News

SwitchArcade Round-Up: Nintendo Direct Highlights, ‘Portal Companion Collection’ and Today’s Other New Releases

Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for June 29th, 2022. As the month winds to a close, we’ve got a bigger-than-usual Wednesday for both news and new games to check out. I’ve got some crib notes for yesterday’s Nintendo Direct Mini Partner Showcase, and then we head into the new release summaries for the day. There’s some high-profile stuff here, and we’re not even on Thursday yet. It’s going to be one of those weeks. Let’s get going!

News

Ports and a Few New Games Highlight Yesterday’s Nintendo Direct Mini

Okay, this time for real: how about that Nintendo Direct? We got a date for Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope (October 20th), a couple of new games like Square Enix’s Harvestella and Gearbox’s Blanc were announced, more footage of previously announced games like Dragon Quest Treasures and Return to Monkey Island was shown, and some hotly-requested ports like NieR: Automata and the Personas 3 through 5 were revealed, and we even have a cool Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection to look forward to. I’d recommend skimming through the video if you haven’t watched it yet just to see everything. It’s looking like a very good year, especially if you’ve mostly stayed in Nintendo’s ecosystem.

New Releases

Portal Companion Collection ($19.99)

SwitchArcade Highlight!

One of the many pleasant surprises from yesterday’s Direct was that the previously-announced Portal Companion Collection would be hitting the eShop after the presentation. You get the awesome Portal and its incredible sequel Portal 2 for the stupid-low price of twenty bucks. If you haven’t played these games before, it’s an easy recommendation. Those more familiar with the titles will be able to make the decision themselves. Oh, one nice feature is that you can play Portal 2 in multiplayer co-op via local splitscreen, local wireless, or online. That’s Valve for you.

The Legend of Bum-Bo ($19.99)

The prequel to The Binding of Isaac, The Legend of Bum-Bo is a roguelike deckbuilder with a matching puzzle mechanic driving it. The game has been out for a few years and is just now making its way to the Switch. Reception to it has been fairly mixed from players and critics alike, with many pointing to the game feeling a bit light in terms of what it offers compared to its predecessor. You’ll have to decide for yourself how you feel about it, but at the very least one must admire the attempt to play around with the conventions of the match-3 genre.

Corpse Factory ($19.99)

This visual novel has an interesting enough premise, though not an entirely unfamiliar one. A mysterious website promises to kill anyone if provided a photo of them. It seems like a bit of a silly hoax until people start turning up dead. What’s more, the victims receive a photo of their own corpse hours before they die. What is going on? You’ll have to get to the bottom of it before you end up a victim yourself. Your choices will determine which ending you reach.

Hillbilly Doomsday ($4.99)

Here’s another affordable 2D run-and-gun game for the Switch. You play as a weird character who is meant to be a Hillbilly, and you need to gun down hordes of undead creatures and other monsters in order to save what is left of humanity. You’ve got a variety of weapons that you can use against your foes, and there are some big boss battles strewn about for you to challenge as well.

Little Noah: Scion of Paradise ($14.99)

You know, never for a minute did I expect to see characters and assets from the short-lived Battle Champs show up on a Nintendo Direct. But here we are. Little Noah: Scion of Paradise is an action roguelite starring Noah, the main character from Battle Champs. Create your own teams from more than forty potential allies and explore the ruins in search of parts to repair your broken airship. Positively adorable, and also surprisingly fun to play. If you’ve got room in your life for another game of this sort, you might want to give it a shot.

Taco Tom 2 ($5.99)

This game has a very weird vibe to it, but ultimately it’s about making tacos and I can’t see anything wrong with that. Catch the falling ingredients to make tacos in ninety levels set across ten different worlds. Avoid picking up the wrong ingredients or getting smashed by walls. It’s that simple. Beyond the main story, there are a few bonus modes including a local multiplayer battle mode.

Gliding Square ($4.00)

Guide the gliding square to the goal on forty levels, avoiding the enemies that populate each stage and taking care not to run into any walls or obstacles. Your square has a lot of momentum, which can make doing so a little tricky. Not fancy at all, but it’s only four bucks.

Sales

(North American eShop, US Prices)

Wow, that’s a very small list of new sales. Hm. Well, DEEMO and MO: Astray are always good pick-ups. I suppose if your focus must be placed on any part of today’s lists, it will be the outbox. Grab those Cave shoot-em-ups while you can, as I imagine they won’t be discounted again for a pretty long time. There are other good games in there, but they are far more likely to come back around before long. Check the list and see for yourself, though.

Select New Games on Sale

Gem Wizards Tactics ($1.99 from $12.99 until 7/5)
Nirvana Pilot Yume ($1.99 from $4.99 until 7/5)
Little Bug ($1.99 from $12.99 until 7/5)
Tower Defense Bundle ($2.99 from $11.99 until 7/5)
DEEMO -Reborn- ($15.00 from $25.00 until 7/13)
MO: Astray ($7.49 from $14.99 until 7/13)

Sales Ending Tomorrow, Thursday, June 30th

20XX ($8.99 from $17.99 until 6/30)
Adventures of Chris ($2.99 from $14.99 until 6/30)
Arrest of a Stone Buddha ($8.99 from $14.99 until 6/30)
Bite the Bullet ($2.99 from $14.99 until 6/30)
Blandville ($1.99 from $4.99 until 6/30)
Blue Fire ($9.99 from $19.99 until 6/30)
Bridge Constructor Ultimate ($3.74 from $14.99 until 6/30)
Broken Blades ($1.99 from $3.99 until 6/30)
Bus Driver Simulator Countryside ($4.49 from $14.99 until 6/30)
Car Mechanic Simulator PE 2 ($7.74 from $15.49 until 6/30)
Cyber Fight ($2.09 from $6.99 until 6/30)
Cyber Hook ($3.74 from $14.99 until 6/30)
Darkest Hunters ($2.12 from $5.30 until 6/30)


DoDonPachi Resurrection ($15.99 from $19.99 until 6/30)
Double Cross ($3.99 from $19.99 until 6/30)
Dustoff Heli Rescue 2 ($2.00 from $8.00 until 6/30)
Dying Light: Platinum Edition ($29.99 from $49.99 until 6/30)
Epic Dumpster Bear 2 ($2.49 from $4.99 until 6/30)
Espgaluda II ($15.99 from $19.99 until 6/30)
Factotum 90 ($1.99 from $7.99 until 6/30)
Going Under ($4.99 from $19.99 until 6/30)
Hundred Fires: TRoRS ($2.49 from $4.99 until 6/30)
Joggernauts ($2.99 from $14.99 until 6/30)
Kwaidan: Azuma Manor Story ($6.24 from $24.99 until 6/30)
Ludo Game: Just Chill Out ($2.49 from $4.99 until 6/30)
Mekorama ($1.99 from $4.99 until 6/30)
Mercenaries Wings TFP ($7.79 from $12.99 until 6/30)
Monster Boy & the Cursed Kingdom ($13.99 from $39.99 until 6/30)


Mushihimesama ($15.99 from $19.99 until 6/30)
Nira ($1.99 from $9.99 until 6/30)
OlliOlli World ($19.99 from $29.99 until 6/30)
Overcooked All You Can Eat ($19.99 from $39.99 until 6/30)
Pocket Slimes ($2.99 from $9.99 until 6/30)
Pumpkin Jack ($11.99 from $29.99 until 6/30)
REZ PLZ ($2.99 from $14.99 until 6/30)
Rover Mechanic Simulator ($3.59 from $11.99 until 6/30)
Tax Fugitive ($1.99 from $4.99 until 6/30)
The Escapists 2 GotY Edition ($6.74 from $26.99 until 6/30)
The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa ($8.99 from $14.99 until 6/30)
The King’s Bird ($3.99 from $19.99 until 6/30)
The Room ($2.49 from $9.99 until 6/30)
The Serpent Rogue ($14.99 from $19.99 until 6/30)
The Sokoban ($8.99 from $17.99 until 6/30)
Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion ($7.49 from $14.99 until 6/30)
Undead & Beyond ($3.29 from $10.99 until 6/30)
Worms Rumble Deluxe ($5.49 from $21.99 until 6/30)

That’s all for today, friends. We’ll be back tomorrow with the big list of Thursday releases, including the Sunbreak expansion for Monster Hunter Rise, Rabbids: Party of Legends, Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course, and more. I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday, and as always, thanks for reading!