Welcome to the SwitchArcade Roundup for April 23rd! We’re gonna chat about the roguelike-inspired aerial dogfighting game Rogue Aces, cover the latest Switch news, and run down the top charts in the US eShop! The eShop is going to be pretty busy this week, with at least four games on Tuesday, a couple of Wednesday releases, and then Thursday and Friday are gonna be bonkers. Enjoy the calm before your wallets get raided. Yes, the eShop’s gonna find your other, secret wallet, and raid that too. Fear!
News
tinyBuild posts six minutes of Garage gameplay
The gruesome, Hotline Miami-esque brutal action game Garage is coming to Switch on May 10th as an exclusive launch. The game’s looking quite grotesque! We’ll see how fun it is when it releases, but the game does look like it’ll fill a nice action game niche on the Switch.
Mighty Gunvolt Burst version 1.4 adds new DLC character Tenzou
Inti Creates is releasing Gal Gun 2 on the Switch tomorrow, and to celebrate, they’re adding the protagonist from that game, Tenzou, to Mighty Gunvolt Burst. Sadly, you can’t make the robots fall in love with you.
Night Trap coming to the Switch
Remember when Night Trap was the most controversial game ever? When it was on the Sega CD, and Nintendo would have never touched this one? Oh how far we’ve come that Night Trap is now coming to the Switch. Limited Run Games is publishing this one, and it will be available digitally as well as in a physical variant with Sega CD-inspired cover. I’m curious if this actually needed a revival, or if it best serves as a historical relic.
Never say never!
Night Trap: 25th Anniversary Edition is coming to the Nintendo Switch this Summer both digitally and physically!https://t.co/j1ZxEqvV8L pic.twitter.com/ZbsXKWvkn1
— Limited Run Games (@LimitedRunGames) April 20, 2018
Limited Run Games publishing Tribute Games’ Flinthook and Mercenary Kings physical editions
Limited Run Games, who do limited physical releases of games, are ramping up their Switch production of games. If you want physical copies of Tribute’s Mercenary Kings, and the awesome hookshot platformer Flinthook, Limited Run is selling the games both separately, and in a two-in-one collector’s package, if you’re so inclined. Pre-orders are now live, and close on May 7th!
We're opening preorders for @TributeGames' Flinthook and Mercenary Kings on the Nintendo Switch this Monday 10AM Eastern Time at https://t.co/rZI6STrUid
The Tribute Treasure Box, which contains both games and tons of goodies, is limited to only 3,000 available! pic.twitter.com/QwkHEWlh3K
— Limited Run Games (@LimitedRunGames) April 20, 2018
Don’t Die Mr. Robot DX coming to Switch
Infinite States’ arena survival game of collecting fruit and trying not to get your robot protagonist killed is coming to Switch on May 3rd, courtesy of Digerati. The game was fun on iOS when I played it, and it’s a rare Vita to Switch port!
Game Impressions: Rogue Aces
It’s coincidental that Infinite States gets mentioned, because they just launched Rogue Aces on the Switch. At its heart, it’s a game about trying to survive as long as possible in your plane, shooting down other planes and blowing up ground and sea targets with your cannons, bombs, and missiles. But it’s a game with a surprising number of systems in play. Not just in terms of game modes, which there are many. But also, the game allows for some complex aerial maneuvers through turning and throttle controls. And through the game’s combat controls, there’s a whole game of raiding bases and advancing through enemy territory, while protecting your existing territory that come into play, in what all seems extremely simple at first, but the game steadily reveals more about itself over time.
By far the coolest thing is the aerial steal. See, when your plane’s about to go down, you can eject to save yourself, because if your pilot dies, it doesn’t matter if you somehow have a hundred ships left over, because you’re seemingly the only pilot in this vaguely World War II universe, if you die, it’s game over. Same if you get captured by landing in enemy territory. It’s cruel, but war is heck. However, if your plane’s about to go down, you can eject, and if you land in a plane that’s flying by, you can steal it, and commandeer it for yourself! You need to throttle lest you crash to the ground suddenly, but it never stops feeling cool to jump out of a moving plane and land in another plane. Highly unrealistic, but highly cool.
Rogue Aces can be challenging, because flying around and shooting down enemies and completing missions isn’t meant to be easy, but the other half the challenge is landing your plane! You can land your plane for free automatically at your home ship, but landing at bases you conquer costs points. So, you have to learn to get on that perfect angled approach, slow your speed down, and stop properly. Completing a mission only to crash at the end sucks.
The default campaign mode is more of a roguelike mode, where you start from your ship base and make your way across the landscape, conquering bases and trying to find and destroy the enemy headquarters. Completing missions gets you checkpoints, and a goal to attain, though you can just try to find the enemy headquarters as quickly as you want! Other modes include arcade high score modes, and a campaign mode where you try to complete individual islands, while dealing with the enemy’s aces that come after you as you traverse the map. It’s not easy, but the game does give you some helpful unlocks over time, like starting out from a choice of several powerups.
I feel like there’s so much of Rogue Aces that I still have to discover, but I’m having a great time. Definitely consider this one if you want a highly-replayable action game. Also, this game is so very English.
US eShop Chart Roundup
With no new releases today, let’s see how the US eShop charts are doing, shall we?
1. Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove – This is a leftover from the game’s $19.99 sale, but despite two million sales so far, there are still people that want the game…or haven’t played it on the Switch yet. I know I bought the game on Switch, because hey, why not? The Steam version was brilliant, and I need to sink more time into the expansions they released.
2. Stardew Valley – This *Harvest Moon*-inspired indie farming RPG has probably sold more copies in the US than any *Harvest Moon* game at this point, hasn’t it? It’s done well on PC, and now on Switch. Wow.
3. Vs. Super Mario Bros. – The demand for classic Mario games on the Switch is such that people will play a modified arcade version, including some of the *Lost Levels* levels that were originally in the Japanese *Super Mario Bros. 2*. Seriously, Nintendo is throwing money away not having some kind of Virtual Console.
4. Don’t Starve: Nintendo Switch Edition – Popular indie game getting a Switch port seems to be a recipe for financial success, as “*game* but portable" is a hard-to-resist combo.
5. Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition – I’m kind of surprised *Minecraft* still does so well. Hear me out on this one. The *Minecraft* booth at PAX South was a ghost town whenever I saw it. The Mixer booth next door had more people there. Maybe PAX South just wasn’t the crowd for it. Maybe Sunday was the day when it blew up. I know *Roblox* is getting more popular, but apparently *Minecraft*’s still doing alright for itself.
6. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – This is actually kind of impressive when you consider that the eShop release has to compete with physical copies of the game for sales. It’s not impressive when you consider that it’s *Mario Kart* and the franchise is a non-stop money printing machine since the days of the SNES.
7. Kirby Star Allies – I’m sure our own Mikhail Madnani is happy to see this doing well! Granted, it’s a game from one of Nintendo’s, I’d say, second tier of franchises. Mario, Zelda, and Pokemon are the top tier, and then I’d put Kirby, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, maybe Metroid in that second tier. *Fire Emblem* is possibly coming for Metroid at this point. Regardless, Kirby’s doing well.
8. Overcooked! Special Edition – This is the one legitimate surprise, but I know this co-op game has seen a surprisingly big audience for whatever reason! The game’s fun, but I guess this just clicked with people more than other games. Perhaps the cooking theme, or the ease of playing it helps. And then, with the Switch’s affinity for local multiplayer gaming, something like *Overcooked* can do well in the long tail! Also, I wonder how much the “Best Sellers" page winds up serving like the iOS top lists, where games just circulate around in those lists.
9. Rocket League – It’s *Rocket League*. I think sales help push this back up the charts, as $15 for *Rocket League* is better than $20. But the game is a bona fide hit on all platforms, and playing it on the go adds a special appeal.
10. Oxenfree – when you see a well-regarded game go on sale from $19.99 to $4.99, that has to help convince people to buy it, for sure. The game’s gone on sale for $4.99 before, and apparently it helps out a ton.
11. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – pretty much the only reason this one is so low is because everyone probably owns it already, or is buying it physically.
12. Celeste – I wonder what caused *Celeste* to become a consistent top performer. Is it just a great fit with the Switch audience? The developers – including *TowerFall* developer Matt Thorson – have an obvious track record of quality. But with this one getting great reviews, and a Switch cross-platform launch, perhaps it just released at the right time and hit the cultural zeitgeist in the right way. And then with the top charts serving as their own kind of promotion, the game’s just doing gangbusters. No wonder that *TowerFall* port is coming!
13. Super Mario Odyssey – seriously, the only reason Nintendo games aren’t higher is because I can see the appeal of making sure you own the cartridges of these ones for future ownership.
14. Splatoon 2 – It’s funny, without the Switch becoming the massive hit that it would become, *Splatoon* might have been Nintendo’s best potential hit to just fade into obscurity. Obviously the game did well enough on the Wii U to justify further titles, but the Switch turned this into a genuine hit. And I’m glad: it’s such a refreshing change of pace from other multiplayer games.
15. Darkest Dungeon – The sale just ended on this one, but apparently even a 15% discount is enough to cause people to jump on a game they wouldn’t have bought at full price. Amazing how the human brain works.
Keep an eye out every weekday for more SwitchArcade Roundups! We want to hear your feedback on Nintendo Switch coverage on TouchArcade. Comment below or tweet us with your thoughts!
