Welcome to your SwitchArcade Roundup for August 9th, 2018! It’s the eShop’s regularly scheduled update day, so that means new releases and new sales aplenty. Then, there is some pretty hefty news to get through, too, to add to the amount of content in today’s Roundup. I think there was some news about Luigi getting mercilessly killed with a scythe during a certain Nintendo game’s presentation yesterday? Oh, and maybe some more pertinent details about said game. First, however, we turn to our Game of the Day!
Game of the Day
Clustertruck ($14.99)
A normal cluster of trucks is already a bit intimidating. Who likes to drive with four of those bad boys on each side of your car on the highway? That said, a cluster of trucks that blaze down hills, ramps, valleys, and through midair while you have to move aboard them is a completely different thing. In fact, one could say it’s a cluster%@#$. Oh, that must be why our Game of the Day for today is named what it is. Sort of hit that one right on the nose there!
Clustertruck from Tiny Build is an action-platformer where you speed through levels, trying to reach the goal. Except you’re doing so while jumping and launching yourself off moving trucks, barreling down every which way. If you so much as touch the ground, a wall, a ceiling, or any other form of obstacle, your run ends and you must restart the current level.
With eight worlds included and additional themed bonus worlds, Clustertruck is full of insane precision platforming and tough timing challenges. Sure, it’s no big deal when you’re leaping from truck to truck down a desert (I mean, who hasn’t done that in real life?), but when you have to deal with spinning lasers, trucks coming head-on towards you, and other nasty hazards, then you’ve got some good (sometimes frustrating) times. Perhaps if you play like I do, you’ll be facing many a level where you’ll just have to take a breather and tell the game to go “truck" itself in your aggravation. However, you’ll always return for that one more try even when you said “one more try" 35 tries ago. That’s the power of Clustertruck, our Game of the Day for August 9th.
News
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Direct News Roundup
A roundup on a Roundup?! How meta! Yesterday, Nintendo provided a new glimpse at some exciting additions to its hotly anticipated party fighter Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Kicking off the presentation was a trailer where Simon Belmont of Castlevania fame was revealed as an addition to the roster, alongside word of Richter Belmont being his Echo fighter, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night‘s Alucard being an Assist Trophy, and the brand-new Dracula’s Castle stage featuring over 30 Castlevania original and remixed themes. Speaking of tracks in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, series director and host of the presentation, Masahiro Sakurai, revealed that the soundtrack for the game will have over 800 pieces of music included for those of us who can’t get enough remixed and arranged video game music.
Two more Echo fighters were added to the roster as well: Chrom from Fire Emblem: Awakening and Dark Samus from the Metroid Prime series. They fight similarly to their counterparts: Roy in Chrom’s case and Samus in Dark Samus’s case.
Following new character information was the introduction of new and returning stages to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, such as returning favorites from previous Super Smash Bros. games: Pokemon Stadium, Gamer, Unova Pokemon League, Garden of Hope, Summit, Brinstar Depths, Magicant, and Final Destination. A previously teased stage from Super Mario Odyssey was finally formally introduced with the reveal of New Donk City Hall. It seems you can have the members of Pauline’s band join up in the battle to play a full vocal rendition of “Jump Up, Superstar" as well. Sakurai revealed that the total of stages so far is an exhaustive 103 at the time of the Direct. And yes, that is pretty crazy.
Other highlights included info on the various Battle Modes, new items, Pokemon, and Assist Trophies (featuring a beyond awesome inclusion of indie darling Shovel Knight). Lastly, Donkey Kong Country‘s King K. Rool was announced as a final treat to viewers of the presentation. So, nothing too exciting overall.
…
OH MY GOSHIES! SIMON BELMONT, RICHTER BELMONT, CASTLEVANIA, ALUCARD, CHROM, DARK SAMUS, 103 STAGES, NEW DONK CITY HALL, OVER 800 TRACKS, 28 HOURS OF MUSIC, NEW MODES, BOSSES TO FIGHT LIKE RATHALOS FROM FREAKING MONSTER HUNTER–okay. Calm down, Phil. I think 8-year-old me was talking there, and that kid wouldn’t even know what a “Chrom" or a “Rathalos" is. Let’s settle down, huh? The inclusions of these characters, stages, miscellaneous extras, and King K. Rool (after all of these years yearning for his participation in Smash) made this Nintendo fan very excited. Well, more excited than I already usually am. Gotta work on that sugar intake!
If you would like to view the entire presentation–whether to relive it or watch it for the first time–check it out below. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate launches on Nintendo Switch on December 7th.
New trailer reveals new info on Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee!
Aside from Super Smash Bros., another major game series is set to be a major seller for Nintendo this holiday season as well–Pokemon. We’ve talked previously about Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu and Pokemon: Let’s Go, Eevee on the SwitchArcade Roundup before, but now there’s even more news. Yesterday, a leaked scan from Japanese magazine CoroCoro shared details about a returning feature from Pokemon X and Y heading to the newest Pokemon games on Switch: Mega Evolutions. In addition to that, the scan showed off the first images of Lt. Surge in the Vermilion City gym with his main Pokemon, Raichu, alongside him. Now, The Pokemon Company has uploaded the following trailer revealing all of this in full video glory. Both Pokemon: Let’s Go games will give Switch owners the chance to catch ’em all over again on November 16th.
Scribblenauts Mega Pack brings both Wii U Scribblenauts games to the Switch in one heroic package
Warner Bros. Interactive announced yesterday that its two Scribblenauts games which originally released on the Wii U as well as PC will find themselves on a whole new frontier: the Nintendo Switch. The 2012 Wii U launch title Scribblenauts Unlimited features new worlds on top of all of the original content provided back when it initially released. Meanwhile, Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure takes hero Maxwell to Gotham City, Metropolis and an abundance of other DC locales just like it did in 2013. This time around with the addition of dozens of new DC Comics superheroes and supervillains. Scribblenauts Mega Pack releases on the same day in both North America and Europe, September 18th.
Ubisoft ports two UbiArt projects to the Switch with Child of Light and Valiant Hearts
Ubisoft’s UbiArt graphical engine is one that is most popularly known for being used in Rayman Origins and Rayman Legends–the latter I featured as a previous Game of the Day. Two games from Ubisoft’s recent past will arrive on the Switch: Child of Light on October 11th and Valiant Hearts: The Great War on November 8th. Child of Light is being branded with the “Ultimate Edition" moniker, similar to Rayman Legends‘s own “Definitive Edition" subtitle, also on the Switch. Both games were well received by critics, Child of Light especially. While Nintendo console owners had a chance of playing Child of Light on the Wii U already (there were DOZENS of us that owned one!), this will be the first time Valiant Hearts: The Great War will be available on a Nintendo platform. Here’s to more support from Ubisoft and its criminally underused UbiArt engine.
The Walking Dead crawls and moans its way onto the Switch for its final season of gruesome interactive storytelling
Announced on Telltale Games’s Twitter account yesterday, The Walking Dead: The Final Season is coming to the Switch day and date with the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC versions of the game–at least digitally at first (a physical version will come later)–when the first of four episodes releases this Tuesday, August 14th. This will mark the fourth story from Telltale in its Walking Dead series of games and will use an updated version of Telltale’s in-house game engine. Jankiness from past Telltale games be damned! While The Walking Dead: The Final Season‘s first episode releases next week for North Americans, Europeans will have to wait just a little longer in the month.
We're happy to announce that The Walking Dead: The Final Season will be launching digitally on Nintendo Switch this Tuesday, August 14 in North America (later this month in Europe). pic.twitter.com/iNIUtObsWH
— Telltale Games (@telltalegames) August 8, 2018
Other Headlines & Game Announcements
Top down shooter meets tower defense in EXOR Studios’s X-Morph: Defense, announced for the Switch
New Releases
Okami HD ($19.99)
Long called a title that could give The Legend of Zelda series a run for its money, the originally Clover Studio developed Okami is now on the Nintendo Switch in the form of Okami HD. Get hungry like the wolf with touch-based painting to whip up a myriad of moves and abilities, be in awe of the game’s dazzling cel-shaded artistry, and get lost in a world of ancient Feudal Japan myth with Okami HD. All the greatness of past versions and zero graphical or performance downgrades to boot, Okami HD on the Switch is a must-have if you’ve never played it and/or have an inkling of interest in the action-adventure genre.
Dragon Ball FighterZ Open Beta (Free)
If you’re itching for something free (for at least the next couple of days while it’s live), the Dragon Ball FighterZ open beta will be live for players to try out its many modes and over 20 characters over a three-day period. You can download the beta now, but you won’t be able to play until it’s online, starting for most of the US tonight with the East Coast and the UK dealing with those damn time zones, having the beta beginning August 10th overnight. The open beta ends on August 11th at 11:59 PM PT and August 12th at 7:59 AM for our UK pals, so get your Kamehamehas and Galick Guns firing on all cylinders while you can! Well, that is until the Switch version’s full release on September 28th when you’ll be able to blast your opponents to another dimension any day and any time you want.
Unexplored: Unlocked Edition ($15.00)
In my short time of less than a month doing these SwitchArcade Roundups, I have come across games that have used the words “roguelike" and “roguelite" as a selling point approximately 14,877 times. Unexplored: Unlocked Edition is the next roguelite to be added to the Switch’s impressive arsenal of similar games, sporting a top-down view, procedural level generation, a mix of combat, stealth, puzzle-solving and exploration, and all three previously released DLC packs: Mithril Run, Ripley Run, and the Dark Ritual. For fifteen bucks, that’s a mighty fine offering. Going by Steam reviews of the original Unexplored, this isn’t your average roguelite, nor should it be missed by Switch owners who are fans of the genre.
Megaton Rainfall ($15.99)
Originally a VR game, Megaton Rainfall touched down in an official capacity on the Switch overnight. Play as a guardian sent to the planet who can soar through the skies while using their arsenal of abilities and superpowers to bring down colossal alien spaceships attacking cities, leaving wanton destruction behind. While you can throw your energy beams and such with reckless abandon, you’ll only have destroyed buildings and other collateral damage to account for. You’re literally invincible. The cities you need to protect and save to succeed on your mission? Not so much. When you consider that this highly ambitious, high in scope game has such a small developer behind it, I can’t help but want to support it. Then again, “accidentally" leveling down an entire city is something that excites me in wanting to play this game, too! (Insert maniacal laughter here.)
Minit ($9.99)
What a wonderful game to have a curse. The hero of Minit finds themselves having their life end when the day is over, or in game terms, after 60 seconds have elapsed. To rid themselves of this curse, you as the player must take up their blade, defeat foes, talk with characters, solve puzzles, and more in a bite-sized Zelda-like adventure. Hopefully, you won’t be like me and get stuck with no clue on where to go, or else you’ll be reliving as many days as Bill Murray’s character in Groundhog Day did. Instead of finding creative ways to end your life in the game like Bill Murray’s character did in the movie, you’ll just be going through the same motions just to figure out where to go and what to do. That said, Minit is a perfect game to plow through in a weekend. It’s just not for those who want a ton of mileage out of their hard-earned money, nor is it for the easily frustrated.
Other New Releases
Blob Cat ($9.99)
Shut Eye ($3.99)
SubaraCity ($5.00)
The Amazing Shinsengumi: Heroes in Love ($11.99)
Sales
New Games on Sale
- Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment ($7.99 from $9.99 until August 15)
- Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove ($19.99 from $24.99 until August 15)
Sales Ending Today
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- Aces of the Luftwaffe – Squadron ($9.99 from $14.99 until August 9)
- Air Mail ($9.99 from $14.99 until August 9)
- Astro Duel Deluxe ($7.49 from $14.99 until August 9)
- Binaries ($5.19 from $12.99 until August 9)
- BINGO for Nintendo Switch ($2.99 from $4.99 until August 9)
- Boost Beast ($6.99 from $9.99 until August 9)
- Brawlout ($11.99 from $19.99 until August 9)
- Butcher ($5.99 from $9.99 until August 9)
- Chromagun ($9.99 from $19.99 until August 9)
- Cycle 28 ($5.59 from $6.99 until August 9)
- Dandara ($8.99 from $14.99 until August 9)
- Detention ($7.79 from $12.99 until August 9)
- FRAMED Collection ($5.99 from $9.99 until August 9)
- GoNNER ($5.99 from $9.99 until August 9)
- Iro Hero ($9.09 from $12.99 until August 9)
- Kid Tripp ($1.99 from $3.99 until August 9)
- Kingdom: New Lands ($7.49 from $14.99 until August 9)
- Lichtspeer: Double Speer Edition ($5.99 from $9.99 until August 9)
- NBA 2K18 ($19.79 from $59.99 until August 9)
- NBA 2K18 Legend Edition ($32.99 from $99.99 until August 9)
- NBA 2K18 Legend Edition Gold ($49.49 from $149.99 until August 9)
- Old Man’s Journey ($7.99 from $9.99 until August 9)
- Operation Hardcore ($6.49 from $12.99 until August 9)
- Othello ($3.99 from $4.99 until August 9)
- Oxenfree ($4.99 from $19.99 until August 9)
- Party Golf ($9 from $15 until August 9)
- Pirate Pop Plus ($2.99 from $4.99 until August 9)
- Putty Pals ($5.99 from $9.99 until August 9)
- Qbics Paint ($3.49 from $4.99 until August 9)
- Quest of Dungeons ($5.39 from $8.99 until August 9)
- Shift Quantum ($11.99 from $19.99 until August 9)
- Shu ($5.99 from $9.99 until August 9)
- Stikbold! A Dodgeball Adventure ($8.99 from $14.99 until August 9)
- Super Ping Pong Trick Shot ($2.99 from $4.99 until August 9)
- Swim Out ($3.59 from $5.99 until August 9)
- The Adventure Pals ($8.99 from $14.99 until August 9)
- The Escapists 2 ($11.99 from $19.99 until August 9)
- The Jackbox Party Pack ($12.49 from $24.99 until August 9)
- The Long Reach ($5.09 from $14.99 until August 9)
- Transcripted ($5.49 from $7.99 until August 9)
- Urban Trial Playground ($11.99 from $19.99 until August 9)
- Uurnog Uurnlimited ($7.49 from $14.99 until August 9)
- Worms W.M.D. ($17.99 from $29.99 until August 9)
We have one more day of the SwitchArcade Roundup this week together, so let’s make it special! While I track down news items and games to write about, keep your Joy-Cons charged and your Switches loaded with great games!
