Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for December 8th, 2021. In today’s article, we’ve got a bit of news about a certain cartoon cat joining a certain cartoon brawler. There’s also a surprisingly bumper crop of new releases to check out, including Life is Strange: True Colors, Twelve Minutes, Sam & Max: Beyond Time and Space, and more. Lots of adventure games, really. We’ve also got the usual lists of new and expiring sales, because you can’t have a SwitchArcade Round-Up without those. Let’s crack our knuckles and get to work!
News
Garfield Lazes Into ‘Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl’ This Month
Fun fact: this is how I found out that Nickelodeon had bought Garfield. Anyway, that Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl. It’s pretty fun, and it has been very successful. Like the game it pays homage to, it will see its roster expanded over time. Two of those characters will be free, while paid DLC characters may come down the road. The first of those characters was announced today, and it’s none other than Garfield, the lasagna-eating, Monday-hating, Odie-kicking orange cat that stole so many hearts and sold so many arts. He’ll be coming to the game later this month, which means sometime in the next few weeks. Neat.
New Releases
Life is Strange: True Colors ($59.99)
SwitchArcade Highlight!
Life is Strange continues with a new protagonist in this fresh new installment in the hit series. Alex Chen has a special power, or perhaps a curse. She can experience, absorb, and manipulate the emotions of others. Up until now she has fought to suppress this ability, but when her brother dies in a dubious accident she decides to use it to help her find the truth. But what will she finding lurking behind the seemingly clean veneer of the small town she’s in? That’s for you to sort out, friends. This game met with a positive reception on other platforms, and I imagine Switch owners will take kindly to it as well.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Rush Duel: Dawn of the Battle Royale!! ($39.99)
SwitchArcade Highlight!
Alright Yu-Gi-Oh! fans, here’s your latest serving. Duel with your deck against other players, human or computer. Rush Duels only end when the last card is played, adding an additional wrinkle to the time-honored rules. Collect cards, customize your deck, and try to come out on top in the single-player campaign mode or against another player in local or online multiplayer. New cards, new monsters, and new mechanics highlight this exciting new chapter in the long-running series.
Sam & Max: Beyond Time and Space ($19.99)
The second of Telltale’s trio of Sam & Max games is making its return courtesy of the good folks at Skunkape. You can expect a similar handling here as we saw with Skunkape’s take on Sam & Max Save the World, with improved graphics and a variety of other tweaks. You get five episodes’ worth of interconnected cases to solve, and you can expect the unexpected from them. Unless you’ve played this before, in which case you can expect the expected unexpected from them. But unexpectedly, it’s rather nice to play through these games again. They’re from a more innocent time, back when Max could do his hyperkinetic rabbity-thing mayhem without an admonishing “Sam will remember that" appearing on the screen. I’ll be doing a review of this one soon in case you need it.
Twelve Minutes ($24.99)
A lot can happen in twelve minutes, and Twelve Minutes shows you just how much. A man is trapped in a time loop, reliving the same twelve minutes again and again. And it’s not a particularly good twelve minutes, like eating some fresh-baked brownies while watching cat videos on YouTube. No, it’s the twelve minutes where a detective breaks down your door, accuses your wife of murder, and beats you to death. Wow, that’s a pretty bad twelve minutes! You have to use your knowledge of the future to try to change things and break out of the loop, but it’s not going to be easy. Fate is hard to defy. Quite the voice cast here, including Green Goblin, Rey Skywalker, and Professor X Who Isn’t Picard. If you like the concept, give it a closer look.
Transient: Extended Edition ($19.99)
A mix of cyberpunk, sci-fi, and Lovecraftian horror, Transient is an adventure game that puts you in the role of an augmented investigator seeking the truth in a dystopian world. The game itself is pretty decent, but I’m not sure the Switch version is the best way to experience it. Particularly so if you are playing in handheld mode. You can tell right away that it was designed around having a mouse, as the interface relies heavily on a rather sluggish cursor. The font is also really hard to read on smaller screens, which is another marker of a PC conversion that doesn’t go quite far enough in its journey to the Switch. If you don’t mind either of those issues, it’s actually not too shabby.
Ball laB ($4.99)
Lots of heavy-hitting adventure games today, eh? How about a little counter-programming? Here’s a simple greyscale platformer starring a ball. It is not one of those constantly bouncing balls, either. It is a ball. It rolls. It can bounce. There are sixty levels. There’s a death counter, because you are probably going to die a lot and it’s fun to keep track of such things. It’s five dollars. That’s the pitch.
Sales
(North American eShop, US Prices)
Phew, that’s not a great list. I suppose you could grab Flashback if you haven’t already. Yeah, I can’t really recommend anything from there. The outbox has a bit more to offer. Games like Kuukiyomi and Strikey Sisters are worth considering, but there are a few other decent games in there to think about. Almost all of them are usual suspects, however. If you miss them now, you’ll have another chance in a week or two. Check those lists, but this is one of the more skippable days for sales I’ve seen in some time.
Select New Games on Sale
Asterix & Obelix XXL Romastered ($11.99 from $29.99 until 12/28)
My Universe: Fashion Boutique ($9.89 from $29.99 until 12/28)
My Universe: School Teacher ($9.89 from $29.99 until 12/28)
My Universe: Cooking Star ($11.99 from $29.99 until 12/28)
16-Bit Soccer ($1.99 from $4.99 until 12/28)
Off The Road Unleashed ($4.79 from $15.99 until 12/28)
Grand Prix Rock ‘N Racing ($1.99 from $9.99 until 12/28)
Flashback ($1.99 from $19.99 until 12/28)
Croc’s World ($1.99 from $4.99 until 12/28)
Croc’s World 2 ($1.99 from $5.99 until 12/28)
Croc’s World Run ($1.99 from $5.99 until 12/28)
9-Ball Pocket ($2.99 from $5.99 until 12/28)
Make War ($1.99 from $9.99 until 12/28)
Dininho Space Adventure ($1.99 from $9.99 until 12/28)
Airfield Mania ($1.99 from $5.99 until 12/28)
Jewel Fever 2 ($1.99 from $4.99 until 12/28)
Jewel Rotation ($1.99 from $5.99 until 12/28)
Water Balloon Mania ($1.99 from $4.99 until 12/28)
Birds and Blocks ($1.99 from $4.99 until 12/28)
Super Arcade Soccer ($1.99 from $6.99 until 12/28)
Pacific Wings ($1.99 from $4.99 until 12/28)
Yellow Fins ($1.99 from $4.99 until 12/28)
Wild Pinball Bundle ($4.94 from $8.99 until 12/28)
Sales Ending Tomorrow, Thursday, December 9th
Aeolis Tournament ($2.24 from $14.99 until 12/9)
Agony ($1.99 from $19.99 until 12/9)
Bad Dream: Coma ($1.99 from $9.99 until 12/9)
Bad Dream: Fever ($1.99 from $9.99 until 12/9)
Bedtime Blues ($1.99 from $9.99 until 12/9)
Binary Star Infinity ($2.49 from $4.99 until 12/9)
Bomber Fox ($2.49 from $4.99 until 12/9)
Clock Simulator ($1.99 from $3.99 until 12/9)
Clumsy Rush ($1.99 from $4.99 until 12/9)
Cooking Simulator ($1.99 from $19.99 until 12/9)
Cyber Protocol ($1.99 from $9.99 until 12/9)
Danger Scavenger ($1.99 from $9.99 until 12/9)
Dark Veer ($1.99 from $4.99 until 12/9)
Diggerman ($1.99 from $4.99 until 12/9)
Dungeons & Aliens ($1.99 from $3.99 until 12/9)
Escape Game Fort Boyard ($8.99 from $29.99 until 12/9)
Fishing Universe Simulator ($1.99 from $9.99 until 12/9)
Fred3ric ($1.99 from $9.99 until 12/9)
Frederic 2: ESB ($1.99 from $4.99 until 12/9)
Frederic: RoM ($2.39 from $5.99 until 12/9)
Frontline Zed ($2.39 from $11.99 until 12/9)
G-MODE Archives25 Topolon ($1.99 from $4.99 until 12/9)
Glaive: Brick Breaker ($1.99 from $9.99 until 12/9)
Go All Out! ($2.59 from $12.99 until 12/9)
Goetia ($1.99 from $9.99 until 12/9)
Grab Lab ($1.99 from $4.99 until 12/9)
Grave Keeper ($1.99 from $9.99 until 12/9)
Green Hell ($6.24 from $24.99 until 12/9)
Gunpowder on the Teeth Arcade ($1.99 from $4.99 until 12/9)
Hard West ($1.99 from $19.99 until 12/9)
Hollow ($1.99 from $19.99 until 12/9)
Hot Shot Burn ($2.24 from $14.99 until 12/9)
IHUGU ($1.99 from $3.99 until 12/9)
Kuukiyomi Consider It ($3.74 from $4.99 until 12/9)
Loop Hero ($13.49 from $14.99 until 12/9)
Masky ($1.99 from $4.99 until 12/9)
Merchants of Kaidan ($1.99 from $9.99 until 12/9)
Millie ($1.99 from $4.99 until 12/9)
Mini Island Challenge Bundle ($1.99 from $9.99 until 12/9)
Miracle Snack Shop ($17.99 from $19.99 until 12/9)
Monkey Barrels ($7.49 from $14.99 until 12/9)
Mushroom Savior ($1.99 from $4.99 until 12/9)
My Brother Rabbit ($3.99 from $14.99 until 12/9)
Neurodeck ($9.37 from $13.99 until 12/9)
Nirvana Pilot Yume ($1.99 from $4.99 until 12/9)
NoReload Heroes ($1.99 from $9.99 until 12/9)
Omen Exito: Plague ($1.99 from $9.99 until 12/9)
OMG Police: Car Chase TV ($1.99 from $4.99 until 12/9)
OmoTomO ($1.99 from $9.99 until 12/9)
Pack Master ($1.99 from $4.99 until 12/9)
Persian Nights Sands of Wonders ($2.99 from $14.99 until 12/9)
Phantaruk ($1.99 from $4.99 until 12/9)
Phantom Doctrine ($1.99 from $19.99 until 12/9)
Pixboy ($1.99 from $4.99 until 12/9)
Poly Puzzle ($1.99 from $4.99 until 12/9)
Q-YO Blaster ($1.99 from $9.99 until 12/9)
Qbik ($1.99 from $4.99 until 12/9)
Quest of Dungeons ($4.49 from $8.99 until 12/9)
Realpolitiks ($2.49 from $24.99 until 12/9)
Risky Rescue ($1.99 from $4.99 until 12/9)
Romeow: In the Cracked World ($2.39 from $2.99 until 12/9)
Seeds of Resilience ($2.09 from $14.99 until 12/9)
Shut Eye ($1.99 from $3.99 until 12/9)
Sinless ($1.99 from $9.99 until 12/9)
Smoots Golf ($9.09 from $12.99 until 12/9)
Sparkle 2 EVO ($1.99 from $4.99 until 12/9)
Sparkle 3 Genesis ($1.99 from $4.99 until 12/9)
Sparkle 4 Tales ($1.99 from $9.99 until 12/9)
Sparkle ZERO ($1.99 from $4.99 until 12/9)
SpyHack ($1.99 from $9.99 until 12/9)
Star Story: The Horizon Escape ($1.99 from $9.99 until 12/9)
Startide ($1.99 from $9.99 until 12/9)
Stitchy in Tooki Trouble ($6.49 from $12.99 until 12/9)
Strikey Sisters ($2.99 from $9.99 until 12/9)
Sudoku Relax 3 Autumn ($1.99 from $4.99 until 12/9)
Super Impossible Road ($16.99 from $19.99 until 12/9)
Surfingers ($1.99 from $4.99 until 12/9)
Tap Skaters ($1.99 from $4.99 until 12/9)
Tennis Open 2020 ($1.99 from $9.99 until 12/9)
Terrorhythm ($1.99 from $9.99 until 12/9)
The Childs Sight ($1.99 from $4.99 until 12/9)
The Mahjong Huntress ($1.99 from $4.99 until 12/9)
Thief Simulator ($1.99 from $19.99 until 12/9)
Tiny Hands Adventure ($3.19 from $7.99 until 12/9)
Towaga: Among Shadows ($2.24 from $14.99 until 12/9)
Ultimate Fishing Simulator ($1.99 from $19.99 until 12/9)
Ultimate Ski Jumping 2020 ($1.99 from $9.99 until 12/9)
Violett ($1.99 from $9.99 until 12/9)
Virus: The Outbreak ($1.99 from $9.99 until 12/9)
Wanderlust Travel Stories ($2.24 from $14.99 until 12/9)
Would You Like to Run an Idol Cafe? ($7.99 from $9.99 until 12/9)
Zombillie ($1.99 from $4.99 until 12/9)
That’s all for today, friends. I actually think today’s releases may have more big names among them than tomorrow’s batch. But Thursday is Thursday, and that means we do have several new games to check out including Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX, Super Impossible Road, and Loop Hero. We’ll also have whatever sales come along, and I sure hope they’re better than today’s. I have to go to the hospital tomorrow again, but it should be a quick one this time. Not anticipating any issues with getting the Round-Up out, at any rate. I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday, and as always, thanks for reading!
