Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for April 5th, 2022. In today’s article, we’ve got a couple of reviews to look at right away. It couldn’t be a more different pair: NIS America and FuRyu’s Crystar, and SNK’s Big Bang Pro Wrestling. There are only a couple of new releases to check out, but they are big ones. After that, we roll along into the list of new sales and expiring discounts. Let’s check it all out!
Reviews & Mini-Views
Crystar ($49.99)
I really wish FuRyu was better about delivering a good all-around package. Its games always do one or two things well enough that I want to like them, but the rest is almost always so half-baked that I come away feeling largely indifferent. That’s the case with Crystar, an action-RPG with a strong plot and a really interesting setting that drops the ball with its boring combat, bland dungeon layouts, and stilted dialogue. I wanted to see where the story was going, but I sure didn’t enjoy what I needed to do in order to progress it.
This Switch version of the game is decent enough, though it does make some expected concessions in its visuals when compared to the PlayStation 4 original. If you’ve set your mind on playing Crystar, this is a fine enough way to do it. There’s certainly something here to enjoy, with a twisting narrative that keeps on delivering to the bittersweet end. But you’re going to have to deal with some lengthy stretches of truly dull gameplay between those story nuggets, and I can’t really make a strong case that it’s worth it.
SwitchArcade Score: 3/5
Big Bang Pro Wrestling ($7.99)
When it comes to NEOGEO Pocket Color games, you’ll tend to hear the same names mentioned. Ports of popular NEOGEO arcade fighters, Metal Slug games, the SNK VS. Capcom card games and associated fighting game, Sonic Pocket Adventure, and maybe NEO Turf Masters. You probably won’t hear much about Big Bang Pro Wrestling. It didn’t have a chance to get a Western release back in the day, so I suppose that makes sense. I’m not going to tell you this is some lost jewel of the genre, but what I will say is that this was surely the finest handheld pro wrestling game to date when it came out, a title it would have held for about a year until Fire Pro Wrestling Advance arrived.
Indeed, this plays a bit like a simplified version of Fire Pro Wrestling. The developer of this game worked on a few of the games in that series before and after this, and it’s easy to see how some of the chocolate got in the peanut butter. Everything is timing-based here, and it takes a lot of practice to learn when to hit the button to get a leg up on your opponent in a grapple. There are ten different wrestlers to choose from, with two of them unlockable, and there’s a nice variety in move sets and style between them. You also get different arenas and modes, with a few different types of matches on offer. The whole thing feels highly influenced by the Attitude Era of WWE, and that’s not the worst place to be.
Dedicated wrestling game fans will find enough in Big Bang Pro Wrestling to get their kicks, and Code Mystics has done its usual fine work in bringing this NEOGEO Pocket Color game to the Switch. We even get an English version of the manual. It’s quite a bit of fun for a game of its time and place, but it certainly feels of its era in many ways. It’s that side of it that keeps it from being a must-play, as the wrestling game genre has seen a lot of strides since the year 2000. Nevertheless, this is a rather neat curio and one I’m happy to see get its shot in the West after so long.
SwitchArcade Score: 3.5/5
New Releases
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga ($59.99)
SwitchArcade Highlight!
It seems like it’s been forever since the last new LEGO game released, but I suppose that’s only because I was used to the steady flow. It’s really only been a few years since The LEGO Movie 2 Video Game, but developer TT Games has been using the extra time to give its latest game a lot of love. Perhaps it is fitting that it should be Star Wars, given this whole endeavor really got rolling with that brand. This covers the entire Skywalker Saga, with five levels dedicated to each of the nine mainline films for a total of a whopping forty-five to play through. There are hundreds of characters, tons of extra goodies to collect, and some DLC characters if all of that somehow isn’t enough for you. I’ll have a review of this one soon.
MLB The Show 22 ($59.99)
SwitchArcade Highlight!
Following on the Friday release of the Digital Deluxe Edition, the standard edition of MLB The Show 22 is now available on the eShop. Provided this isn’t a dramatic departure from previous games in the series, this is one mighty fine game of baseball. Certainly better than the previous MLB-licensed games on the Switch. This standard version comes with a decent chunk of the in-game Stubs currency. Yes, there are microtransactions. It feels like that’s just how things are with sports games these days.
Sales
(North American eShop, US Prices)
Not a whole ton to consider today, friends. The rotating sales on Pinball FX3 tables continue, and those are great prices provided you keep in mind a new version of Pinball FX is coming and you won’t be able to bring these tables with you. I’ll also bang the drum once more for Lair of the Clockwork God. Genuinely funny stuff. Very little in the outbox as well, and a short enough list that I’ll let you check it yourself.
Select New Games on Sale
Brawl Chess ($1.99 from $9.99 until 4/11)
Deployment ($1.99 from $9.99 until 4/11)
Pinball FX3 Williams Vol.4 ($3.99 from $9.99 until 4/12)
Pinball FX3 Core Collection ($3.49 from $9.99 until 4/12)
Circa Infinity UE ($1.99 from $10.99 until 4/12)
Detective Di: Silk Rose Murders ($3.89 from 12.99 until 4/13)
My Singing Monsters Playground ($25.99 from $39.99 until 4/19)
They Bleed Pixels ($4.49 from $14.99 until 4/25)
Must Dash Amigos ($2.99 from $6.99 until 4/25)
Beach Bounce Remastered ($4.99 from $9.99 until 4/25)
Sakura Succubus ($4.99 from $9.99 until 4/25)
Sakura Swimclub ($6.69 from $9.99 until 4/25)
Sakura Nova ($10.04 from $14.99 until 4/25)
Legends of Talia: Arcadia ($1.99 from $2.99 until 4/25)
Soul Searching ($1.99 from $9.99 until 4/25)
Lydia ($1.99 from $4.00 until 4/25)
A Night at the Races ($1.99 from $9.99 until 4/25)
The Marauder Chronicles: CoV ($3.34 from $4.99 until 4/25)
Mythic Ocean ($4.99 from $14.99 until 4/25)
Deadlings ($1.99 from $4.99 until 4/25)
Metamorphosis ($7.49 from $24.99 until 4/25)
Space Cows ($1.99 from $7.99 until 4/25)
Geki Yaba Runner AE ($1.99 from $2.99 until 4/25)
Paradise Lost ($6.74 from $14.99 until 4/25)
Fort Triumph ($9.99 from $19.99 until 4/25)
Infini ($1.99 from $12.99 until 4/25)
Journey of the Broken Circle ($1.99 from $8.00 until 4/25)
EQQO ($1.99 from $6.00 until 4/25)
Thomas Was Alone ($4.99 from $9.99 until 4/25)
Stilstand ($1.99 from $2.99 until 4/25)
Cosmic Top Secret ($1.99 from $9.99 until 4/25)
The Solitaire Conspiracy ($5.99 from $11.99 until 4/25)
Behold the Kickmen ($1.99 from $3.99 until 4/25)
Lair of the Clockwork God ($4.99 from $19.99 until 4/25)
Endless Fables: Shadow Within ($2.09 from $14.99 until 4/25)
Adverse ($2.03 from $5.99 until 4/25)
Octogeddon ($4.44 from $8.88 until 4/25)
Spacebase Startopia ($39.99 from $49.99 until 4/25)
Sales Ending Tomorrow, Wednesday, April 6th
Back to Bed ($1.99 from $4.99 until 4/6)
Batu Ta Batu ($1.99 from $4.99 until 4/6)
BeatTalk ($11.79 from $17.99 until 4/6)
Castle of Pixel Skulls ($1.99 from $4.99 until 4/6)
Depth of Extinction ($4.94 from $14.99 until 4/6)
Dimension Drive ($1.99 from $12.99 until 4/6)
Inferno 2 ($1.99 from $4.99 until 4/6)
Lost Wing ($1.99 from $7.99 until 4/6)
Luckslinger ($3.49 from $9.99 until 4/6)
Lumini ($1.99 from $9.99 until 4/6)
Madorica Real Estate ($8.99 from $14.99 until 4/6)
Negative Nancy ($8.99 from $14.99 until 4/6)
Polyroll ($2.99 from $5.99 until 4/6)
Rainswept ($1.99 from $9.99 until 4/6)
The Bug Butcher ($1.99 from $7.99 until 4/6)
That’s all for today, friends. We’ll be back tomorrow with summaries of a few new releases, plus whatever news and sales come along in the next twenty-four hours. Nothing too fancy on the schedule for tomorrow, but at the very least there is a promising-looking vertical shooter. I hope you all have a terrific Tuesday, and as always, thanks for reading!
