Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for July 10th, 2019. It’s a pretty quiet one today, all things considered. I have one review coming up but I need a little more time with the game, and there’s very little news happening at the time of writing. Ha, psych. Just as I was headed home, Nintendo went and announced a whole new model of the system. Today’s article feature a little info about the upcoming additions to the NES Switch Online service, a look at some games that came out today, and a thorough summary of sales for you to salivate over. Let’s sprint for the goal!
News
Nintendo Announces Nintendo Switch Lite, Coming Sept 20th
It’s been rumored for ages and in recent months it seemed all but certain to be coming soon. Today, Nintendo just kind of dropped out of nowhere to announce the upcoming release of the Nintendo Switch Lite. Releasing on September 20th for a price of $199.99, the Switch Lite is designed for all those folks who never dock their systems. It features a smaller form factor with a 5.5 inch screen (compares to 6.2 inches on the standard model), an improved battery life, and a proper directional pad replacing the separated buttons of the standard Joy-Con. The controllers are now incorporated into the body of the system and cannot be removed.
But what about games that use the Joy-Cons sideways or separated from the system like 1-2 Switch? Well, there are a few cuts here. The Switch Lite cannot connect to a TV at all. It has no Rumble. As mentioned, the controllers can’t be removed. And since its shape is different, you obviously can’t use it with Nintendo Labo. You can pair additional controllers to it if you want, however. The system will launch in three colors: grey, yellow, and turquoise. Anyway, if the “Switch" part of the Switch isn’t super important to you, this seems like a great way to get access to its library of games at a cheaper price. The original model will continue to co-exist alongside it for the time being.
July’s NES Switch Online Update Adds Two Games and a Rewind Feature
This month’s update to the NES Nintendo Switch Online app will be arriving on July 17th. There are only two new games this time around, and I think you could make a good case for this being the most dire month yet in the service’s short life. Wrecking Crew and Donkey Kong 3 are both titles from the early Black Box era of the console, and while they have their charms I’m not sure either is really the kind of thing a person would want to subscribe to a service for. The wound is salved somewhat by the addition of a new feature for the app as a whole. A rewind feature similar to the one found in the Super NES Classic Mini will be available for all games, allowing you to skip back in time in your gameplay a little bit to correct mistakes. It’s a very cool feature, but I really do wonder how much longer Nintendo can hold out without adding a new system to this service.
New Releases
SolSeraph ($14.99)
Well, if you’re going to pay homage to something, it’s nice to do it for a game that hasn’t had many developers take a go at it. Here’s a crack at at the ActRaiser concept from ACE Team, the folks behind such curiosities as Rock of Ages and Abyss Odyssey. If you haven’t played it, the idea behind ActRaiser was that you played as a god who was surprisingly hands-on with his smiting. What made the game unique was its marriage of two distinct modes of gameplay: side-scrolling action and top-down sim. That’s more or less the path that SolSeraph follows, but it swaps out the simple town-building for something more akin to tower defense. It mostly works out okay, but if you’re a fan of ActRaiser you may not like the liberties taken with the sim side, and if you’re not then you may not appreciate the chunkiness of the side-scrolling bits.
Grass Cutter – Mutated Lawns ($6.99)
Some titles just give away the whole idea of a thing, and that’s not necessarily bad. So yes, this is a game where you cut the grass on mutated lawns. The lawns had some chemical added to them which is making monsters spawn and the only way to get rid of the problem is to cut all the affected lawns. The basic concept probably sounds very familiar to many mobile gamers, but in practice this is more of an action-puzzler where you have to solve puzzles to clear stages properly. There are power-ups, some boss fights, and so on. While you might be thinking of stuff like Snake, it’s probably closer in feel to something like Lolo or Kickle Cubicle. Not a bad little game at all, to be honest.
Sales
As is always the case around this time of the week, the number of sales ending far exceeds the new ones coming in. Things should work out by the end of the week, at least. That said, there are a couple of interesting sales you may want to consider. The unusual RPG The Rainsdowne Players is pretty affordable normally but on sale it’s cheaper than some fast food hamburgers. Jumping Joe is pretty weak, but Pirates: All Aboard! can be fun in multiplayer, so you may want to drop the three coins on picking it up. There’s a lot of good stuff in the outbox, as well. At a bare minimum, make sure you grab Ninjin for a dollar. It’s loads of fun and there’s no way you’ll regret it at that price. The absurd pre-order discount on Skulls of the Shogun is about to finish up as well, and it’s a really great price for an awesome game.
New Games on Sale
Green Game: TimeSwapper ($0.29 from $2.99 until 7/15)
Red Game Without a Great Name ($0.29 from $2.99 until 7/15)
Woodle Tree Adventures ($1.99 from $4.99 until 7/25)
Lost Orbit: Terminal Velocity ($8.99 from $9.99 until 7/24)
Battleship ($17.99 from $19.99 until 7/31)
Almost There: The Platformer ($6.79 from $9.99 until 7/31)
The Rainsdowne Players ($2.63 from $3.99 until 7/23)
Jumping Joe & Friends ($0.19 from $1.99 until 7/28)
Pirates: All Aboard! ($0.59 from $5.99 until 7/28)
Sales Ending Tomorrow, Thursday, July 11th
Animated Jigsaws: Japanese Women ($4.99 from $9.99 until 7/11)
Apocalips Wormwood ($3.99 from $4.99 until 7/11)
Axiom Verge ($13.99 from $19.99 until 7/11)
Bitlogic – A Cyberpunk Arcade Adventure ($5.89 from $6.99 until 7/11)
Block-a-Pix Deluxe ($3.99 from $7.99 until 7/11)
Blue Rider ($4.99 from $9.99 until 7/11)
Bridge Constructor Portal ($7.49 from $14.99 until 7/11)
Cartoon Network: Battle Crashers ($7.49 from $29.99 until 7/11)
Caveblazers ($8.99 from $14.99 until 7/11)
Chalk Dash Carnival ($2.83 from $7.09 until 7/11)
Coffin Dodgers ($6.49 from $12.99 until 7/11)
Darkwood ($13.49 from $14.99 until 7/11)
Degrees of Separation ($7.99 from $19.99 until 7/11)
Doodle God: Crime City ($4.89 from $6.99 until 7/11)
Earth Atlantis ($5.99 from $14.99 until 7/11)
Farm Expert 2018 ($26.99 from $29.99 until 7/11)
Fill-a-Pix: Phil’s Epic Adventure ($3.99 from $7.99 until 7/11)
Goosebumps The Game ($7.49 from $29.99 until 7/11)
Gunman Clive HD Collection ($3.19 from $3.99 until 7/11)
Human Rocket Person ($4.49 from $4.99 until 7/11)
In Between ($0.95 from $11.99 until 7/11)
Iro Hero ($3.89 from $12.99 until 7/11)
Lines X ($0.74 from $0.99 until 7/11)
Lost Sea ($5.99 from $9.99 until 7/11)
Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate ($29.99 from $59.99 until 7/11)
Neon Chrome ($7.49 from $14.99 until 7/11)
Nidhogg 2 ($8.99 from $14.99 until 7/11)
Ninjin: Clash of Carrots ($0.99 from $14.99 until 7/11)
Pic-a-Pix Deluxe ($3.99 from $7.99 until 7/11)
Pic-a-Pix Pieces ($3.99 from $7.99 until 7/11)
Quest of Dungeons ($4.49 from $8.99 until 7/11)
Ragtag Adventurers ($4.99 from $9.99 until 7/11)
Rapala Fishing Pro Series ($7.49 from $29.99 until 7/11)
Roarr! Jurassic ($3.99 until $4.99 until 7/11)
Skulls of the Shogun: Bone-A-Fide ($9.99 from $19.99 until 7/11)
SkyScrappers ($4.99 from $9.99 until 7/11)
Slime-san ($5.99 from $11.99 until 7/11)
Snow Battle Princess Sayuki ($7.50 from $15.00 until 7/11)
Spy Chameleon ($5.59 from $7.99 until 7/11)
Super Beat Sports ($10.49 from $14.99 until 7/11)
Super Blackjack Battle 2 Turbo ($1.19 from $7.99 until 7/11)
Super Treasure Arena ($1.49 from $9.99 until 7/11)
Tangrams Deluxe ($4.49 from $4.99 until 7/11)
The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker ($7.79 from $12.99 until 7/11)
The Inner World – The Last Wind Monk ($7.49 from $14.99 until 7/11)
The Inner World ($4.79 from $11.99 until 7/11)
The Next Penelope ($1.99 from $12.99 until 7/11)
Tied Together ($2.99 from $14.99 until 7/11)
Toby: The Secret Mine ($2.39 from $11.99 until 7/11)
Troll and I ($7.49 from $29.99 until 7/11)
Truberbrook ($22.49 from $29.99 until 7/11)
Warlocks 2: God Slayers ($11.99 from $17.99 until 7/11)
Windscape ($13.99 from $19.99 until 7/11)
Word Puzzles by POWGI ($4.99 from $9.99 until 7/11)
Word Search by POWGI ($3.99 from $7.99 until 7/11)
Word Sudoku by POWGI ($3.99 from $7.99 until 7/11)
That will do it for today, friends. Tomorrow we’ve got a bunch of great new games to check out, and it only gets hotter from there. News? I sure hope there is some! Sales? It’s entirely within the realm of possibility! With such assurances as that, how could you possibly miss tomorrow’s round-up? I’ll see you all back here tomorrow, and as always, thanks for reading!
