around it too much. Sonic Colors: Ultimate Edition is a rather middling port of a decent game. There are technical issues, there are bugs, and even the things added to this port that are working as intended aren’t really that great. I personally didn’t hit any significant bugs, and the ones I did hit were infrequent enough that they didn’t particularly bother me, but that is just me speaking to my time with the game. Some of what I presume to be deliberate changes here like the lighting and color choices aren’t to my preference, and a lot of the new content just hit with a dull thud for me. But I still had a reasonably fun time going through the game, even if it ultimately just pushed me towards doing another Sonic Mania playthrough. Well, Sonic has had worse anniversaries.
SwitchArcade Score: 3.5/5
Prinny Presents NIS Classics Volume 1: Phantom Brave: The Hermuda Triangle Remastered/Soul Nomad & the World Eaters ($39.99)
Not a wonderful time recently for ports, friends. The good news: both Phantom Brave and Soul Nomad are really cool games that you can sink your teeth into and enjoy for hours. Phantom Brave has a lot in common with the Disgaea series, while Soul Nomad feels like it was inspired by the quirky set-up of Ogre Battle on the Super NES. Both titles show their age in many aspects of their designs, but they’re not so antiquated as to be unenjoyable. A fine pair of games that are more than worthy to launch a line of re-released classics with.
Unfortunately, while the games themselves are good, this package really isn’t. There’s a sprite filter on the graphics that is supposed to be optional, but the option itself doesn’t work. Phantom Brave looks particularly bad. But worse than that is the crashing. The game crashes constantly. It crashes while you play. It crashes when you close the game. It sometimes crashes when you aren’t doing anything at all. There’s seemingly no rhyme or reason to it, and these are the worst kinds of games to be having random crashes in. I hope NIS plans to fix this, because in its current state this set is almost worthless.
SwitchArcade Score: 2.5/5
Puzzletronics ($3.99)
QUByte has another simple puzzle game for us to enjoy, this time with a circuit theme. Each puzzle is made up of a number of tiles, some of which will include various electronic parts. You need to swap them around such that the circuit is properly completed and all of the lights light up. The early levels are so simple they are almost dull, but as the size and complexity of the stages increases, the challenge ramps up nicely. The game could probably explain some of the elements it introduces in a clearer way, but you should be able to hash it out after playing for a bit. There’s no real pressure involved, so you can afford to bang your head against the wall as long as is necessary. An amusing way to pass a few hours, to be sure.
SwitchArcade Score: 3.5/5
New Releases
Enchanted Path ($4.99)
A rather humble little puzzle game. Collect all the green crystals on each of the game’s thirty stages to open the exits and move forward. There are various gimmicks thrown in as you go to complicate matters a bit, but nothing you wouldn’t have seen before in other games of this ilk.
Red Square Escape 2 ($3.99)
Benjamin Kistler packs up what is probably another template bought from the ol’ asset store. It’s another forty levels of the top-down action game, Red Square Escape. Move the red square to the exit, avoid the traps, and collect the money. Pretty plain stuff, but that’s about what you should expect from this “developer" by now.
Sales
(North American eShop, US Prices)
Let’s see what we’ve got in the ol’ Tickle Trunk today, friends. B.ARK has a modest discount, which is rather pleasant for such a new game. The Amnesia collection is cheap as chips again, in case you want to stock up on horror treats ahead of the Halloween season. Otherwise, it’s mostly the usual fare we see turn up over the weekends. Good games like Tanuki Justice, Wallachia, and so on, but certainly games we see in these articles fairly often. The same thing can largely be said about the outbox, but do check those lists anyway.
Select New Games on Sale
B.ARK ($8.99 from $9.99 until 9/10)
Trollhunters: Defenders of Arcadia ($23.99 from $39.99 until 9/10)
Zoids Wild Blast Unleashed ($19.99 from $39.99 until 9/10)
Transformers: Battlegrounds ($23.99 from $39.99 until 9/10)
Ice Age Scrat’s Nutty Adventure ($23.99 from $39.99 until 9/10)
Jumanji: The Video Game ($23.99 from $59.99 until 9/10)
Gigantosaurus The Game ($23.99 from $39.99 until 9/10)
Ben 10 ($11.99 from $19.99 until 9/10)
Ben 10: Power Trip! ($23.99 from $39.99 until 9/10)
Hotel Transylvania 3 MO ($17.99 from $29.99 until 9/10)
Adventure Time: PotE ($23.99 from $39.99 until 9/10)
Crayola Scoot ($8.99 from $29.99 until 9/10)
Dreamworks Dragons DoNR ($23.99 from $39.99 until 9/10)
Coast Guard: Beach Rescue Team ($4.79 from $11.99 until 9/10)
Gas Station: Highway Services ($4.79 from $11.99 until 9/10)
Detective Driver: Miami Files ($4.79 from $11.99 until 9/10)
City Bus Driving Simulator ($4.79 from $11.99 until 9/10)
Brawl Chess ($2.99 from $9.99 until 9/10)
Under Leaves ($6.49 from $12.99 until 9/11)
Miner Warfare ($3.99 from $7.99 until 9/11)
Doom & Destiny ($5.99 from $11.99 until 9/11)
Doom & Destiny Advanced ($8.39 from $11.99 until 9/11)
Get 10 Quest ($2.09 from $2.99 until 9/12)
Landflix Odyssey ($10.49 from $14.99 until 9/12)
Little Mouse’s Encyclopedia ($6.49 from $12.99 until 9/12)
Endless Fables Shadow Within ($8.99 from $14.99 until 9/13)
Swaps and Traps ($1.99 from $8.99 until 9/13)
Pixel Gladiator ($1.99 from $6.99 until 9/13)
Tactical Mind 2 ($1.99 from $4.99 until 9/13)
Event Horizon: Space Defense ($1.99 from $6.99 until 9/13)
Aborigenus ($1.99 from $4.99 until 9/13)
Diabolic ($1.99 from $4.99 until 9/13)
Girabox ($1.99 from $2.49 until 9/13)
Fall Gummies ($1.99 from $7.99 until 9/14)
Royal Tower Defense ($1.99 from $7.99 until 9/14)
Among Pipes ($1.99 from $7.99 until 9/14)
Gangsta Paradise ($1.99 from $9.99 until 9/14)
Perfect Traffic Simulator ($1.99 from $9.99 until 9/14)
Fantasy Tower Defense ($1.99 from $4.99 until 9/14)
The Legend of Ninja ($1.99 from $4.99 until 9/14)
Funny Bunny Adventures ($1.99 from $4.99 until 9/14)
AnimaLudo ($1.99 from $9.99 until 9/14)
Zoo Dentist ($3.99 from $9.99 until 9/14)
Empire of Sin ($15.99 from $39.99 until 9/17)
Prison Architect ($7.50 from $29.99 until 9/17)
Cities: Skylines ($9.99 from $39.99 until 9/17)
Castle of No Escape 2 ($2.79 from $6.99 until 9/18)
Get Me Outta Here ($1.99 from $4.99 until 9/18)
Odium to the Core ($1.99 from $4.99 until 9/18)
Vigil: The Longest Night ($13.19 from $21.99 until 9/20)
Moorhuhn Kart 2 ($15.99 from $19.99 until 9/20)
Archaica: The Path of Light ($3.49 from $14.99 until 9/20)
Build a Bridge! ($2.99 from $14.99 until 9/20)
Genetic Disaster ($2.99 from $14.99 until 9/21)
Ascendance ($1.99 from $5.99 until 9/21)
Super Jumpy Ball ($3.49 from $4.99 until 9/23)
Snake vs Snake ($2.79 from $3.99 until 9/23)
Total Arcade Racing ($6.99 from $9.99 until 9/23)
Virtuous Western ($3.99 from $4.99 until 9/24)
Sports Pinball Bundle ($4.94 from $8.99 until 9/24)
The Unexpected Quest ($9.00 from $15.00 until 9/24)
Castaway Paradise ($9.99 from $19.99 until 9/24)
Dungeonoid ($2.02 from $6.99 until 9/24)
Vampire: The Masquerade CoNY ($7.99 from $19.99 until 9/24)
Vampire: The Masquerade SoNY ($7.79 from $12.99 until 9/24)
Crazy Strike Bowling EX ($3.99 from $9.99 until 9/24)
Harvest Life ($3.99 from $19.99 until 9/24)
WildTrax Racing ($1.99 from $7.99 until 9/24)
Urban Trial Tricky ($8.99 from $14.99 until 9/24)
The Forgotten Land ($2.99 from $14.99 until 9/24)
Cargo Crew Driver ($5.99 from $11.99 until 9/24)
Multilevel Parking Driver ($7.19 from $11.99 until 9/24)
Truck Simulator 2 ($7.79 from $11.99 until 9/24)
#pinocchio, Super Puzzles Dream ($1.99 from $5.99 until 9/24)
Extreme Car Driver ($8.99 from $11.99 until 9/24)
Unrailed! ($4.99 from $19.99 until 9/25)
Spacebase Startopia ($44.99 from $49.99 until 9/25)
Pirates: All Aboard! ($1.99 from $5.99 until 9/25)
Super Shape Shooter ($1.99 from $3.99 until 9/25)
Dream Alone ($1.99 from $9.99 until 9/25)
Exorder ($1.99 from $12.99 until 9/25)
Rawr-Off ($1.99 from $2.99 until 9/25)
Nonograms Prophecy ($1.99 from $3.99 until 9/25)
In My Shadow ($10.20 from $12.00 until 9/25)
Strike Force Kitty ($1.99 from $4.99 until 9/25)
Ego Protocol: Remastered ($1.99 from $4.99 until 9/25)
Make War ($2.49 from $9.99 until 9/25)
Star Horizon ($2.49 from $9.99 until 9/25)
Creepy Tale ($3.49 from $9.99 until 9/25)
FootGoal! Tiki Taka ($1.99 from $4.99 until 9/25)
Pool Pro Gold ($1.99 from $9.99 until 9/25)
Kids: Farm Coloring ($1.99 from $4.99 until 9/25)
Connection Haunted Server Error ($2.49 from $4.99 until 9/25)
Connection ReHaunted ($2.99 from $6.66 until 9/25)
Kickerinho World ($2.49 from $4.99 until 9/25)
Drag Racing Rivals ($2.49 from $9.99 until 9/25)
Powertris ($1.99 from $4.99 until 9/25)
Wallachia: Reign of Dracula ($8.99 from $14.99 until 9/25)
Apparition ($3.49 from $9.99 until 9/25)
Picklock ($1.99 from $7.99 until 9/25)
Destropolis ($3.49 from $5.99 until 9/25)
Tanuki Justice ($7.49 from $14.99 until 9/25)
Splashy Cube ($1.99 from $4.99 until 9/25)
Body of Evidence ($2.49 from $9.99 until 9/25)
Golden Force ($9.99 from $19.99 until 9/25)
Burn! SuperTrucks ($1.99 from $7.99 until 9/25)
Bob Help Them ($2.39 from $7.99 until 9/25)
Graviter ($3.03 from $7.99 until 9/25)
Dark Quest 2 ($3.29 from $10.99 until 9/25)
Story of a Gladiator ($3.29 from $10.99 until 9/25)
Amnesia: Collection ($5.99 from $29.99 until 9/26)
Sales Ending Tomorrow, Tuesday, September 7th
#RaceDieRun ($1.99 from $9.99 until 9/7)
8-Ball Pocket ($2.03 from $5.99 until 9/7)
Adventure Llama ($1.99 from $4.99 until 9/7)
Akane ($1.99 from $4.99 until 9/7)
Akuto: Showdown ($1.99 from $7.99 until 9/7)
Arcane Arts Academy ($1.99 from $7.99 until 9/7)
Ary & the Secret of Seasons ($9.99 from $39.99 until 9/7)
Barbarous: Tavern of Emyr ($1.99 from $7.99 until 9/7)
Bear With Me: The Lost Robots ($1.99 from $4.99 until 9/7)
BIT.TRIP Series, Assorted ($1.99 from $4.99 until 9/7)
Blazing Beaks ($1.99 from $14.99 until 9/7)
Brawl ($1.99 from $9.99 until 9/7)
Castlestorm ($3.74 from $14.99 until 9/7)
Chop ($1.99 from $9.99 until 9/7)
Coffee Crisis ($1.99 from $9.99 until 9/7)
Colorful Colore ($1.99 from $2.99 until 9/7)
Death’s Hangover ($1.99 from $4.99 until 9/7)
Debtor ($1.99 from $2.99 until 9/7)
Deployment ($1.99 from $9.99 until 9/7)
Dex ($1.99 from $19.99 until 9/7)
Door Kickers ($4.99 from $11.99 until 9/7)
Drawngeon ($2.49 from $4.99 until 9/7)
DungeonTop ($4.99 from $13.99 until 9/7)
Dwarf Journey ($3.99 from $7.99 until 9/7)
Epistory: Typing Chronicles ($9.99 from $14.99 until 9/7)
Escape Doodland ($1.99 from $9.99 until 9/7)
Event Horizon ($1.99 from $5.99 until 9/7)
Eyes: The Horror Game ($1.99 from $2.49 until 9/7)
Farabel ($1.99 from $9.99 until 9/7)
Farm For Your Life ($9.99 from $19.99 until 9/7)
Feather ($4.59 from $9.99 until 9/7)
Friday the 13th Killer Puzzle ($6.79 from $19.99 until 9/7)
FunBox Party ($1.99 from $2.49 until 9/7)
Good Night, Knight ($5.99 from $11.99 until 9/7)
Gravity Rider Zero ($1.99 from $6.99 until 9/7)
Grood ($1.99 from $4.99 until 9/7)
Here Be Dragons ($7.19 from $17.99 until 9/7)
Hexologic ($2.00 from $2.99 until 9/7)
HyperParasite ($2.99 from $17.99 until 9/7)
Jotun: Valhalla Edition ($3.74 from $14.99 until 9/7)
Jumping Joe & Friends ($1.99 from $2.49 until 9/7)
Jurassic Pinball ($2.00 from $2.99 until 9/7)
Kingdom Rush Frontiers ($5.99 from $9.99 until 9/7)
Koloro ($1.99 from $9.99 until 9/7)
LEGO Harry Potter Collection ($12.49 from $49.99 until 9/7)
Mana Spark ($1.99 from $9.99 until 9/7)
Mini Trains ($1.99 from $5.99 until 9/7)
Moon Raider ($4.99 from $9.99 until 9/7)
Mushroom Quest ($1.99 from $2.99 until 9/7)
Ninjin: Clash of Carrots ($1.99 from $9.99 until 9/7)
Not Not: A Brain Buster ($1.99 from $2.49 until 9/7)
One Line Coloring ($2.09 from $6.99 until 9/7)
One Strike ($1.99 from $4.99 until 9/7)
Operencia: The Stolen Sun ($11.99 from $29.99 until 9/7)
Party Treats ($1.99 from $2.49 until 9/7)
Pew Paw ($1.99 from $6.99 until 9/7)
Pocket Mini Golf ($1.99 from $2.49 until 9/7)
Puzzle Book ($1.99 from $3.99 until 9/7)
Rack N Ruin ($6.49 from $12.99 until 9/7)
REKT! High Octane Stunts ($1.99 from $5.99 until 9/7)
Remothered: Broken Porcelain ($14.99 from $29.99 until 9/7)
Rimelands: Hammer of Thor ($1.99 from $9.99 until 9/7)
Robonauts ($1.99 from $3.99 until 9/7)
Rogue Star Rescue ($11.24 from $14.99 until 9/7)
Shipped ($1.99 from $5.99 until 9/7)
Skull Rogue ($1.99 from $2.99 until 9/7)
Skully ($7.49 from $29.99 until 9/7)
Space Pioneer ($1.99 from $9.99 until 9/7)
Spiritfarer ($14.99 from $29.99 until 9/7)
Stealth ($1.99 from $4.99 until 9/7)
Steampunk Tower 2 ($2.99 from $9.99 until 9/7)
Stencil Art ($1.99 from $3.99 until 9/7)
Sundered: Eldritch Edition ($4.99 from $19.99 until 9/7)
Super Hero Fight Club: Reloaded ($1.99 from $9.99 until 9/7)
Tactical Mind ($1.99 from $2.99 until 9/7)
Tharsis ($2.99 from $11.99 until 9/7)
The Great Perhaps ($3.49 from $9.99 until 9/7)
Timothy & the Mysterious Forest ($3.99 from $7.99 until 9/7)
Tiny Lands ($2.99 from $5.99 until 9/7)
Unit 4 ($1.99 from $14.99 until 9/7)
Utopia 9: Volatile Vacation ($1.99 from $9.99 until 9/7)
Welcome to Primrose Lake ($1.99 from $7.99 until 9/7)
while True: learn() ($9.74 from $12.99 until 9/7)
Wondershot ($1.99 from $9.99 until 9/7)
World Soccer Pinball ($2.00 from $2.99 until 9/7)
Wreckin’ Ball Adventure ($1.99 from $4.99 until 9/7)
Zombie Blast Crew ($1.99 from $9.99 until 9/7)
That’s all for today, friends. We’ll be back tomorrow with another review or two, a couple of new release summaries, and whatever news and sales come along in the next day. I’m going to spend my evening playing some old Mario games on the Game Boy Advance, as Shaun does. I hope you all have an awesome Monday, and as always, thanks for reading!
