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. We’ve got an Apple Arcade-heavy selection this time around, with some of the best games getting some sweet new goodies. Of course, you can keep an eye out for updates yourself 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!
Jetpack Joyride, Free Wow, a legit new collaboration for Jetpack Joyride. These don’t happen terribly often, so let’s savor that flavor. Barry meets the Heroes in a Half-Shell in this limited-time event. April, Michelangelo, and Leonardo are ready to be collected, along with the new Pizza Jetpack and Mouser vehicle. Those willing to put in the necessary time or money will also find Raphael and Donatello costumes, a Mutagen jetpack, a Sewer Surfboard, some new vehicle skins and a new SAM, and three new appropriately-themed backgrounds. Gnarly!
Taiko no Tatsujin Pop Tap Beat, Taiko no Tatsujin: Pop Tap Beat has five new songs in its line-up for you to drum your fingers along to. The most recognizable of the lot is the Theme from Indiana Jones, but you also get Katamari on the Rock from Katamari Damacy, 4+1 Myriad Futures, Hold Me Tight, and Gekka Bijin. Heck, I’m happy enough with this update for those first two songs alone. But I won’t say no to the rest. More songs equals more fun when it comes to rhythm games, after all.
PAC-MAN, Free Pac-Man crosses over with all kinds of things these days. Sometimes it’s Hello Kitty, sometimes it’s the NBA. There’s no rhyme or reason to any of it. The latest collaboration is an environmental one, as gaming’s first star dives into the Play 4 Planet Adventure. You’ll learn some facts about forests as you play this limited time event, and you may even be able to unlock a new skin for the Ghosts. It also mentions a petition called Play 4 Forests. The update is rounded out with some important bug fixes that address an issue where people couldn’t advance past a particular stage.
Mario Kart Tour, Free This update adds one new feature and sets the stage for a few more upcoming ones. The new feature is that you can now join Standard or Gold Races that your friends are playing. Coming up soon, you’ll be able to view some stats for past events, enjoy some new ways of earning event tokens, and join in a new event where you can pile up tons of said event tokens. The UI has also been adjusted so that you can see your event tokens at the top of the screen all the time. Handy.
Tetris® Beat, I feel like if you’re doing a Tetris game, you really should be aware that Korobeiniki (the “Tetris Song") needs to be all over it. Don’t even try to do it without it. This update adds Korobeiniki to all modes, as it should be in a just world. Also in this update: options to adjust matrix opacity so that you can reduce the intensity of the visuals, and some bug fixes and optimizations. I think this version of Tetris has a ways to go before it becomes great, but it’s nice to see an update coming this swiftly. Hopefully it gets there.
Grindstone, Oh hey, it’s Grindstone again. Sure, why not? This is one of the most popular games on Apple Arcade, so regular updates aren’t so strange. In this update Jorja, the Mama Stonegrinder, has come to visit her grandson Jorj. She’s got a knack for slaying Creeps, so stop by and visit her at Dottie’s House at your earliest convenience. There’s a new location available in the Creepy Crypts called Ivor’s Boss Blitz. I think we can guess what that is all about. There are also some new rewards for the Daily Grind, if that’s your thing.
FANTASIAN, I waited a really long time to review Fantasian because I wanted to cover the complete game, so you can imagine my face when I hit a locked bonus dungeon late in the game. Well, worry not: that dungeon is now open. The Void Realm is the ultimate test of your Fantasian skills and strategies, and you may need to take advantage of the other big part of this update to prepare for it. Namely, there is a New Game+ mode in the game now. So if you can’t handle the Void Realm, just play through the game again and power up your beefy team even further. You can really reach some new heights this way, opening up even more layers of the Growth Map. This stuff gets me all tingly, so I’m giving this update the coveted UMMSotW award for this week.
SP!NG, Spexclamationpointng is another Apple Arcade game that gets semi-frequent updates with a lot in them. Oh look, here is one now. Funny how that worked out, I was typing that without knowing whether or not an update was coming. So what do you get? A new chapter with eighteen levels to play, with the new Power Anchor mechanic mixing things up in fun ways. There’s also a new Halloween theme, filled with appropriate characters, music, and other spooky accoutrements. Nice, nice.
Star Trek: Legends, This update brings in a couple of new characters that will be featured and available in upcoming events, along with a few bug fixes. Fan favorite Deep Space Nine character Elim Garak is one of them, and the other is Shinzon from Star Trek Nemesis. Yes, the Picard clone played by a young Tom Hardy. Sweet and sour, I guess. The bug fixes cover a variety of issues, from daily shop token rolling to PVP Season timers. The developers have also made some improvements to the anti-cheat system, so Kirk is going to have to watch out if he tries that whole Kobayashi Maru trick of his.
Toon Blast, Free And now for our obligatory free-to-play matching puzzle game update of the week. It’s Toon Blast! Yes, again. I can’t get too creative this week due to other obligations. So enjoy these fifty new levels, which are apparently built around an Oktoberfest theme. Maybe. Still not clear on how much of these update notes are actually in the game, and I’m not going to play thousands of levels to find out.
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!
