Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for March 15th, 2019. Today we have a couple of delicious slices of news, along with a plate full of warm, crumbly new releases, and for dessert, a bowl of sales that’s as big as a whale. And it’s about to set sail! Sorry, you can’t say the first part without the second part. Anyway, we’ve got quite a bit to look at today, so let’s get right to it.
News
The Special Episode DLC for ‘Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker’ is Now Available
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is a wonderful puzzle game that combines tricky set-ups with the usual Nintendo charm to create some real magic. If you’ve finished all the challenges in the main game and are still hungry for more, luck is with you today. The Special Episode DLC is now available for $5.99, adding five new stages and eighteen new challenges to the game. This comes on the heels of the free update from last month that added the Partner Adventure co-op mode to the game. If you haven’t played this little treasure before, it’s as good a time as any to change that.
‘Tiny Metal: Full Metal Rumble’ Plans New Conquests for Strategy Game Fans
Tiny Metal took a better swing than most at filling the void left by the absence of Advance Wars. It looks like its developers aren’t done with the strategy game yet, as Tiny Metal: Full Metal Rumble has been announced for release this spring. It tells a story with a new protagonist, and basically packs the game full of way more stuff than the original had in it. You can look forward to more maps, more units, more missions, and more options. Hopefully, this will prove to be a nice upgrade from the original game, which was already quite good.
New Releases
Hook ($1.99)
No, this isn’t the 1990s movie about a grown-up Peter Pan nor the excellent Super NES game based on it. Rather, this is a chill puzzle game that is making its way to Switch from mobile. It’s not very difficult or really all that substantial, but I feel like the price reflects the value quite nicely here. Personally, I prefer to play games like this on my iPhone, but if you’d rather do it on your Switch, this isn’t a bad one to pick up.
Arcade Archives Elevator Action ($7.99)
Taito’s classic arcade action game Elevator Action is not the company’s best or most famous title, but it’s pretty fun for its vintage. Play as a spy who wields the deadliest weapon known to humankind: the elevator. Hamster has done its usual solid work on this title, presenting the game fairly faithfully and with the usual extras we’ve come to expect. Taito’s games don’t seem to get as many releases as some of the other major arcade companies, so I’m happy to see Hamster going after these.
Apocryph: An Old-School Shooter ($14.95)
Well, this game isn’t shy about what its intentions are at all. The aim here was to pay homage to classic fantasy-based FPS games like Hexen and Heretic. Mechanically, I assume, because I don’t think those games looked quite like this. I can’t quite put my finger on why, but the game just looks kind of ugly, and not in that fun DOOM Engine way. Performance is an issue, and the game isn’t all that lengthy either. I’d say it’s probably smarter to save your money for Turok next week, and I don’t even like Turok.
Alien Cruise ($11.30)
SwitchArcade Highlight!
This colorful and cute shoot-em-up puts you in control of one of four vegetable pilots as they try to save various worlds from, I don’t know, some other aliens. They’re all aliens. Some are on a cruise, I assume. Each pilot has slightly different abilities, and you can pull in a second player to have two of them in the air at once if you like. The big draw here is presumably in the bright pop-art aesthetic, which certainly helps it stand out from the crowd. But it’s more than just a pretty face. The shooting action is solid and challenging, making for an all-around high-quality entry in the genre. Definitely worth considering for shoot-em-up fans.
Unit 4 ($14.99)
The gimmick to this platformer is that you have four different characters with unique abilities. You need to make use of those abilities to make your way through each stage. You can bring in some friends for local multiplayer, which is probably the best way to go about things. It all looks fine on paper but something about the way this game controls feels a bit off for me. Looking at reviews of the game on other platforms, I’m not the only one who feels this way. I don’t know. This seems like a genre where you either nail it or fall to the underworld given how stiff the competition is, and this one doesn’t nail it.
Not Not – A Brain Buster ($1.99)
Maybe you’ve seen this one on mobile before. Maybe not. Maybe not not. The basics are simple. You’re standing on top of a cube, and you need to follow the directions on the cube before the timer runs out. It tells you to go left, so you go left. It tells you to go to the blue side, so you do. It tells you to not not go down or do nothing or not not not not red and… well, you can see how it might get tricky. Up to four players can join in locally to see who can stick it out the longest, or you can play the classic mode or challenge mode by yourself. It’s a good concept at a nice price, so I’m not not not going to tell you not to buy it if you like the idea.
Dungeons & Aliens ($3.99)
Great title for what amounts to a slight variant on Plants Vs. Zombies. On the other hand, I don’t exactly see Plants Vs. Zombies anywhere on the Switch eShop, so sure, bring it on. The twist here, beyond the wacky theme, is that you have to rescue innocents in each level along with beating back the ever-approaching baddies. It has 60 levels and you can upgrade your wizards along the way, so I imagine you’ll get your four bucks’ worth here should you decide to lay out the cash for it.
Blood Waves ($9.99)
This is a third-person shooter where you play as a lady with a gun who has to take out as many zombies as she can before her inevitable demise. The zombies come in waves and during the breaks you can buy weapons, lay out traps, and set up barricades before the next bunch arrives. Doing all of that takes resources, and you earn said resources by being very good at killing zombies. A real circle of life. Shame it gets old so quickly.
Sales
Geez. Well, that’s sure a list of sales, isn’t it? We’ve got some Square Enix sales, some 2K Games sales, a bunch of visual novels, some Double Fine stuff, and so very much more. I’m sure you can find the notable stuff easily, so I’ll throw out a couple of dark horse picks in the form of Earthlock and Romancing SaGa 2. The former is a pretty solid indie JRPG-style game, and the latter is a very odd game from Square’s 16-bit days that rarely goes on sale.
New Games on Sale
Earthlock ($13.45 from $29.90 until 4/3)
I am Setsuna ($19.99 from $39.99 until 3/28)
The Jackbox Party Pack 3 ($14.99 from $24.99 until 3/28)
Severed ($7.49 from $14.99 until 3/28)
Semispheres ($4.99 from $9.99 until 3/21)
Spelunker Party! ($14.99 from $29.99 until 3/28)
Violett ($0.49 from $9.99 until 3/28)
Sparkle 2 Evo ($0.49 from $4.99 until 3/28)
MXGP3 – The Official Motocross Video ($13.99 from $39.99 until 3/28)
Romancing SaGa 2 ($12.49 from $24.99 until 3/28)
Stikbold! A Dodgeball Adventure ($8.99 from $14.99 until 3/24)
Lost Sphear ($24.99 from $49.99 until 3/28)
Tennis ($3.99 from $7.99 until 3/28)
The Men of Yoshiwara: Kikuya ($9.99 from $19.99 until 3/28)
Pool Billiard ($3.99 from $7.99 until 3/28)
Escape Trick: 35 Fateful Enigmas ($9.99 from $19.99 until 3/28)
Hollow ($0.99 from $19.99 until 3/21)
Guilt Battle Arena ($3.99 from $9.99 until 4/3)
Detention ($7.79 from $12.99 until 3/28)
Super Toy Cars ($5.99 from $9.99 until 3/25)
Fear Effect Sedna ($1.99 from $19.99 until 3/28)
The Men of Yoshiwara: Ohgiya ($7.49 from $14.99 until 3/28)
Bit Dungeon Plus ($4.49 from $8.99 until 3/28)
Enchanting Mahjong Match ($2.49 from $4.99 until 3/28)
Zombillie ($0.49 from $4.99 until 3/28)
The Charming Empire ($16.74 from $24.99 until 3/28)
Die for Valhalla! ($8.99 from $11.99 until 3/28)
The Number Puzzle ($2.49 from $4.99 until 3/28)
Pub Encounter ($8.49 from $16.99 until 3/28)
Destiny’s Princess ($7.49 from $14.99 until 3/28
Figment ($10.99 from $19.99 until 4/2)
Disease -Hidden Object- ($3.99 from $7.99 until 3/28)
Catch ‘Em! Goldfish Scooping ($2.39 from $7.99 until 3/28)
The Amazing Shinsengumi ($5.99 from $11.99 until 3/28)
Shio ($7.79 from $12.99 until 3/28)
Phantaruk ($0.49 from $4.99 until 3/28)
Gakuen Club ($16.74 from $24.99 until 3/28)
NBA 2K19 ($19.79 from $59.99 until 3/21)
NBA 2K19 20th Anniversary ($32.99 from $99.99 until 3/21)
Broken Age ($10.49 from $14.99 until 3/28)
The Card: Poker ($2.49 from $4.99 until 3/28)
Mitsurugi Kamui Hikae ($7.14 from $11.90 until 3/29)
Oh My Godheads: Party Edition ($3.74 from $14.99 until 3/28)
Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams ($23.99 from $29.99 until 4/3)
The Jackbox Party Pack 5 ($17.99 from $29.99 until 3/28)
Grim Fandango Remastered ($10.49 from $14.99 until 3/28)
Townsmen ($15.99 from $19.99 until 4/3)
Forgotton Anne ($11.99 from $19.99 until 3/28)
Teddy the Wanderer: Kayaking ($2.49 from $9.99 until 3/28)
Sid Meier’s Civilization VI ($44.99 from $59.99 until 3/21)
Please, Don’t Touch Anything ($7.49 from $9.99 until 4/3)
This War of Mine: Complete Edition ($23.99 from $39.99 until 3/24)
‘n Verlore Verstand ($9.09 from $14.99 until 3/28)
Guacamelee! 2 ($13.99 from $19.99 until 3/28)
Nightshade ($38.39 from $47.99 until 3/28)
Diggerman ($3.34 from $4.99 until 3/28)
Job the Leprechaun ($2.00 from $3.00 until 3/21)
Gnomes Garden 2 ($2.99 from $4.99 until 3/28)
Knock ‘Em Down! Bowling ($9.89 from $14.99 until 3/28)
Octahedron: Transfixed Edition ($9.09 from $14.99 until 3/28)
Dying: Reborn ($6.99 from $9.99 until 3/28)
My Memory of Us ($13.49 from $14.99 until 3/24)
Mercury Race ($4.79 from $7.99 until 3/28)
The Golf ($6.99 until $9.99 until 3/28)
Cinders ($17.99 from $19.99 until 3/24)
Surfingers ($3.34 from $4.99 until 3/28)
Almost There: The Platformer ($7.49 from $9.99 until 3/26)
Teddy the Wanderer: Mountain Hike ($8.99 from $9.99 until 3/28)
Bad Dream: Fever ($8.99 from $9.99 until 3/28)
Motosport Manager for Nintendo Switch ($11.99 from $14.99 until 3/29)
Did you get all that? Well, that’s another week in the books for us, but we’ll be back on Monday with all the happenings of the weekend, be it news, sales, or releases that slipped out without my noticing. If nothing else, the remake of Turok is out on Monday, so there’s that to look forward to, if in fact Turok is a thing you look forward to. As for me, I’ll be resting my eyes a little and playing something a bit slower this weekend, I think. Thanks for reading!
