Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for January 17th, 2024. In today’s article, we kick things off with a bit of news from our pal Mikhail. After that, I’ve got a review for you of the latest EGGCONSOLE release, Marchen Veil. There’s only one new release today, and we’ll take a look at that in our usual manner. Finally, we close things out with the usual lists of new sales and expiring discounts. Let’s head on in and see what’s what!
News
Bandle Tale: A League of Legends Story Gets Release Date With Pre-Orders Now Live
Riot Forge just announced that the Lazy Bear Games developed crafting RPG Bandle Tale: A League of Legends Story will release on February 21st for Nintendo Switch (and PC). With the release date announcement, pre-orders are also live for $24.99. As usual, a Deluxe Edition and Collector’s Edition will also be available. The Bandle Tale: A League of Legends Story Deluxe Edition includes the base game and a DLC bundle with cosmetics and more. I’ve played and enjoyed almost every Riot Forge release so far and will definitely check this one out on Switch. Check out the eShop page here. -Mikhail Madnani
Reviews & Mini-Views
EGGCONSOLE Marchen Veil PC-8801mkIISR ($6.49)
The latest in D4’s line of rereleases of classic Japanese computer games may be the hardest one to recommend yet. System Sacom’s Marchen Veil, initially released in 1985, is a top-down action-RPG that is very much of its era. It has all of the opaque “puzzle"-solving of The Tower of Druaga, text-heavy cutscenes similar to other PC-8801 adventure games, and some incredibly clumsy action. If you don’t have a guide of some kind (and you probably don’t) you’ll likely struggle to figure out how to proceed. If you can’t read katakana the story won’t mean much to you. And the action… is mildly endearing but I would struggle to call it enjoyable. It’s incredibly slow and choppy, even for its time and hardware.
It’s presented in a similar manner to the previous EGGCONSOLE games, allowing you to make save states, rewind, view some basic instructions, and look at a scan of the Japanese manual. You can also skip around to various parts of the game if you just want to tour it without playing through, and that is definitely welcome here. While these releases aren’t fully-featured enough in terms of extras to stand on their own as museum pieces, there is certainly some historical value to be mined from even the weaker games in this line. Particularly so for those outside of Japan who probably have very little experience with or knowledge of these titles. But if I have to lean on that leg during a review, you know we’re not in a great place.
Those who are buying up every EGGCONSOLE release don’t have much need for a review. Go ahead, it’s another one. Others who are being more selective would do well to look at other titles in the line, as Marchen Veil simply has little to offer anyone who doesn’t already have some degree of nostalgia for it. All this game really does for me is make me look forward to the upcoming EGGCONSOLE release of Ys, and it can do that perfectly well for you without spending your money or time on it.
SwitchArcade Score: 2.5/5
New Releases
Nephenthesys ($5.99)
Oh, another one like this. A vertical shooter that fills out the whole widescreen. Well, I’m sure some will find some enjoyment from it. The action doesn’t look too bad overall as this sort of thing goes, and the visual elements at least manage to read decently at a glance. We’re not exactly starving for shooters on the platform, but if you’re looking to scratch the itch and are tired of everything else, I’d imagine you could find worse than this.
Sales
(North American eShop, US Prices)
Cult of the Lamb has a new update out there now, and I’d imagine that’s why we have a sale on that game. The Gunman Clive developer has all of his games on sale, and that includes a new low price for his most recent title Onion Assault. Some good titles in the outbox today, but I’ll leave those to you to check out. Gosh, these reasonably-sized lists are making me lower my guard a bit too much. Sure would be a shame if a giant sale popped up suddenly.
Select New Sales
60 Parsecs! ($4.99 from $9.99 until 1/23)
60 Seconds! Reatomized ($4.99 from $9.99 until 1/23)
The Red Lantern ($4.99 from $24.99 until 1/31)
Cult of the Lamb ($14.99 from $24.99 until 1/31)
Mechstermination Force ($1.99 from $11.99 until 2/6)
Super Punch Patrol ($1.99 from $4.99 until 2/6)
Gunman Clive HD Collection ($1.99 from $4.99 until 2/6)
Onion Assault ($1.99 from $7.99 until 2/6)
Lila’s Tale & the Hidden Forest ($1.99 from $4.99 until 2/6)
Pixel Action Heroes ($3.99 from $4.99 until 2/6)
Cube Life: Island Survival ($11.99 from $14.99 until 2/6)
Sales Ending Tomorrow, Thursday, January 18th
Bot Vice ($1.99 from $9.99 until 1/18)
Catmaze ($3.99 from $9.99 until 1/18)
Demon Gaze Extra ($23.99 from $59.99 until 1/18)
Dredge Deluxe Edition ($20.24 from $26.99 until 1/18)
Eschatos ($16.19 from $26.99 until 1/18)
Gastro Force ($4.19 from $6.99 until 1/18)
Intrepid Izzy ($5.49 from $10.99 until 1/18)
Long Live The Queen ($3.99 from $9.99 until 1/18)
Ninja or Die: Shadow of the Sun ($9.74 from $14.99 until 1/18)
Parasite Pack ($3.19 from $7.99 until 1/18)
Pestersim ($14.39 from $23.99 until 1/18)
Save Room ($1.99 from $4.99 until 1/18)
Seduce Me: The Complete Story ($5.99 from $9.99 until 1/18)
Super Brawl Rush ($2.99 from $4.99 until 1/18)
Super Star Path ($1.99 from $4.99 until 1/18)
The Jota Collection ($13.22 from $31.48 until 1/18)
The Oregon Trail ($14.99 from $29.99 until 1/18)
Traditional Braves ($9.99 from $19.99 until 1/18)
Ugly ($13.39 from $19.99 until 1/18)
That’s all for today, friends. Tomorrow is Thursday and it looks like an actual normal one, with more than a dozen new games to sift through. Probably a few winners, a few big losers, and a lot of stuff in the middle. Beyond that, we’ll have whatever new sales pop up and any big news items that hit. I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday, and as always, thanks for reading!
