Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for February 14th, 2019. It’s Valentine’s Day today, and after that stunning Nintendo Direct yesterday, there’s plenty of love in the air. Today we’ve got a summary of yesterday’s direct, a look at a few of the surprise releases, a full list of today’s other new releases, and the usual sales stuff. The only real problem now is figuring out how I’m going to afford all the awesome games on the way this year. Let’s get into things!
News
‘Hollow Knight: Silksong’ Has Been Announced for Switch Release
Sometimes, you just get it right your first time out. Team Cherry’s first game as a studio, Hollow Knight, was a big hit when it released on computers, and when it came to consoles it met with even greater success. So what to do for a follow-up? Well, in Team Cherry’s case, they’ve decided to return to the world of Hollow Knight with Hollow Knight: Silksong, which sees Hornet take the lead role in her own game. While it originally started as DLC that would merely add Hornet as a playable character, as the team worked on it they felt like they’d rather make a completely new game of it. And wow, it looks great. It’ll be coming to various computer platforms, but when it comes to consoles, Switch is the only one listed right now. Mechanically, it certainly looks to be a sequel, so if you loved Hollow Knight, you’ll want to start getting hyped for Silksong.
Nintendo Direct Brings the Heat, and How
People were waiting for the latest Direct with the usual anticipation, and while I’m sure someone out there was disappointed, you can’t accuse Nintendo of not giving it a real go. If you missed it, you can watch the video posted above. The big surprises were Super Mario Maker 2 and the remake of The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, but we also got localization announcements for Dragon Quest XI S and Dragon Quest Builders 2, extra information and some release details for Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Daemon X Machina, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3, and DLC and update announcements for Starlink: Battle For Atlas, Captain Toad, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. New game announcements included Tetris 99, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, Rune Factory 5, Oninaki, Astral Chain, Assassin’s Creed 3 Remastered, BoxBoy! + BoxGirl!, and many others. Yeah… just give the video a watch, trust me.
‘Tetris 99’, ‘Final Fantasy IX’, and ‘Daemon X Machina: Prototype Missions’ Are Now on the eShop
As usual for a Nintendo Direct, a few games were waiting in the wings to drop into the shop as soon as the presentation ended. While I suspected Final Fantasy VII would be one of them, it seems that game will come out in late March. Instead, Final Fantasy IX has made a sudden appearance. Tetris 99 was announced and released all at once, giving an exclusive Tetris battle royale experience to Nintendo Switch Online subscribers. A demo of sorts for the upcoming Daemon X Machina also had a surprise release, giving players a taste of the full game that will arrive later this year. Not bad!
‘SEGA AGES Alex Kidd in Miracle World’ is Coming Soon
Schedules can be slippery things sometimes, and the Switch SEGA AGES line from the maestros at M2 has already seen its share. Releases were originally expected to come at a rate of about two a month, but it’s ended up being more like one per month. Games were intended to release more or less at the same time worldwide, but a delay involving Phantasy Star threw that out of whack, too. And ol’ Alex Kidd was believed to be one of the earliest releases, but kept getting punted down the line. Well, that’s at least one wrinkle that will soon be ironed out. Alex Kidd in Miracle World will be out in Japan soon, and should follow a month or so later in the West, after the already-announced Gain Ground and Puyo Puyo. New features include a rewind capability, restored music, and an overall more complete version of the original. If you don’t like that stuff, you can as usual turn it all off and play it like you remember it.
New Releases
Touhou Sky Arena – Matsuri-Climax ($29.99)
This is a weird sort of fighting game where combat takes place mid-air. Being a game in the Touhou universe, you can certainly expect some cute girl characters and can probably expect a slightly broken game. Most of the reviews I’ve seen of Sky Arena paint it as getting old very fast, but I’m sure some people will be able to get into it in spite of whatever jank it’s packing under the hood. Like, I’m happy these kinds of games are getting released on consoles, but I don’t feel like any of the Touhou games released on Switch have been worth the prices they command.
Tokyo School Life ($14.99)
This looks like a pretty generic romance visual novel, to be honest. Even the setting is well-trodden, taking place in a Tokyo high school during the summer. There are three different girls to get to know. One is kind and shy. Another is plucky and athletic. The third one puts up an overly hostile front but is actually kind of warm at heart. This is the plot and cast of roughly 100,000 manga series, but I suppose even basic ideas can be done to various degrees of quality, so it could potentially surprise. That said, a description where they tout the ability to switch the text to Japanese as a chance to study the language does not give me hope as to its overall merits. This has been out for a few years on computers and the reviews also fail to inspire optimism.
Tales of the Orient – The Rising Sun ($14.99)
I’m sensing a theme of sorts with today’s releases. Oh well. From the icon you might expect this to be another romance game or something, but it’s actually one of those puzzle games where you match things to get materials to build stuff in a town. There’s apparently a story that plays out as you progress, but I wouldn’t expect any of the individual ingredients of this particular sandwich to be all that great. But that doesn’t mean it won’t be a serviceable meal if you’re into this sort of time-waster. I don’t know, go with your heart.
Strikey Sisters ($9.99)
SwitchArcade Highlight!
I’m not sure what I expected when I first read the title of Strikey Sisters, but I sure wasn’t expecting a Break Out-inspired game. Break the blocks, battle the bosses, pick up power-ups, and all the other usual business. This one does offer a local two-player co-op mode, which might be good for a laugh or two. I really dig the art and music on this one, and I think it does a really nice job of recreating that whole early 1990s arcade game feel. If you don’t like brick breakers at all, yeah, this one probably won’t change your mind. Otherwise? You may just want to take a chance on it. Its reviews on other platforms have been very, very positive, if nothing else.
Pet Care ($1.49)
What do you even say about a game that chooses to debut for a buck and a half? This is probably a future Bouncy Bob, but I guess we’ll have to see. It’s a virtual pet of sorts and it’s clearly a mobile port given the way the screenshots on the store page look. That said, we here at TouchArcade know lots of the best mobile games, and I don’t see a “Pet Care" on the list. Sure, it’s just a buck and change, but think of all the great things you can do with that money instead. You could, like, bounce it into a cup. That would definitely be more fun than playing this.
OlliOlli: Switch Stance ($14.99)
SwitchArcade Highlight!
Haaa, I like what they did with the title there. Switch Stance. Like the skateboarding stance, but also because it’s on the Switch game console. Good stuff. Anyway, this is OlliOlli and OlliOlli 2 bundled together into one side-scrolling bacon-in-the-pan spectacular. The OlliOlli series is one of the better examples of this sort, and I’m pretty sure this is the first time the second game has been on Nintendo hardware. So if you like doing tricks and such on a board that is also a skate, you will probably want this game on your Switch.
Nekopara Vol. 2 ($14.99)
Hey look, it’s another visual novel. This one is pretty popular, mind you. It has girls who are actually cats. They are your cats. There’s some kind of romance thing going on. If you enjoyed the first Nekopara, you’re almost definitely going to want to get in on this one as well. The developer has even thrown in the special Nekopara Extra: Kitten Day Promise, which lets you see the girls who are actually cats when they were kids who were actually kittens. Wait, do they age like humans or cats? And if it’s the latter… that’s kind of horrifying. Hm, I’ll have to research this one.
Modern Combat Blackout ($19.99)
SwitchArcade Highlight!
Gameloft used to release a fair number of games on handheld consoles, but once the mobile cheddar become that much better, it slowed down considerably. Now that the mobile market is a little rough, it seems like Gameloft is experimenting in the console space once more. And it has picked its target very carefully, if you ask me. Of the many silly blunders Activision has made in recent years, its extremely light support of the Switch has probably resulted in the most money left on the table. Or maybe not. I’m not a business person. Either way, there’s no Call of Duty on the Switch, and that gives Gameloft a great chance to bring in a spiffed-up version of its quite excellent Modern Combat series. I’ll have a full review of this one in a few days, but it’s pretty much what you’d expect from a premium Modern Combat game. Which makes sense, as it’s more or less based on Modern Combat 5.
LOVE ($2.99)
SwitchArcade Highlight!
Well dang, that was quick. This game comes from the maker of kuso, and it looks like a sort of… expansion pack? Semi-sequel? It’s more kuso, basically, and if you played that game, you know that’s not a bad thing. It’s a slightly smaller bite this time, with just 16 levels, but there are multiple modes and a few extra gimmicks to give it that fresh taste. And hey, the price is lower than kuso, so it’s alright that it doesn’t quite have as many levels packed into it. This may not make the world go ’round, and it may not be all you need, but it may just lift you up where you belong. Give it a go if you like ultra-tough platformers.
Hexa Maze ($19.99)
You’ve probably seen puzzles like this before, perhaps even in that weird place known as the physical world. You have an arrangement of hexagons and a variety of pieces made up of connected hexagons. You need to use the pieces to fill the arrangement. Yeah, this is a pretty enjoyable sort of puzzle. I like these. Hexa Maze has 240 puzzles to solve that cover four levels of difficulty, which is certainly a healthy amount. All that said, I’m not sure it’s at the right price for what it is. This is a straightforward version of one of the oldest kinds of puzzles there is, presented with very little fanfare. Perhaps one to watch for on sale, then.
Guess the Word ($1.89)
From the maker of Pet Care comes another obvious piece of shovelware at a price low enough that it might just get away with it. You’re given some letter tiles that are clearly not infringing on any board games and are tasked with creating words from them. There’s a teacher who will draw images to give you hints, or at least that’s what I think is going on. The screenshots and description tout that this one is for the little kids, and that’s probably the only ones who will get anything out of it at all.
Cinders ($19.99)
This is a choice-based narrative adventure based on Cinderella, and it’s pretty darned interesting. The set-up sounds like the classic fairy tale, but you can take things way off course if you want. And you will want to, of course. The art style is detailed and suitably dark, and with plenty of branches and multiple endings, you’ll probably have lots of reasons to play through it many times. Naturally, you’ll not want to pick this up if you’re the sort that doesn’t like visual novels or choose-your-path adventures, but if you’re open to those kinds of things and like the idea of subverting a children’s story, you might want to dig into Cinders. It came out quite a while ago on computers, and I remember people generally liked it, so there’s that as well.
Astrology and Horoscopes Premium ($8.99)
Well, I guess there’s a market for this kind of thing. It’s not a game, but rather an application of sorts that lets you indulge in your astrological leanings. I mean, I guess it’s not that expensive. People would have paid three times that for a DS cartridge that likely did the same thing back in the day. But this is very much Not For Me. Is it for you? I can’t tell you that, because I’m not a mind reader or a fortune teller.
Alvastia Chronicles ($12.99)
Oh, look! Another Kemco RPG! And it’s from EXE Create, because who else would it be from these days? The gimmick of this one, because they actually tried a gimmick this time, is that you can recruit over 100 party members and bring up to 13 of them into battles with you at once. That’s pretty different, I suppose. Part of the fun is in hunting down all of the potential team members, but in most other respects this is the same ol’ EXE Create RPG, just at double the price you would pay if you bought it on your mobile device. Pick up a better RPG instead. Or don’t. I’m certainly not one to condemn people for playing this sort of thing.
Final Fantasy IX ($20.99)
SwitchArcade Highlight!
I am, however, obliged to point out that for a mere eight dollars more than today’s Kemco RPG, you can instead purchase this gorgeous remaster of Final Fantasy 9. Opinions are somewhat divided on this one, as seems to be the case with most Final Fantasy games, but I rather like it. It’s a bit slow, but the art style is great and the story is super-good until it dives off the bananas-Final Fantasy cliff near the end. Plus, it has Vivi and Quina. What more do you need? That’s the power couple of the Final Fantasy series! And hey, this is officially the first mainline Final Fantasy born on a PlayStation console to make its way to a Nintendo machine. Significant!
Tetris 99 (Free for Nintendo Online Subscribers)
SwitchArcade Highlight!
One of many surprises during today’s Nintendo Direct was Tetris 99, which is a massively-multiplayer Tetris battle royale developed by Arika and published by Nintendo. And it’s free! Sort of! You need to have a Nintendo Switch Online account to play it, and there’s no way around that. But if you have one, this is just great. You versus 99 other players to see who will be the last one standing. Just making those Tetrises…. Tetrisi… matching those four lines at once to throw garbage at your enemies until only one remains. It’s beautiful. And yes, it has the Tetris Song.
Daemon X Machina: Prototype Missions (Free)
Daemon X Machina looks pretty cool, but it still has a little ways to go before it’s ready to release. Fortunately, the developers have whipped up a sampler of sorts in the form of Prototype Missions. These four demo missions will give you an idea of what to expect from the full game, which will release later this year. It’s mecha-battling action, it looks great, and it’s free. So why not download it? Exactly.
Nice Slice ($1.99)
From the makers of Clock Simulator comes another slightly off-the-wall, low-cost bit of entertainment. In this one, you cut the food into the tiniest possible pieces. The smaller the slices, the more points you get. Sure, it’ll probably keep you entertained about as long as trying to spin a quarter on an uneven surface, but it doesn’t cost much more than that, so I won’t criticize it too harshly. If you like cutting things, don’t want any real-world clean-up, and have two dollars, this may be your bag.
Degrees of Separation ($14.99)
This is one of those puzzle-platformers where you’ve got different characters with different abilities that you have to use in order to move forward. It looks alright but it didn’t really get my attention until I saw that the game’s story was written by Chris Avellone, who writes some pretty good game stories. You can play this one co-op or alone if you like. It’s out on other platforms but since this is a simultaneous release there aren’t enough reviews out there to get much of a consensus. Perhaps it merits a closer look. We’ll see.
Sales
There are a few critically-acclaimed games on sale today, so if you have some money to spare after today’s pre-orders, you might want to have a look-see. Undertale, Owlboy, and Ms. Splosion Man all have their fans, and who knows? Maybe you will be one of those fans if you give them a try. Not sure about the other games on the list, but I’ll let you investigate those ones, friends. As usual, there may be more sales between when I write this and when it gets posted, but worry not, as I will catch them in the next article.
New Games on Sale
Undertale ($9.99 from $14.99 until 2/28)
Owlboy ($14.99 from $24.99 until 2/20)
Membrane ($0.99 from $9.99 until 2/28)
Them Bombs! ($9.79 from $14.99 until 2/28)
Snake vs Snake ($3.59 from $3.99 until 3/5)
Pianista ($19.99 from $24.99 until 3/6)
Ms. Splosion Man ($8.99 from $14.99 until 3/1)
Sales Ending Tomorrow, Friday, February 15th
Deployment ($6.49 from $9.99 until 2/15)
Flood of Light ($2.49 from $4.99 until 2/15)
Guacamelee! 2 Complete ($17.99 from $22.49 until 2/15)
Never Stop ($3.99 from $4.99 until 2/15)
OkunoKA ($12.00 from $15.00 until 2/15)
Santa Tracker ($0.99 from $2.99 until 2/15)
And that will do it for today. I apologize if things were lacking in detail. An unexpected event has made the latter half of this week a lot busier than I had thought it would be, so I’m trying to keep a couple of plates spinning at once. I hope I’ll have an article for you all tomorrow, but it’s possible that this might be all for this week. If that’s the case, we’ll catch up on Monday. I hope everyone enjoyed the Nintendo Direct, and thanks as always for reading!
