Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for March 24th, 2021. In today’s article, we’ve got the usual bit of news that we always have on Wednesday. There’s also a Mini-View of QUByte’s latest puzzle game Chess Knights: Viking Lands. We’ve got a few new releases to look at, including the very cool Tesla Force. Finally, we’ve got the lists of incoming and outgoing sales that do so very much damage to our wallets and hearts. Let’s dig into it!
News
Think Pink in This Week’s ‘Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’ Event
It’s Wednesday again already? These weeks are flying by, friends. As always, we’ve got the details on the latest weekend event in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. It’s going to be a tournament event this time, and the focus is on the little pink puffball Kirby. Characters, items, and stages from the Kirby games will be featured, and given that this is Smash Bros. we’re talking about, that’s quite a lot to work with. The event kicks off on Friday and runs for the usual three days through the weekend.
Mini-Views
Chess Knights: Viking Lands ($3.99)
I rather enjoy QUByte’s chess puzzle games, even though they’re basically very similar to one another. New puzzle packs are fine by me. Chess Knights: Viking Lands is conceptually quite familiar. You need to use your knights to rescue other pieces on each level by moving to their spaces and bringing them back to the safe area without the enemy pieces catching you. Early games like this from the developer had a very simple presentation, but the last couple have been adding more complex visual details. This one has perhaps the prettiest graphics yet, evoking real battlefields. And yet this ends up making it harder to read the board, especially in the darker stages. I also don’t really understand what is going on with the button controls. Sometimes you need to push the stick in the opposite direction of where you want to go. Sometimes you don’t. The touch controls were more reliable. It’s still a fine enough puzzle game, but I think in trying to aim higher the developers somehow ended up with a lesser result.
SwitchArcade Score: 3/5
New Releases
Tesla Force ($16.99)
SwitchArcade Highlight!
10tons is back with what they do best: an awesome top-down twin-stick shooter. Procedurally-generated? Yes. Roguelite elements? You know it. As in the developer’s last Tesla-themed shooter, you can look forward to plenty of scientific gadgets and zappy weapons. There are plenty of perks to customize your character with, and plenty of Lovecraftian monsters to destroy. In addition to Nikola Tesla, you can also play as Marie Curie, H.P. Lovecraft, or Mary Shelley. I can’t verify the historical accuracy of any of this, but I have to believe it’s at least three-quarters true. I can verify that this game is pretty wild fun, however.
Hellbreachers ($4.99)
This is a retro-style side-scrolling action game with fifty levels to play. There are three different characters to choose from, and you can further customize them with various specializations. Some light RPG elements allow you to upgrade your abilities as you go. It kind of reminds me of games like Goblin Sword or Devious Dungeon, and it’s priced about right for that level of appeal. It’s a bit rough in action in terms of hit detection, but all of the characters seem to have ranged attacks that should mitigate that somewhat. I don’t know, it doesn’t seem to be doing anything particularly interesting, but if you want something to snack on it seems amusing enough for the price.
Golf Royale ($1.99)
Hello, Pix Arts. What do you have for us this time? A cheap golf game that looks about as fancy as its price suggests? Well, it’s not the worst thing we’ve seen from this developer. You have a little fox guy who is golfing through something like 100 or so stages of obstacles and tricky shots. This game can’t be played docked, which suggests you have to use touch controls. So what’s Royale about it? Nothing, as far as I can tell. Just a way to grab attention with the title. Pix Arts going to Pix Arts.
Sales
(North American eShop, US Prices)
In spite of there being a healthy number of games in the inbox, there are only a couple that really catch my eye. The excellent Picross-style game Murder By Numbers is a great pick-up for its full price, let alone half-off. Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted hasn’t been on sale since it launched, I believe. The outbox is quite thin and nothing in it really inspires me to break out into song and dance, so I’ll just leave it to you to check it out for yourself.
Select New Games on Sale
Murder By Numbers ($7.49 from $14.99 until 3/28)
Spirit of the North ($14.99 from $24.99 until 3/29)
Mainlining ($4.49 from $14.99 until 3/29)
PixARK ($14.79 from $39.99 until 3/29)
The Count Lucanor ($4.49 from $14.99 until 3/29)
Cast of the Seven Godsends ($3.89 from $12.99 until 3/29)
Stranded Sails: EotCI ($12.49 from $24.99 until 3/29)
Bounty Battle ($12.49 from $24.99 until 3/29)
Five Nights at Freddy’s: HW ($14.99 from $29.99 until 3/30)
Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break ($14.99 from $29.99 until 3/30)
Skully ($14.99 from $29.99 until 3/30)
Remothered: Broken Porcelain ($19.49 from $29.99 until 3/30)
Ary & the Secret of Seasons ($19.99 from $39.99 until 3/30)
Beast Quest ($5.99 from $29.99 until 3/30)
Override: Mech City Brawl ($14.99 from $29.99 until 3/30)
Override 2: Super Mech League ($19.49 from $29.99 until 3/30)
Trine: Ultimate Collection ($14.99 from $49.99 until 3/30)
Trine 4: Nightmare Prince ($7.49 from $29.99 until 3/30)
Bear With Me: Lost Robots ($1.99 from $4.99 until 3/30)
Deer Drive Legends ($3.99 from $19.99 until 3/30)
Ninjin: Clash of Carrots ($1.99 from $9.99 until 3/30)
Perfect Traffic Simulator ($2.49 from $9.99 until 3/30)
Fantasy Tower Defense ($1.99 from $4.99 until 3/30)
Royal Tower Defense ($1.99 from $7.99 until 3/30)
Degrees of Separation ($5.99 from $19.99 until 3/30)
Troll and I ($2.99 from $29.99 until 3/30)
The Legend of Ninja ($1.99 from $7.99 until 3/30)
Fall Gummies ($1.99 from $7.99 until 3/30)
Jump King ($6.49 from $12.99 until 4/6)
Arrog ($2.79 from $3.99 until 4/12)
Cruel Bands Career ($2.79 from $3.99 until 4/12)
Never Breakup ($6.99 from $9.99 until 4/12)
Depth of Extinction ($7.49 from $14.99 until 4/12)
Wenjia ($5.59 from $7.99 until 4/12)
Polyroll ($1.99 from $9.99 until 4/12)
64.0 ($1.99 from $2.99 until 4/12)
Sudoku Universe ($3.49 from $6.99 until 4/12)
Self ($3.49 from $6.99 until 4/12)
Heaven Dust ($3.99 from $7.99 until 4/12)
Candleman ($9.99 from $14.99 until 4/12)
AngerForce: Reloaded ($6.99 from $9.99 until 4/12)
Tales from the Borderlands ($19.99 from $24.99 until 4/12)
Flood of Light ($2.49 from $4.99 until 4/12)
Birds and Blocks ($1.99 from $4.99 until 4/13)
Croc’s World ($1.99 from $4.99 until 4/13)
Croc’s World Run ($1.99 from $5.99 until 4/13)
Airfield Mania ($1.99 from $5.99 until 4/13)
Pacific Wings ($1.99 from $4.99 until 4/13)
Yellow Fins ($1.99 from $4.99 until 4/13)
Jewel Rotation ($1.99 from $5.99 until 4/13)
Water Balloon Mania ($1.99 from $4.99 until 4/13)
Jewel Fever 2 ($1.99 from $4.99 until 4/13)
Sales Ending Tomorrow, Thursday, March 25th
Aragami: Shadow ($11.99 from $29.99 until 3/25)
Battle Group 2 ($2.99 from $9.99 until 3/25)
Bladed Fury ($17.99 from $19.99 until 3/25)
Candle: Power of the Flame ($5.99 from $19.99 until 3/25)
CastleStorm ($3.74 from $14.99 until 3/25)
CastleStorm II ($8.99 from $19.99 until 3/25)
Clea 2 ($11.99 from $14.99 until 3/25)
Cloudpunk ($14.99 from $24.99 until 3/25)
Clouds & Sheep 2 ($1.99 from $9.99 until 3/25)
ClusterPuck 99 ($2.99 from $9.99 until 3/25)
Dreaming Sarah ($3.99 from $4.99 until 3/25)
Gnomes Garden 2 ($1.99 from $4.99 until 3/25)
Gun Skaters ($3.99 from $4.99 until 3/25)
HoPiKo ($2.99 from $9.99 until 3/25)
Late Shift ($6.49 from $12.99 until 3/25)
Monster Energy Supercross 3 ($12.49 from $49.99 until 3/25)
OctaFight ($3.59 from $5.99 until 3/25)
Raiders of the Lost Island ($9.74 from $12.99 until 3/25)
Rip Them Off ($7.99 from $8.99 until 3/25)
Rock ‘N Racing Bundle: OR&R ($5.99 from $19.99 until 3/25)
Rogue Singularity ($2.24 from $14.99 until 3/25)
Shu ($2.99 from $9.99 until 3/25)
Solo Islands of the Heart ($5.99 from $19.99 until 3/25)
Space Otter Charlie ($11.99 from $14.99 until 3/25)
Sparklite ($9.99 from $24.99 until 3/25)
Stunt Kite Party ($2.49 from $9.99 until 3/25)
Sublevel Zero Redux ($4.49 from $14.99 until 3/25)
Super Soccer Blast ($5.99 from $7.99 until 3/25)
The Fox Awaits Me ($35.99 from $44.99 until 3/25)
Warp Shift ($1.99 from $9.99 until 3/25)
That’s all for today, friends. Tomorrow is going to be a big one, as there are already 24 games on the schedule. In fact, I’m going to start writing it now that I’ve finished this one or else I’ll never get it done in time. Fun, fun. Anyway, I hope you all have a great Wednesday, and as always, thanks for reading!
